Social climber Millicent Jordan is making plans for her dinner party, but all is not going well: Hubby Oliver, whose business is in trouble, invites undesirable player Dan Packard and his missus to dinner, adding to Millicent's epic stress levels. Swapping vignettes with the other guests, it seems that everyone preparing for the party has something on their minds...
by William Thomas |
Published on
Release Date:
01 Jan 1989
Running Time:
95 minutes
Certificate:
NR
Original Title:
Dinner at Eight
A very ill-advised TV movie remake of the 1933 MGM classic with Marsha Mason and John Mahoney as the couple at home, a coke-snorting Harry Hamlin standing in for a drunken John Barrymore, Lauren Bacall instead of Marie Dressier and, most pitiably of all, Ellen Greene struggling gamely with the role Jean Harlow made immortal.
Although the original play from George S Kaufman and Edna Ferber was a little lackluster itself, George Cukor's film version sparkled by pitting some of Hollywoods greatest names against each other at the peak of their stardom. This made-for-TV version might have the might of Mason and Bacall but it's not quite the same: the competition isn't there, and neither is any sort of satisfaction.
Stiffly played and as charmless as a furniture showroom, it's not even a snack compared to the original.
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