Dinner at Eight, screenplay by Frances Marion, Edna Ferber, Herman Mankiewicz, based on the play by George Kaufman - 10 out of 10

Dinner at Eight, screenplay by Frances Marion, Edna Ferber, Herman Mankiewicz, based on the play by George Kaufman

10 out of 10

Dinner at Eight is a wonderful motion picture, included on The New York Times Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made list - https://www.listchallenges.com/new-york-times-best-1000-movies-ever-made/list/6 - benefiting from a fabulous cast, with splendid John Barrymore in the role of a failing, former star, Larry Renault, equally brilliant Lionel Barrymore as the old, sick Oliver Jordan, resplendent Jean Harlow as Kitty Packard and a few other phenomenal artists…

Marie Dressler is hilarious and imposing, noble and so dazzling as Carlotta Vance, an appreciated, legendary artist who is overwhelmed when people she meets express their awe, but then they continue in a clumsy way by saying…when they were kids, they were fascinated to see her…and by this making clear that Carlotta Vance is so advanced in age- nevertheless, she is so smart, imaginative, amusing and self-deprecating as to joke herself: ‘do not tell me that your great great grandfather loved my acting’ or something of the kind.

Oliver Jordan used to be a successful businessman, whose stock in his shipping business was very valuable, but now it is so devalued, his health is so poor that he seems unable to stop even his friend, Carlotta, from selling her shares and besides, the one he hoped to support him, the rather crooked, Trump-like con man Dan Packard, is in fact double crossing him and trying to get hold of shares to speculate and send the poor man down…again, in the manner of the most over rated business man ever, the crook from the White House…

Oliver Jordan is trying to have the Dinner at Eight to help him overcome the serious financial problems, perhaps the bankruptcy he may be facing if the worst scenario comes to pass – and if the ruthless Dan Packard has his way and he is not stopped by…his wife, Kitty Packard aka once the superstar Jean Harlow – and thus he asks his wife, Millicent Jordan, to take care of the details, send the invitations, even to Packard, the one who does not want to come, until he finds he would have the chance to meet someone he had been wanting to get close to for so many years and therefore he is keen on attending.

Kitty Packard has an affair with her doctor – better said she used to have one, for the man is not interested anymore, though as to the future outcome we might be somewhat unsure – and the maid knows about it, when challenged by the brutal, impolite, chauvinist, rude, what can we say but yet another face of the same Fat Donny Trump, husband she covers for the missus, but afterwards she is quick to ask for one of the many valuable bracelets, as some form of bribe, to avoid blackmail…besides, the rich woman has so many…

Another secret is hidden by the daughter of Dan and Millicent Jordan, Paula, who is involved with the much older, former famous actor, Larry Renault, who has a massive drinking problem and what is worse, he is now forgotten and rejected by studios and producers and when given a part, it is so insignificant as to have only one line or maybe a couple and facing this trauma, descent into absolute obscurity could be too much to take for the alcoholic who has no money for drinks, for the room in the hotel from which the manager comes to evict him, though politely, under the pretext that some loyal customers are coming and want this exact room and there are n others available…

The relationship with the much younger, though also married Paula Jordan might have done something to rejuvenate the failing actor, but his exaggerated drinking, the impecunious stage of his life, the prospect of having no credit with…well, anyone, for even the bellboy would not bring a bottle seeing as the hotel, other joints would not accept to sell him anything waiting forever to be paid, might prompt him to take a dramatic decision…

Meanwhile, Kitty confronts her husband, tells him about having an affair, though she does not say who it is and the cuckold husband is so dumb as to exclude the doctor from the list of suspects – when the maid says the wife had only one visitor she knows of and that is the doctor, Dan Packard is ridiculous in dismissing this line of questioning outright – and the woman take a rather impressive, feminist stand against the crook and she is even forcing him to reverse the strategy he had been pursuing, of crushing financially poor, sick Oliver Jordan, or else she would tell him and everyone else what loathsome dealings the man had been pursuing…

Oliver Jordan is already looking like he might have a heart attack and die any moment now, but when he finds from Carlotta Vance that she had sold her shares to some unknown individual – a cover for Packard – it looks like this is the end, figuratively and literally for the man that might still have a chance when Kitty kicks the legs of the vicious husband, is then ready to expose him and his gruesome actions and then maybe he would be pushed to walk back what he had done, before it is too late

Meanwhile, Millicent Jordan is facing another disaster, although this one is amusing and of a different nature and much smaller in scale, dealing with the missing butler, the fact that the most important guests cancel and fly to Florida to treat some ailment, the main dish is ruined, and there are many other obstacles and impossible circumstances to cope with…such as the number of guests, which must be even but seems to be impossible to arrange in that manner and other such adversities…