Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Grand Hotel

 
Movies:

Grand Hotel

 
  • Director: Edmund Goulding
  • AMG Rating: starstarstarstarstar
  • Genre: Drama
  • Movie Type: Romantic Drama, Melodrama
  • Themes: Star-Crossed Lovers, Jewel Theft, Dancer's Life
  • Main Cast: Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore
  • Release Year: 1932
  • Country: US
  • Run Time: 112 minutes

Plot

Based on Vicki Baum's novel and produced by Irving Thalberg, this film is about the lavish Grand Hotel in Berlin, a place where "nothing ever happens." That statement proves to be false, however, as the story follows an intertwining cast of characters over the course of one tumultuous day. Greta Garbo is Grusinskaya, a ballerina whose jewels are coveted by Baron von Geigern (John Barrymore), a thief who fancies Flaemmchen (Joan Crawford), a stenographer and the mistress of Preysing (Wallace Beery), businessman boss of Kringelein (Lionel Barrymore), a terminally ill bookkeeper who is under the care of alcoholic physician Dr. Otternschlag (Lewis Stone). Grand Hotel won Best Picture at the 1932 Academy Awards. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Review

Grand Hotel is the prototype for the all-star ensemble film and an excellent example of the rich and glamorous escapist entertainment, often from MGM, that took on enhanced prominence during the Depression. Produced by Irving Thalberg using top-end ingredients and state-of-the-art technology, it is yet another example of MGM's dominance during the 1930s for this type of film. The plot exists merely as a device to get star faces on the screen, particularly that of Greta Garbo. Though only moderately respected by the critics, Grand Hotel has proven itself of enduring influence, both for Garbo's performance and for creating star-heavy blockbusters that peaked in the 1950s with Around the World in 80 Days. ~ Richard Gilliam, All Movie Guide

Cast

Jean Hersholt - Senf; Robert McWade - Meierheim; Purnell Pratt - Zinnowitz; Ferdinand Gottschalk - Pimenov; Rafaela Ottiano - Suzette; Morgan Wallace - Chauffeur; Tully Marshall - Gerstenkorn; Frank Conroy - Rohna; Murray Kinnell - Schweimann; Mary Carlisle - Honeymooner; Herbert Evans - Clerks; Edwin Maxwell - Dr. Waitz; Sam McDaniel - Bartender; Lee Phelps - Extra in Lobby; Rolfe Sedan; Lewis Stone - Dr. Otternschlag; John Davidson - Hotel Manager

Credit

Cedric Gibbons - Art Director, Adrian - Costume Designer, Edmund Goulding - Director, Blanche Sewell - Editor, William H. Daniels - Cinematographer, Irving G. Thalberg - Producer, Jean Hersholt - Screen Story, William A. Drake - Screenwriter, William A. Drake - Play Author, Vicki Baum - Play Author

Similar Movies

Dinner at Eight; Hotel; Mystery Train; The Rules of the Game; Separate Tables; Skyscraper Souls; Four Hours to Kill; Rome Express; Union Depot; Wonder Bar; Short Cuts; Hotel Shanghai; Beautiful Sunday; Gosford Park; Century Hotel
Search unanswered questions...
Enter a word or phrase...
All Community Q&A Reference topics
 
Wikipedia: Grand Hotel (film)
Top
Grand Hotel

Original movie poster
Directed by Edmund Goulding
Produced by Paul Bern
Irving Thalberg
Written by Vicki Baum (novel)
William A. Drake
Béla Balázs (uncredited)
Starring Greta Garbo
John Barrymore
Joan Crawford
Wallace Beery
Lionel Barrymore
Lewis Stone
Jean Hersholt
Music by William Axt
Charles Maxwell
Cinematography William H. Daniels
Editing by Blanche Sewell
Distributed by MGM
Release date(s) April 12, 1932 (1932-04-12)
Running time 112 min.
Country United States
Language English

Grand Hotel is a 1932 MGM Pre-Code Art Deco film that won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

The plot device of the film—bringing together several unrelated characters into one setting—was popular and effective enough that it was re-used in other films and became known as "the Grand Hotel" formula.[citation needed] The "all-star" scenario was perhaps most successfully replicated the following year in MGM's own Dinner at Eight.

The film opens and closes with Lewis Stone's totally unaware statement : "Grand Hotel. People come and go. Nothing ever happens". The comment turns out to be ironic during the few days in which the plot unfolds, because everything seems to be happening at the hotel, from romance to robbery to an accidental death.

Greta Garbo and John Barrymore

The film came from the original Austrian novel, Menschen im Hotel (English: People in a Hotel), by Vicki Baum as adapted by William A. Drake and Béla Balázs. The setting of Grand Hotel was in Berlin however. It was produced by Irving Thalberg and Paul Bern at MGM (both uncredited on the film), and directed by Edmund Goulding. The top star, Greta Garbo melodramatically delivered her famous line "I want to be alone," in this film. The cast included a series of top names: Lionel Barrymore, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone and Jean Hersholt.

It is the only film to have won the Academy Award for Best Picture without obtaining nominations in any other categories. The award was presented to Irving Thalberg, with no mention of Paul Bern. In addition, Garbo's line "I want to be alone" was voted #30 in the list of AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes.

The film was remade in 1945 as Week-End at the Waldorf starring Ginger Rogers.

In 2007, Grand Hotel was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Contents

Cast

Box Office Performance

The film was a smash hit, on a budget of $700,000, it went on to gross $1,235,000 (USA) with a further $1,359,000 elsewhere in the world. Later on the rentals of the VHS release totalled $2,594,000 giving total gross $5,118,000.[1] With inflation in 2008 the film has grossed around $79,948,689

References to the film

In the 1960 film The Apartment, when Baxter (Jack Lemmon) goes to his apartment, he tries to watch Grand Hotel, but too many commercials frustrate him and he turns off the TV.

References

External links

Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Cimarron
Academy Award for Best Picture
1931-32
Succeeded by
Cavalcade

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Movies. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Movie Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Grand Hotel (film)" Read more

TV Listings
Grand Hotel at LocateTV.com
 

Mentioned in