Dinner at Eight (1933)

 George Cukor's "Dinner at Eight"


"Dinner at Eight," adapted from the Edna Ferber stage play of the same name, was a breakout success for director George Cukor. It featured a cast of characters all intertwined through the expectation of attending a dinner party at the wealthy Jordan residence. However, all of the characters face critical and existential moments leading up to the dinner party, as they all scramble to re-evaluate their lives.

The film's cast is expansive, as the studio tried to mirror the star-studded cast of the breakout hit "Grand Hotel" from the year prior. "Dinner at Eight" stars Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow, Lionel Barrymore, and others. The large and varied cast was the main selling point of the film.

Much like the reviews state in 1933, I was enveloped and gripped by the intricate web of storylines and characters from beginning to end.  The film centers on very wealthy individuals in the aftermath of the great depression. Many are finding difficulties in living the same extravagant lives they're accustomed to. Some are failing in health. Some are getting older and irrelevant. One is an actor on the decline and dealing with alcoholism. The characters are all living lives that are fracturing and falling apart at the seams. 

Taken into this context, you may consider the driving narrative or theme of the film to be the crumbling American society in the post-Depression era. Beyond that, the film is mostly just an intriguing foray into the shattering lives of America's wealthy elite. 





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