Review of Dinner at Eight (1933) by Henry G — 11 Jul 2007
Not only a flawlessly earnest portrait of a time, but of the hilarity and tragedy of human misunderstanding on all levels, and as brilliant as the concept allows. It handles both the planes of misunderstanding in equally expository light: that which comes of mutual alienation and of the trouble of understanding one another all to well.
Nothing has really been done like it since, despite attempts, and our hopes of ever doing it again are pretty much null and void since 75 percent of the picture is the actors. The other 25 is Cukor, one of the greatest directors of the century.
And the other and graver reason for its continued originality is that it doesn't, even at its most tragic, tend to take itself seriously, and thereby escapes the mawkishness that it would be prey to today.
This review of Dinner at Eight (1933) was written by Henry G on 11 Jul 2007.
Dinner at Eight has generally received positive reviews.
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