Dinner at Eight (1933)

“Listen to me old-timer. I'm drunk, and I know I'm drunk but I know what I'm talking about.”

            One of my favorite ways stories are told in either films or TV shows is where there are a bunch of different characters with different stories in different places and either during or at the end of the film or TV show all those different people with their different stories come together. For some reason that way of telling a story never gets old to me. I just really enjoy it. Plenty of films in Old Hollywood used that way of storytelling including Dinner at Eight from 1933.

            The story begins with the Jordan family. The family is wealthy due to Oliver’s (Lionel Barrymore) shipping business. Millicent (Billie Burke), like many high society women during the early 20^th century and before then, is concerned about mingling with all the well known upper class sets from America and Europe. She has finally gotten a British lord and his wife to come to dinner while they are in America. She sets the dinner date for the following Friday at eight o’clock. Oliver and their daughter Paula (Madge Evans) could care less about a dinner date for the following week. Olivier is only looking forward to it because Millicent has invited an old friend of his an old actress named Carlotta Vance (Marie Dressler). Oliver is worried about his shipping business and Paula is a bunch of nerves over her fiancé coming back but not in a good way.

            At the office Oliver announces that one of their ships is not going to be able to leave on time because there is not enough cargo. It would be the first time in sixty years since his grandfather started the business that one of the company’s ships is not leaving on time. There is nothing Oliver can do someone else is taking away their business. Carlotta comes to see Oliver at the office. She tells him she is broke but she does not want to give anything up she is from the old set with traveling and knowing people and a certain lifestyle and she does not want to give that up and live permanently in America. The two reminisce about when they were younger. Oliver had proposed to her when he was twenty-one and she broke his heart. She explains that she was so much older than him but it broke her own heart as well. As Carlotta is leaving a man named Dan Packard (Wallace Beery) comes in for a meeting. Dan is wealthy business man that Oliver is looking to sell some stocks to. Dan does not want to take the stocks because Oliver’s company is old and on its way out. Secretly Dan wants to buy out the business. Oliver calls Millicent to say to invite Dan and his wife to their dinner party the following week. Millicent does not really like Dan but she obliges and gives the wife a call.

            Dan has a young wife named Kitty (Jean Harlow). It is obvious right from her first scene that Kitty only married Dan for his money. She claims to be sick and needs to stay in bed all day while waiting for the doctor to come. As she waits she eats a lot of boxes of chocolate, puts on makeup, and tries on a new hat. When Dr. Wayne Talbot comes to the house Kitty puts an act of sickness on but as soon as her maid walks out of her room she gets mad at him for not having come by to see her in days. She says she loves him and that he is the only one who loves her and that she is bored when he does not come around.

            When Dan comes home Kitty tells him that they have been invited to the dinner party. Dan refuses to go especially because he wants to buy Oliver out. They have a huge blow up which comes to an end when Kitty tells him that the British lord will be there. Dan has been trying to get in touch with the lord for two years about some business ventures.

            The following week comes along. Millicent’s perfect party begins to fall apart. The British lord and his wife have decided to head down to Florida to fish. The dinner the cook had made after she dropped it on the floor when she had to break up a vicious fight between the butler and the driver. One of her fill in guests calls her telling her he is very sick and cannot make the party. Millicent’s sister suggests inviting another old actor named Larry Renault (John Barrymore) so he can keep Carlotta company. When Millicent calls Larry he is entertaining, of the people in the world, Paula. Larry is the one that has been causing Paula some confusion and nerves. She loves him more than she loves her fiancé and would rather be with him. He tries telling her that he is all washed up, he is a drunk who cannot get any work, and all three of his wives had severe issues. Paula does not care about any of that no matter how much he tries to make her. She leave when Larry’s manager comes to the room. He is trying to get Larry a part in a new play but no one really wants him since his reputation is not what it used to be. Later on Larry completely ruins his career by yelling at a theater manager who was willing to give him a second rate part. Larry’s manager has it out with him and says that he was never a good actor and no one will want him now that he is a total drunk. Unable to handle the truths and where his life has come to Larry kills himself.

            Oliver meanwhile is not feeling well. He goes to Wayne’s office. He tells Wayne he had had a weak moment at his office after Dan had left. The prognosis is not good Oliver is dying from a thrombosis. Before the party starts that night Oliver stays in his room leaving Millicent to welcome the guests. Wayne and Millicent go up to Oliver to check on him. He lest Millicent know the truth about her husband and how he does not have much time left. Millicent is obviously upset but she makes the best of it. When Oliver tells her they are broke she immediately starts downsizing and being supportive. They walk down to the dinner party together arm in arm.

