Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT
Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT
#1Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT
Posted: 1/10/09 at 10:11pm
Okay, I have a confession to make: I'd never seen this all the way through until tonight, though of course, I'd seen clips.
Marie Dressler is giving my new favorite performance! She's glorious. Huge, over the top, but utterly convincing and completely supported emotionally. And how she manages to flirt and not be grotesque is beyond me.
Gorgeous work!
Updated On: 1/10/09 at 10:11 PM
#2re: Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT
Posted: 1/10/09 at 10:19pmAgree! Brilliant film, all around They don't make 'em like this anymore...
#2re: Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT
Posted: 1/10/09 at 10:32pmDinner at Eight is one of the funniest films ever made! Marie Dressler is hysterical! Especially the last line of the film! The entire cast is one of the film history books!
#3re: Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT
Posted: 1/10/09 at 10:35pmTrue. And Billie Burke really knows what she's doing. I guess I always thought she just fluttered her way through her film career, but seeing this made me realize that no, this lady is a pro.
Mamie
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/26/04
#4re: Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT
Posted: 1/10/09 at 10:39pm
Wasn't it fabulous? Overflowing with brilliant performances from that incredible all star cast - and the grand dame Marie stealing it from all of them!
A click for life.
mamie4 5/14/03
#5re: Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT
Posted: 1/10/09 at 10:43pmA friend says that Garbo has to work hard to keep up with her in ANNA CHRISTIE--and that you can tell they both know it.
Mamie
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/26/04
#6re: Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT
Posted: 1/10/09 at 10:52pm
A click for life.
mamie4 5/14/03
#8re: Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT
Posted: 1/11/09 at 8:15am
Leave it to Mamie!
I've never SEEN that hit picture! And what's that on top? A bird's nest?
#9re: Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT
Posted: 1/11/09 at 9:29amLove the movie, love Dressler! Long may she wave.
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#10re: Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT
Posted: 1/11/09 at 11:12am
Here is the scene with Jean Harlow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zQe-lVm7L4
Roscoe
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#11re: Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT
Posted: 1/11/09 at 12:03pmMarie Dressler RULES. Her Carlotta Vance is one of the best performances of the 1930s.
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#12re: Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT
Posted: 1/11/09 at 4:23pmI love the studio era, where so many performers had a stock character that you could trot out periodically. These big ensemble films are just so joyful as each little star gets to shine...
#13re: Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT
Posted: 1/12/09 at 12:43am
It's the way she gets stopped in her tracks that is so priceless! (It's like she's walked into an invisible wall of Jello)
I will willing admit that I've gotten laughs in a few shows by recreating (or doing my best attempt to) that bit.
#14re: Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT
Posted: 1/12/09 at 8:35amI remember some critic describing her take in that final scene as being like a train derailing.
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#15re: Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT
Posted: 1/12/09 at 9:28am
"I love the studio era, where so many performers had a stock character that you could trot out periodically."
That's the problem with movies today, there are no character actors. Where are Thelma Ritter, Marjorie Main, Don Knotts, etc? Character types rarely show up in movies today.
Roscoe
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#16re: Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT
Posted: 1/12/09 at 10:15am
To an elderly lady who claims to have seen Carlotta do TRELAWNEY when she was just a little girl: "How extraordinary. We should sit down some time and discuss the Civil War. Just you and I."
About Paula's fiance, whose last name is De Graff: "De Graff? De Graff? I think I knew his father..." She works her way around her assorted large bits of jewelry, and finds a particularly large brooch: "I did!"
#17re: Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT
Posted: 1/12/09 at 10:30amShe would have made an AMAZING Mme. Armfeldt...if a trifle vulgar.
#19re: Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT
Posted: 1/12/09 at 2:09pm
Last year I found a fantastic biography of Dressler at the Silent Film Festival in SF. It not only covered her personal life, it was the most in depth coverage of her theatrical career as well as her movie career. If you really want to know more about her, get the book.
http://www.amazon.com/Marie-Dressler-Performances-Filmography-Discography/dp/0786428449/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231787280&sr=8-2
in case the link doesn't work: it's called Marie Dressler: A Biography, with a Listing of Major Stage Performances, a Filmography and a Discography (Paperback)and it's available on Amazon.
#20re: Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT
Posted: 1/12/09 at 2:18pmJustme, thanks so much for the info!
#21re: Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT
Posted: 1/12/09 at 3:50pm
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
Joan Blondell: A Life between Takes
Kay Francis: I Can't Wait to be Forgotten
Marie Dressler: The Unlikeliest Star
and
Include Me Out: My Life from Goldwyn to Broadway by Farley Granger
#22re: Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT
Posted: 1/12/09 at 8:01pmInteresting....I bought all those books within the last two years! The Kay Francis Book (and there is another one as well that I bought) are the best biographies I've read in years. Lots of good, juicy stuff in those!
#23re: Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT
Posted: 1/12/09 at 11:36pmSpeaking of Kay Francis, Justme, are you a fan of "Trouble of Paradise."
#24re: Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT
Posted: 1/12/09 at 11:43pmMy all-time favorite movie, as you know, Reginald!
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