Did you people see the same film I saw?

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The intersecting stories of guests at the Grand Hotel in Berlin has a star-studded cast, direction from Edmund Goulding which feels modern, and a script that meanders in interesting ways. It also manages to make a few subtle observations about life.I've never really quite fallen under Greta Garbo's spell, but she's well-cast here as the flighty ballerina who becomes despondent, but then falls for an ardent fan (John Barrymore). Barrymore is not just a fan, though, he's a thief and smooth operator. Just moments before he's hitting on a stenographer (Joan Crawford) with lines like "I don't suppose you'd take some dictation from me sometime, would you?" He's then in Garbo's room to steal her pearl necklace, but is interrupted when she and her retinue suddenly return, one by one. It's a fantastic scene, one of many that will keep you wondering where the film is going.John's real-life brother Lionel Barrymore is also here, as a man who has a terminal illness, and is therefore 'living it up' while he can. He revels in drinking, gambling, and telling off the executive (Wallace Beery) of the organization he once slaved in. I had to look up the 'Louisiana Flip' drink he enjoys and keeps wanting to push on others. His performance is a little simpering, but ultimately endearing, as he's realized how transient life is, and yet isn't at all bitter about his fate. His raving, somewhat drunken toast, "Drink to life, to the magnificent, dangerous, brief, brief, wonderful life," is brilliant, and it's telling that his fellow card players don't pay all that much attention to him as they just want to file past and exit.Beery is fantastic, and it's through his character that 'Grand Hotel' makes interesting social criticisms. He starts off assuring an associate that he must maintain his integrity during a critical business negotiation, but then as it falls apart, compromises himself. He's married, but begins paying undue attention to his stenographer (Crawford), wants her to travel with him, and through a sizable cash gift, soon has her planning to stay the night with him before doing that. As he's confronted by Lionel Barrymore's character, it's clear that he's a corporate elite, out of touch with his workers and completely unsympathetic to them. Lastly, when he does something wrong (being deliberately vague here), he tries to get others to lie for him to cover it up. It turns out he has zero integrity after all. The film shows us the importance of having money - Crawford's character needs it to make ends meet, John Barrymore's character needs it to be free from an entanglement, Lionel Barrymore's character has it and is able to enjoy life as a result, and it's an important part of both Garbo and Beery's standing. On the other hand, the film shows us the importance of acting honorably. Crawford doesn't want to exploit Lionel Barrymore, and neither does John Barrymore. Garbo and Lionel Barrymore are both generous, offering to help others.Director Goulding includes overhead shots in interesting ways - looking down the concentric floors of the hotel to the lobby below, above the hotel switchboard operators, and at the front desk. This, along with the sardonic commentary from a doctor wounded in the war (Lewis Stone), helps emphasize how this hubbub of activity is just a very small piece of the world. Life goes on all around us, all over the world, it comes and goes and all is transient, it's born anew by the wife of the porter (Jean Hersholt) who anxiously awaits, and in the next set of guests who come in to the hotel at the end.

Known as the film to win Best Picture but receiving no other Oscar nominations and as the first all-star film to many, 'Grand Hotel' still holds up as very impressive with a huge amount to admire 85 years later.'Grand Hotel' is not quite a masterpiece, at least to me. It does run a little too long and inevitably for a film adapted from a stage play there are parts that creak whether in pacing or drama (which was not unexpected seeing as it was always a potential trap that numerous early films adapted from stage plays fell into).While Greta Garbo's performance has been criticised for being over-the-top (which is an understandable and valid criticism), again to me there is one actor who overdoes it much more, and pretty painfully too, and that is Wallace Beery. A take or leave it actor and no stranger to hamminess, Beery's bombastic scenery chewing on occasion does threaten to unbalance the film.Even though not a subtle performance in a theatrical role that called for theatricality, it cannot be denied that Garbo's presence here is luminous and impossible to forget and she always had a gift for comedy (as seen in 'Ninotchka'), dignity (as seen in 'Queen Christina') and for pathos (as seen in 'Camille' and 'Anna Karenina').John Barrymore personified suave better than anyone before the likes of George Sanders (this was before his decline where alcoholism did him in and his performances became self-parody), while his brother Lionel is amusing and heart-breaking in a role far removed from his iconic villain Mr Potter from 'It's a Wonderful Life'. It's Joan Crawford at her most subtle, most charming and most sparkling who steals the show however.So essentially, with the exception of Beery, an all-star cast giving fine performances. They are supported by a number of factors, such as the meatiness and density of the characterisations and a script that still sparkles in its wit and sophistication. Edmund Goulding directs with class.Despite the long length, 'Grand Hotel' rarely lags and very nearly always remains interesting, with interconnecting story lines done so deftly and with such colour. 'Grand Hotel' was a visual and technical achievement back then, and to this day still dazzles with its stunning set and some ingenious cinematography that solves all potential scene change problems and allows one to revel in the hotel's glory. The score is just as ravishing.Overall, while not a masterpiece 'Grand Hotel' is still a delight. 8/10 Bethany Cox

