Like Grand Hotel, Dinner at Eight draws much of its force from its extraordinary set design and art decoration, which bespeak an era and a milieu. Under the skillful direction of George Cukor, the screen adaptation of a George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber play also holds up remarkably well dramatically. Dinner at Eight finds Wallace Beery (a vulgar magnate), Jean Harlow (his guttersnipe wife), John Barrymore (a now destitute matinee idol) and Marie Dressler (decaying Grand Dame) seated at the posh table of New York social climber Billie Burke and her husband Lionel Barrymore. The story is composed of elegantly linked vignettes in which each guest is cynically revealed, and an exposé of Depression “high life” unfolds. John Barrymore is particularly memorable as the once-shining star, and all give tour-de-force performances in what is perhaps the best MGM all-star attraction, and is certainly one of the most entertaining films of the thirties.