The world's most over rated movie. Can anyone explain to me how "Dinner at Eight" gets four stars? I had never seen it, but felt I owed it to myself to do so. Just watched it, forcing myself to give it a chance to the very end. Anemic, cliché-ridden, melodramatic writing, amateur direction (I know, George Cukor) and, with the exception of Harlow and Dressler, absolutely dreadful acting, especially John and Lionel Barrymore. I suppose on the stage, some of the comic relief might have been funnier, but in the film, the comic lines died rather than relieved; just like poor old John B. If I had had to deliver the kind of lines that he did, I would have gassed myself too. I'm in total bewilderment.
Reviews
2 Reviews
Foreign Intrigue
(1956)
Forgotten gem
22 November 2005
Why this film has not been issued on video is puzzling. It has an unusual and compelling plot, attractive locales (shot on location in Europe) and features the inimitable Robert Mitchum. Derived from the television series of the same name, it captures the "take me somewhere far away and adventuresome" escapism of the time. The musical underscore (the original TV introductory piano concerto and a coronet forward jazz theme) continues to this day to swim in my head. Mitchum plays a reluctant investigative patsy persuaded against his better judgment by interpol intelligence to help track down the perpetrators of a scheme to blackmail various politicians who had secretly agreed to ease the invasion of their respective countries by the Nazis. While the film lacks a true denouement (it ends with the Mitchum character about to rendezvous with the prime suspect), the photography, the acting and above all its ingratiating style certainly have made it memorable in the mind of this viewer.
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