Marie Dressler

  • Dinner at Eight (1933)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On DVD, November 2021) Some movies make for fascinating viewing because they’re dated, and so much of Dinner at Eight’s charm comes from some witty writing showing early-1930s Manhattan socialites trying to put together a fancy dinner party. This is an excuse to go and explore the lives of the invited guests, as the ever-changing line-up of the dinner party features archetypes and preoccupations of the time. Unlike many films of the 1930s, Dinner at Eight does not ignore the Great Depression, nor (as a Pre-Code film) does it shy away from upsetting sensibilities with subplots of adultery, suicide, desperation and terminal illness. Although clearly put together as drama, the script has some exceptional dialogue that makes it feel vastly funnier than it ought to be. (It’s a logical link between the comedies-of-manner from the Edwardian Era and the Screwball Hollywood comedies.)  Conceived as a star-studded epic drama in the footsteps of the previous year’s Grand Hotel, the film can boast of an impressive cast if you’re up to your early-sound film superstars: Marie Dressler, John and Lionel Barrymore, as well as Jean Harlow are the standout names, but the more you know about the era, the more the cast will seem impressive. While technically rough in the way most early-sound-era films were, the dialogue and acting are still exceptional (with a few allowances made for how standards have evolved) and manage to impress. But it’s still Dinner at Eight’s look at circa-1933 New York that works best, with a thick web of contemporary allusions, characters of their times, and assumptions that almost feel alien today.

  • Anna Christie (1930)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, October 2021) I really tried to stay interested in Anna Christie, but sometimes, the gap between what a film has to offer and what we’re willing to give is just too great. It doesn’t help that I have no specific fascination with Greta Garbo, as much of the initial hoopla about the film (and one of its distinctions to this day) was “Garbo Speaks”—the first sound film of one of the studio’s biggest silent film stars. The plot, adapted from a theatrical play by Eugene O’Neill, has to do with the protagonist having a dark past that she has difficulty sharing with her new fiancé. But Garbo is not that exciting a performer—she does fine, but doesn’t bring much compared to other actresses. Marie Dressler is more fun (in a grating way) as an older woman with coarser dialogue. Much of Anna Christie’s lack of interest comes from its early sound technique—while a prestige production at the time, it’s a rough film nowadays—although I was surprised to find a few complex camera movements so early in sound film history. Still, much of the story has lost its shock value (“Fiancé, I worked in a brothel for a few years” is still a dramatic plot device, but not what it was back in 1930) and the film has been technically surpassed many times over since then. Anna Christie is more noteworthy for what it represented upon release than for straight-up viewing pleasure right now.