Dinner at Eight (1933)

So as I'm watching this famous comedy of manners, I find I am surprised at how grim and dark and cynical it becomes as it progresses. It's essentially about how the rich and nouveau-riche interact with each other during the early years of the 1929 Depression. You've got the juxtaposition of old and crumbling empires (Marie Dressler's aging widow, Lionel Barrymore's failing shipping magnate, John Barrymore's has-been actor) and the youthful upstarts (Wallace Beery as a bullying businessman with his gold digging wife, Jean Harlow; Madge Evans as Lionel's rebellious daughter).

All these folks are supposed to go to a society dinner in a week, and they've all got secrets and problems: promiscuity, heavy alcoholism, corruption, and suicide all happen before dinner is called.

So imagine my non-surprise when I read that "Dinner at Eight" is considered a Pre-Code film despite the Code's inception in 1930. Now "The Code" aka "Hays Code" aka "How Catholics crashed the Hollywood party in 1931" was developed as a reaction to the rising number of what society in general deemed "immoral values" being "promoted" by Hollywood film. And yes, there was all kinds of gangstering and whoring and drugging before 1931, but there was still plenty up until 1934, which was the year Hollywood producers actually started strictly enforcing the "rules." Therefore, "Dinner at Eight" 1933 was technically pre-code and still contained more of the juicier subject matter.

And the rules, BTW, were pretty amazing. Some made sense (no nudity or venereal diseases onscreen), but many were either hilariously prude or weird, e.g. "No pointed profanity, like "Hell, Damn, or Gawd" or "Miscegenation" or "Children's sex organs." Like, what Hollywood movies were showing children's sex organs? Never mind. I don't wanna know.

Some other "Be Carefuls" included "Man and woman in bed together" "the use of drugs" and "Excessive or lustful kissing (more than 3 seconds)." What's the fun in that?

I mean, look at the movie poster: multiple (mostly male) heads crowding around the sex-symbol Jean Harlow's scantily-clad body. The opening credits had her served up on a platter. And in many of her scenes, she's just lying around in bed, with naught but a tight negligee and side-boob action. That's what audiences paid to see, Code or no!

Then you've got poor John Barrymore, who at this point in his illustrious career was forced to play caricatures of himself as the drunken washed-up old actor. A few characters in this movie called Barrymore's character "The Great Profile," which was his actual nickname in reality. Dressler, as well, was on the outs career-wise, but she starred in Hollywood's first feature-length comedy, "Tillie's Punctured Romance" 1914, also starring the up-and-coming Charlie Chaplin. 

In the end, after one character dies of shame, these people show up for dinner and try their best to appear relaxed and germane, despite the obvious fucked-upness of it all. Funny though... as they are having cocktails and their issues are being revealed to concerned parties, everyone seems to find a means to cooperate and show more dedication to sticking out this terrible Depression. So maybe the dinner was such a mishegoss after all.

 The best line comes at the end: