Grand Hotel (1932)

Directed by Edmund Goulding

Here’s a movie I’ve been hearing about for years but don’t recall ever having seen.

From 1932, Grand Hotel is one of the first, if not the first, Hollywood movie to try being a blockbuster by populating the screen with all the biggest stars of the day.

Set in the Grand Hotel, it involves several characters and various stories, all of which interweave. This is the central idea behind the movie a hotel and the stories that go on within it (stories we rarely are aware of, as suggested by the character who repeats, “Nothing ever happens”).

But where movies like The Poseidon Adventure or, more recently, the Ocean’s Eleven remake rely on something other than characters as the movie’s foundation (a sinking ocean liner in the former case, a Las Vegas money caper in the latter), Grand Hotel is rooted primarily in its characters.

(Mind you, the hotel is a kind of character in the film.)

Each character has a problem, something they want or are trying to avoid, and their stories weave in and out of one another as the movie progresses.

Greta Garbo and John Barrymore in a scene from Grand Hotel.

And those characters are portrayed by Hollywood’s best of the time:

Greta Garbo
John Barrymore
Joan Crawford
Wallace Beery
Lionel Barrymore

It works wonderfully, though some of the characterizations are a bit arch a little over the top which, at the time, was fairly common.

Interestingly, the story has a surprising end for its most sympathetic character, the aristocrat played by John Barrymore. His ending makes for an unusual, though less surprising end for the fussy, clerk-ish character played by his brother Lionel Barrymore.

It’s also great to see Greta Garbo. I’m not sure what other films of her I have seen I suspect none. For the longest time she’s just been a name I’ve heard. Seeing her here, I confess to wondering what the fuss was about.

Wallace Beery and Joan Crawford in a scene from Grand Hotel.

She seems to overplay everything and even be in a world of her own despite the presence of the other actors on the screen with her.

But it’s hard to judge fairly taken out of the context of the period when the film was made. From a 2004 perspective, she reminds me of the character of Nora Desmond in Sunset Boulevard.

The real surprise for me was seeing a very young Joan Crawford. She seems a mere wisp of a girl who plays her scenes sexy and flirtatious.

(I think much of her performance would have been cut had the film come out later after the production codes were in place. Even without them, some scenes were cut when the movie played in certain American states.)

It’s not just that she is sexy, however. She seems incredibly vibrant and alive in the film. Compared to a later film such as Mildred Pierce, it’s hard to believe it’s the same woman.

Grand Hotel is definitely not a great film, at least not for me. But it is certainly interesting for its collection of stars and central conceit of a hotel in which all the action takes place. It’s fun to watch, engaging and well worth seeing if you haven’t already.

(And if you have seen it, it’s worth seeing again.)

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