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Grand Hotel

Warner Bros./Warner Home Video . R4 . B&W . 108 mins . PG . PAL

  Feature
Contract

Back in 1930, authoress Vicki Baum published a novel, Menschen im Hotel, inspired by her experiences working in two grand Berlin hotels.

That novel inspired a Broadway play. And that Broadway play was funded by a film company, MGM, which had bought film rights to the novel for $35,000. The play did great business - it was perfect pre-publicity for the movie.

Production whiz-kid Irving Thalberg took the Grand Hotel film project under his wing. And for it, he conceived something which had never been done before. This film would not just have one star, or two. The entire ensemble cast would be made up of stars - Hollywood's first stellar-blockbuster.

And so the film went into production in 1932 with an unrivalled cast for its time. Headliner was Greta Garbo as the ballerina Grusinskaya. Playing opposite her as the Count turned jewel thief was the great John Barrymore, lured from the stage. The young and rising Joan Crawford was cast as the stenographer Flaemmchen (try not to cough too deeply when pronouncing that) and Wallace Beery was industrial czar Preysing.

In the first movie which saw the two brothers together, leading MGM star Lionel Barrymore was cast as Otto Kringelein, a book-keeper at Preysing's factory who has discovered he is soon to die, and who has decided to live his last few months or weeks in style at the Grand Hotel. And cadaverous Lewis Stone was cast as Doctor Otternschlag, a one-man Greek chorus who spends his time simply observing the goings-on at this grand Berlin Hotel.

It's Lewis Stone who delivers this final pronouncement at the movie's close. "People come. People go. Nothing ever happens."

Of course, much has happened in the 24 hours of the hotel's life. There has been love and romance, intrigue and death. And Greta Garbo has uttered her immortal words "I want to be alone" - words which would haunt her for the rest of her career.

In this high-melodrama, every character is reaching a life-changing development, and currents are building which are meshing each character to the next. Plots and sub-plots abound. It seems a miracle of concision that such an intricate story depending on quite substantial character-development was able to be told satisfactorily in just 108 minutes - Kevin Costner should take a look at this movie.

The key plot is the redemption of John Barrymore's character, the Baron, who comes to the Grand Hotel to steal Grusinskaya's fabled pearls and finds his heart is stolen instead. Barrymore shows some signs of the ravages of alcohol, which ended his career so prematurely. But he acts with great presence and dignity, as do almost all the stars.

In fact, for the most part the acting is pretty modern in style for a film made in 1932 - the only member of the ensemble whose acting style now seems too dated and completely over-the-top is Greta Garbo, who seems to be playing a parody of herself.

But forget that. Just revel in this vintage melodrama and watch one of the greatest casts ever assembled for a motion picture, then or now. Just the sensational art-deco settings of the lobby and foyers and cocktail bars of the hotel are worth the DVD's admission price.

This movie is still one of the grandest products of the cinema dream-factory. Come for a visit. Stay awhile, in your luxury suite in Hollywood's Grand Hotel.

  Video
Contract

The image quality of this 1932 black and white classic is excellent for its period. We get a good impression of the overall quality from the start of the art-deco titles, which feature good contrast levels and shadow details.

The utmost finest resolution may be missing, but I would imagine we are seeing in this transfer a product not that far removed from the original release prints - this is great cinema history, beautifully presented.

  Audio
Contract

The mono sound is quite adequate for the purpose; dialogue is crystal-clear and there is no evident hiss or shrillness. In fact, for its vintage, this is premium-grade audio. Too many movies of these first years of the sound era were flawed by primitive recording techniques; this shows remarkably fast technical evolution.

The soundtrack features uncredited music by Oscar Strauss, Franz Lehar and Rachmaninov; this background music is always at a very low level, and while definitely not hi-fi, it is also free of harshness or distortion.

  Extras
Contract

The main feature is a brand-new 12-minute 'making of' documentary.

Although it's quite short, it moves along at a rattling clip and manages to squeeze in a lot of worthwhile information. It's from this documentary that I gleaned most of the historical background I mention in the main body of the review. It's well worth checking out, after viewing the movie.

And now a SPOILER ALERT - well, that's a warning the DVD menu should have carried. In a very strong 19-minute feature offering, we're given a 1933 comedy featurette directed by Roy Mack, Nothing Ever Happens, which is a broad parody of Grand Hotel with impersonations of every major character, as well as its own chorus-line of young starlets impersonating bellboys and the like, with the fastest-tempo high-kicks you'll ever see.

The only trouble is, this parody gives away every single plot-line and plot development in the movie. Definitely watch only after viewing the main feature. Seen at the right time, it's good vintage fun.

There's a cinema-teaser, JUST A WORD OF WARNING, telling patrons at other cinemas that Grand Hotel is moving into its last few weeks at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. There's also a theatrical preview for a revival season a few years down the track.

And finally, there's an historic newsreel showing the original cinema premiere at Grauman's - still one of the biggest premieres in cinema history, with a replica Grand Hotel lobby built to receive all the stars - not just the stars of the film itself, but others including Marlene Dietrich, Robert Montgomery and a very young Clark Gable. Watch for the young girls outside the theatre, ready to swoon the moment a star arrives.

Everyone was there - everyone except Greta Garbo. She just wanted to be alone.

  Overall  
Contract

This is a great slice of cinema history.

Rental will suit most people, but the extras make up a parcel which will tempt many to buy this disc outright. Either way, Grand Hotel should be experienced, just to see the stars of Hollywood at one of tinsel-town's finest hours.


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      And I quote...
    "Grand Hotel is grand melodramatic entertainment from the greatest stars of Hollywood's golden age."
    - Anthony Clarke
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Panasonic A330
    • TV:
          Loewe Profil Plus 3272 68cm
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