Themes: Assumed Identities, Dying Young, Actor's Life
Main Cast: Ginger Rogers, Lana Turner, Walter Pidgeon, Van Johnson, Edward Arnold
Release Year: 1945
Country: US
Run Time: 130 minutes
Plot
Weekend at the Waldorf is an unabashed remake of MGM's 1932 Oscar-winner Grand Hotel: in fact, at several points in the story, the cast makes pointed references to the earlier film. The posh Waldorf Hotel in the heart of New York is the setting for several plots and subplots. Ginger Rogers plays the Garbo counterpart, a successful but severely depressed movie star who wants to be alone. Walter Pigeon steps into John Barrymore's role, sort of; whereas Barrymore was a thief posing as nobility, Pigeon is a war correspondent posing as a thief. Hotel stenographer Lana Turner (originally Joan Crawford) latches onto tycoon Edward Arnold (originally Wallace Beery) in hopes of a life of luxury. And, in the film's biggest adaptation stretch, Van Johnson is cast as a war hero who, about to undergo life-threatening surgery, wants to thoroughly enjoy what may be his last days on earth. It takes a while to figure this out, but Johnson is supposed to be the character played in Grand Hotel by Lionel Barrymore: the meek clerk who, upon discovering that he's dying, blows his life savings on one last fling. On the whole, Weekend at the Waldorf is a lot more light-hearted than Grand Hotel, as indicated by the expository character played by humorist Robert Benchley, not to mention the presence of Xavier Cugat as the Waldorf's orchestra leader. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Never the studio to leave well enough alone, MGM resurrected Vicki Baum's ancient Grand Hotel, performed a vigorous spring cleaning and re-titled the result Weekend at the Waldorf. But along with the dust, the posh hostelry also lost some of its heart and soul. Rather than world-weary and slightly decadent like their predecessors, Ginger Rogers and Walter Pidgeon come across as merely bored. In fact, only Lana Turner, in the spot once occupied by Joan Crawford, adds a bit of glamorous sparkle to a hodgepodge all too preoccupied with such World War II fads as Van Johnson and Xavier Cugat and his orchestra. But Weekend at the Waldorf was certainly a handsome advertisement for the famous New York establishment. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Daniel B. Cathcart - Art Director, Cedric Gibbons - Art Director, Charles Walters - Choreography, Irene - Costume Designer, Marion Herwood Keyes - Costume Designer, Robert Z. Leonard - Director, Robert J. Kern - Editor, Johnny Green - Composer (Music Score), Sidney B. Cutner - Composer (Music Score), Johnny Green - Musical Direction/Supervision, Jack Dawn - Makeup, Robert Planck - Cinematographer, Arthur Hornblow, Jr. - Producer, Robert Z. Leonard - Producer, Edwin B. Willis - Set Designer, Jack Bonar - Set Designer, Warren Newcombe - Special Effects, Guy Bolton - Screenwriter, Bella Spewack - Screenwriter, Samuel Spewack - Screenwriter, Vicki Baum - Play Author
