 Dinner at Eight 1933  N/R, 110 min.
Genre: Comedy / Drama / Romance
Director: George Cukor
Cast: Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow, Lionel Barrymore, Lee Tracy, Edmund Lowe, Billie Burke, Jean Hersholt, Madge Evans, Karen Morley, Louise Closser Hale, Phillips Holmes, May Robson, Grant Mitchell
Millicent Jordan (Billie Burke) arranges a dinner party that she believes will help her husband Oliver's (Lionel Barrymore) career. Among the guests are business executive Dan Packard (Wallace Beery) and his wife Kitty (Jean Harlow) who just happens to be having an affair with another guest, Dr. Wayne Talbot (Edmund Lowe). Also at the dinner party are matinee idol Larry Renault (John Barrymore), who is involved with the Jordans' daughter Paula (Madge Evans), and aging stage actress Carlotta (Marie Dressler). The personal lives of the guests at this dinner party are scrutinized, and the result is a highly entertaining, sophisticated comedy.
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Dinner at Eight 1989  TV, 100 min.
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Director: Ron Lagomarsino
Cast: Lauren Bacall, Marsha Mason, Charles Durning, Ellen Greene, Harry Hamlin, John Mahoney, Joel Brooks, Tim Kazurinsky, Stacy Edwards, Lenore Kasdorf, Kelly Connell, Jane Alden, Julia Sweeney
This made-for-TV update of the 1933 version, which is based on the George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber play, is adequately done, but the first version certainly is better. It tells the story of a social-climber (Marsha Mason) getting ready to throw an extravagant dinner party for the elite. Lauren Bacall is great as a "trash" novelist.
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|  | | Dinner at Eight (1933) |
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| Oscar: Best Director for My Fair Lady (1964) |
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| Oscar: Best Actress for Min and Bill (1931) |
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| Oscar: Best Actor for A Free Soul (1931) |
| | Dinner at Eight (1989) |
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