            There was so much going on in this film that I cannot possibly write because it would confuse you reading it since I am not good with getting points across in a coherent way and also not to give too much away. Now you have to go and watch Dinner at Eight!

            Dinner at Eight was a very good film. I enjoyed how all the characters were connected and what brought them to the party. I think I can officially say that I now see what so many film historians and film critics really like Jean Harlow. I am not a fan of Harlow’s but I really liked her character in this. Kitty was very funny and very tough and Harlow did a great job with being both. The story was written by Frances Marion along with a few others. I like Marion as a storyteller she wrote some of my favorite Mary Pickford films. George Cukor directed and his direction is always flawless he always knew how to get the best out his actors.

            I am very happy I finally watched Dinner at Eight. I usually see it on lists for Pre-Codes or best films of the 1930s. Dinner at Eight is absolutely worth taking the time to watch. 

Let Us Be Gay (1930)

“Oh, innocence is not my long suit.”

           

So many films have been made where a guy leaves a girl who is not “pretty” and cannot give him the satisfaction that he wants (that makes me cringe with anger just writing that). The girl still loves the guy and wants to get him back so she decides to get a hot make over and completely change her personality and way of life. Stories like this when they are made today give off so many wrong messages to young women. They make me cringe with anger. The guys in these situations are total assholes and I have to say the women even more so because they apparently cannot see the value of self worth. Anyway that is what happens in the films of today. Films in the Pre-Code era of Hollywood have the women get even with their men and drive them insane with jealousy and lust. These women were brazen, bold, unabashed, and sexy. No one was calling them out on their “slutty” ways. They felt free and liberated and looked stunning doing so. No one pulled off the care free, liberated woman to perfection like Norma Shearer. While the story of her 1930 film Let Us Be Gay follows the storyline mentioned above Shearer sees her value and what she can do with it and the guy, while he is an asshole, still loves her and never wanted to leave her in the first place.

Kitty Brown (Shearer) is not ideal pretty wife that her husband Bob (Rod La Rocque) would want to parade around town. Despite her frumpy flaws Bob does love her even if she does not satisfy his manly needs and desires. Kitty is devoted to Bob and loves him terribly. One Sunday he is supposed to be going golfing at his local club and then to dinner. Kitty manages to get her way into coming to watch him play. Bob seems a little nervous about her coming along. The phone rings and Bob answers it. The voice on the other line is a woman and she is beyond annoyed that Bob wants to spend time with his wife. When Kitty is done getting dressed she has on an old matronly looking outfit. Bob tells her she can go to the store and buy nice clothes but she would rather make her clothes. Their housekeeper comes to the room telling Bob that a woman is there to see him. Kitty comes into the room a few moments later. She knows right away that the woman is Bob’s mistress. She is dress in the latest clothes and looks quite provocative. Kitty remains calm and gives some biting remarks but finally has it and goes to the bedroom. Bob follows her and tries to tell her that the woman means nothing to him he loves her (Kitty) more than anything in the world. Kitty does not want to put up with his philandering and tells him to leave.

Three years later, at a mansion on Long Island owned by a woman named Mrs. Bouccicault (Marie Dressler), Bob is there with the old woman’s granddaughter Diane. Boucci, as the old woman is called, does not want her granddaughter to be with Bob. Diane is engaged to a nice wealthy young man. Boucci has called on her American friend she has spent three summers with in Paris to come take care of Bob. The American friend happens to be Kitty Brown. This Kitty Brown is salacious, free spirited, and exciting. Gone are her frumpy locks and clothes and makeup-less face. She is enough to set men’s tongue wagging the moment she walks into the room. Now dressed in the latest fashions and a few men under belt, Kitty’s mission given to her by Boucci is to seduce this man that Diane is going around with. Boucci has no idea that Bob and Kitty were once married and have not seen each other in three years.

There are other guests at the house besides Bob and Kitty. There is the over the top and past her prime Madge Livingston (famous Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper), the objects of Madge’s affection Wallace who is a mouse of a stiff man, and the smooth English gentleman Townley. Everyone comes around for tea in the afternoon. At first Kitty and Bob do not notice each other since they are on opposite sides of the veranda. When they do see each other Kitty keeps right on flirting as if she does not know Bob and he plays along. Bob cannot keep his eyes off his former wife. After tea, Bob and Kitty go for a walk. He wants to tell everyone about them but Kitty does not want to because she does not want to bring everything up again.

