And with apologies to Garbo, it's even grander than Grand Hotel.Ī host of mini-dramas unfold - and ultimately intertwine - against the backdrop of an impending soirée thrown by shipping magnate Oliver Jordan (Lionel Barrymore) and his flighty, self-absorbed wife, Millicent (Burke). Selznick cast it perfectly, and with Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow, Lionel Barrymore, and Billie Burke chewing the scenery under George Cukor's fluid direction, Dinner at Eight becomes a polished, entertaining romp that effortlessly merges melodrama and social satire with high camp. On its own, the play doesn't amount to much, but producer David O. Kaufman-Edna Ferber Broadway hit Dinner at Eight, a seriocomic look-in on the lives of several disparate socialites invited to a posh dinner party. It took a while to find a suitable property, but the studio finally settled on an adaptation of the George S. The all-star film was a new and exciting concept in the early 1930s, and after MGM wunderkind Irving Thalberg (who pioneered the format) hit pay dirt with Grand Hotel in 1932, he quickly began corralling personalities for a follow-up.
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