In this movie the luxurious "Grand Hotel" in Berlin plays host to several different characters whose lives become intertwined in this intricate drama which won the Academy Award for "Best Picture" in 1932. Although Greta Garbo (as "Grusinkaya") was probably the main star attraction other performers equally shared the stage and were just as impressive. I especially liked Lionel Barrymore (as "Baron Felix von Geigern") and Joan Crawford ("Flaemmchen") in their respective roles but both Greta Garbo and Wallace Beery ("General Director Preysing") were also quite good. Admittedly, a couple of the scenes seemed to drag here and there but the ending tied everything up real well and essentially makes this film the classic that it is. Likewise, having two beautiful stars like Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford certainly doesn't hurt either. Be that as it may this movie is both sad and profound and while it may be somewhat dated it is certainly worthy of its accolades and deserves a look if a person should ever get the opportunity. Definitely above average.

Without a good story to tell, Grand Hotel might be just an overwrought gathering of some of the greatest stars in the early days of Hollywood, a kind of revue of great faces without any real purpose. Yet, because this there is multiple stories, multiple characters, multiple points of interest, the movie is infinitely watchable, even today. What we get is a movable soap opera that surprisingly hasn't dated, and that may have something to do with the fact that the cast features actors who are given good material.Based on a mostly forgotten play "Menschen im Hotel" by William A. Drake from the book by Vicki Baum (who wrote the book based on her own experiences working in a hotel), Grand Hotel tells a multi-tiered story about the various goings-on at a swank Berlin hotel. The disfigured World War I veteran and permanent resident Dr. Otternschlag (Lewis Stone) describes it as "People come and go. Nothing ever happens." Actually, he's being ironic. There's plenty going on, and as the patrons gather we meet them and get involved in their various stories.We meet a Baron, Felix von Geigern (John Barrymore), once a millionaire who has now squandered his fortune and makes a living by day as a card player and at night as a jewel thief. He befriends a sickly former accountant Otto Kringelein (Lionel Barrymore) who believes he is dying and is spending his last days at the hotel.We meet an industrialist called Preysing (Wallace Beery) who is about to close a sink-or-swim business deal that, if unsuccessful, could ruin him and his family. He hires a beautiful stenographer and aspiring actress named Flaemmchen (Joan Crawford) and during a conversation she suggests that she is willing to help him if he is willing to help her out of the typing pool.Then there is Grusinskaya (Greta Garbo) a Russian ballet dancer whose career is fading. Her station in life is taking its toll and she becomes depressed, stating "I want to be alone." One night the Baron is robbing her room when she returns from an engagement and he overhears her, thinking that she is considering suicide. He confronts her, she is startled, but as they talk, they fall in love. This union does not go where we expect.All of these stories interconnect in a way that is not only clever but really quite compelling. The characters act, basically, according to their nature and their stories don't go where we expect. The most interesting is Flaemmchen, a beautiful young woman who has a mind behind her looks. There is a suggestion that she is willing to bed down with Preysing to further her career but she's no mere floozy. She also falls a little bit in love after a slight flirtation with the Baron. This is a different Joan Crawford then we're use to, young and happy and flirtatious. Crawford's legacy has been tainted by her reputation as a bitch-on-wheels and tarnished by trash like Mommie Dearest, but here we see the young Crawford. She is confident, easy-going and easy to fall in love with.Also interesting is Kringelein whom we meet as a man who seems to be nothing less than a self-pitying hypochondriac, but whose association with the Baron fuels his last days on earth with a profound sense of joy. He has an associated with Preysing. He was once under his employ and we discover, in a stunning moment, just what a rat his former employer was. This is a very dialogue driven picture taking place within confined spaces. The hotel itself is tall and circular and somewhat confined by the scope of what the camera is able to capture. Many of the rooms are lit at low levels so as to suggest the dark secrets hiding in the shadows. What is amazing is that none of this seems dry or dated. Everyone has a story to tell, and all seem to have a story that began before the camera found them.That's the true test of good writing. This could easily have been a tapestry of movie stars with nothing to do, but it's much more compelling than that. Many may see it as dated but I see a movie that peeks into a time gone by, with stars long gone. It is a timestamp on a world and on attitudes that we are never likely to see again.***1/2 (of four)