As the day goes on Diane slowly becomes jealous that Bob cannot stop looking at Kitty. Even Madge is getting upset because Kitty has been playfully flirting with Wallace and that he has become infatuated with her. That night Townley climbs the stairs of the balcony to Kitty’s room to see her. She mercilessly teases Townley by pulling away when he goes to kiss her. They go into her room. She has no intention of doing anything with him but lets him ramble on and try his best to seduce her. A knock from the doors on the balcony interrupts the fun. Bob is at the door. Townley hides in the bathroom. Bob tell Kitty he wants her back he has fallen in love with her all over again because she has changed. Like an excellent smart woman Kitty calls her former husband out on what he has just said. All the sudden Townley sneezes and Bob hears. He is furious with her thinking she was going to do something with the other man. To make the matter worse Wallace comes up. Not making a big deal of Bob storming out of the room Kitty has Townley and Wallace sit down with her. Again they are interrupted but this time it is Boucci. Both men scramble out before the old woman can become furious with them. Boucci is outraged because Diane and Bob have decided to get married and want to do so immediately. Kitty is a little hurt by the news.

Kitty plans to leave the following day but Boucci has a plan to make her stay. She has Kitty and Bob’s children come to the house to make Kitty think of them. When the children see their father they run to him. Diane is stunned she had no idea Bob had any children. Now Kitty and Bob have to confess that they were once married. Diane is furious and runs off after the young man she was supposed to be with. Kitty does not want Bob either. She tries her hardest to say she has enjoyed her life for the past three years but eventually breaks down and confesses she has missed him and is lonely without him and does want him back.

Alfred Hitchcock decades ago asked a fantastic question, “Where are all the Norma Shearers?” Indeed where have all the Norma Shearers disappeared to? Shearer is considered Queen of the Pre-Codes. Her acting is something to be desired, she can become annoying after a while, but her screen presence is magnetizing, hypnotic, seductive. One of the characters in the film commented about Kitty “She has a very come hither look in her eyes.” That line perfectly sums up Shearer in her Pre-Codes. The way she looks at a man with lust and teasing in her eyes and her entire body is incredible. I absolutely adored Shearer in this film. It makes me so sad that Shearer and her Pre-Code characters like Kitty Brown- unapologetic, seductive, liberated women- will never been seen again on screen. They can be seen on screen today but they are immediately dubbed whores and sluts and must be punished or repent their ways.  

The rest of the cast was fantastic. Marie Dressler is a riot. The other characters called Boucci “The General” because of how she ran everything and gave commands to people. Rod La Rocque was not a very good actor but he was not terrible. He always sounded like he was reading his lines and not giving any emotion. I did like him paired with Shearer though. Hedda Hopper’s character was a pain in the ass! But she added a bit of fun. It was funny to see Hopper and Shearer in a film together. They were friends and six years later Shearer would wind up telling Hopper first before her own husband that she was pregnant with her second child.

Let Us Be Gay is a Pre-Code film at its finest. Besides Norma Shearer being wonderful, there are a ton of lines and looks that are great. The best one that I was actually floored by and found so funny was when Bouccis gives Kitty a call on the house line to her room. Boucci wants Kitty to come down to start flirting with Bob. She yells over the phone for Kitty to “dress like a French whore!” Boucci and Kitty in another scene discuss how she had a different man for every month they were in Paris together.

I must give an absolute mention to Norma Shearer’s costumes. They were so great. They were not jaw dropping but I loved them. One that went crazy for was at the end. Shearer is dressed in a button up jacket, a button up shirt, a tie, white skirt, and a cloche. She looked so pretty. It is definitely an outfit I would desperately want to wear today. Her nightgown leaves nothing to the imagination which only added to her seductiveness. All of Shearer’s costumes were designed by Adrian.

 

I enjoyed every second of Let Us Be Gay. Well, the ending was a bit disappointing with Kitty going back to Bob. I was so hoping she would just forget him and keep going as the incredible new woman she was. It was entertaining, enjoyable, and funny. I wish films with this kind of story were made and ended today. I can think of a few actresses today who would be great in parts similar to the ones Norma Shearer played. Let Us Be Gay is a film I highly suggest seeing.