Come to Dinner

I wonder what Louis B. Mayer must have said to Jack L. Warner at some industry gathering after he saw what Warner did to one of MGM's greatest hits. With lookalike players, none of whom get any billing, Warner Brothers turned out a fine Vitagraph short subject Come To Dinner a spoof on the classic Dinner At Eight.

Through the magic of Turner Classic Movies not to mention owning and renting tapes and discs of old films you can appreciate anew the people like brothers Lionel and John Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow, Marie Dressler and the rest of the cast. I really did like the platinum blond doppleganger they found for Jean Harlow. Running a close second is the John Barrymore figure in the cat.

I wonder if Mayer got even with Warner with a broad satire of one of that studio's classics.

Come to think of it the original authors of Dinner At Eight, George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber were no mean wits themselves. Would have loved to get their opinion on this Vitagraph short subject.

This is one of two special features included on the DVD release for "Dinner at Eight". Unlike the typical biography, 'making of' flick or cartoon, "Come to Dinner" is a parody of the feature film. It seems that they used lookalikes for the main characters from "Dinner at Eight" for a 20 minute condensed version of the movie. Its humor was often rather subtle and would not really be appreciated unless you first saw the feature film. Though I must admit some (such as the mass suicide) were a bit low-brow. In addition, there are some musical numbers (something NOT in the original). So why would they make such a film? Well, it was NOT made by MGM (who made "Dinner at Eight") but rival studio Warner Brothers--who were mocking the film as well as trying to cash in on the movie's success! Clever but not brilliant.

Come to Dinner (1934)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This two-reeler from Vitaphone spoof their rivals DINNER AT EIGHT and we also get lookalike actors taking over the parts originally played by Lionel and John Barrymore, Jean Harlow and Mari Dressler. Obviously, if you've seen the classic 1933 movie then you're going to get more of the jokes. With that said, if you haven't seen the original then you'll still be mildly entertained by this short as long as you recognize who they're spoofing. I'd say my favorite moments here are the ones dealing with the Barrymore's. The spoof of John is pretty spot on and especially the stuff dealing with him not being able to find an acting part. The guy playing Lionel also does a very good job and manages to get a couple nice laughs. This film does add a musical number, which is actually pretty good and there are also a few more gags that are certainly pre-code material. With all that that being said, I'm really not sure why Warner would want to make this thing unless there was just a behind-the-scenes joke going on or perhaps the original film was just so popular that they figured this spoof would go over well.

This hilarious and surprisingly sophisticated satire of "Dinner at Eight" may surprise you by revealing that the sarcastic brand of humor that present-day audiences attribute to the Zuckers and films like "Airplane!" existed as far back as the 1930s in film. The actors in this short spoof nail their impersonations cold, the stand out being the devastating lampoon of Marie Dressler. The DVD special features on the Warners release, "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang," offer a similar parody of that film that played in theatres at the time of the movie's release, but that Warners short is all hokey, broad vaudeville humor; none of it is sharp or intelligent. In contrast, "Come to Dinner" exhibits a brand of humor that would be welcome today on some of the brainier comedy shows.

A great surprise to see this simply delightful comedy parody of MGM's Dinner at Eight, done by Warner Brothers Vitaphone, carefully by passing copyright of course. Once listed as missing presumed lost, but listed in Halliwell's Guides, I had long tried to see the film, but it never surfaced till now, and it is a delight to those who know the original MGM film so well. Even the sets are duplicated, along with the most famous scenes.

The Actors are superb, the Carlotta character rivalling Marie Dressler..and the actor doing John Barrymore is so accurate, along with Lionel Barrymore's impersonation, to the life. Dated in some ways, a viewer who comes on this cold, will dismiss the comedy, as they may not know the real version at all. I suspect that Billie Burke winced a bit at the interpretation of stage voice, but I hope the originals all saw the joke. The talented, but uncredited actors are a revelation, all could have held down Hollywood careers, but were in the main Broadway stage performers.

I expect the origins of the film lay in the war between Louis Meyer, and Jack Warner, with many films as efforts to be one up on each other, as with the Musical films of the late twenties and early thirties.