Grand Hotel (1932)
Grand Hotel... always the same. People come, people go. Nothing ever happens.
Grand Hotel (1932) - watched 9/18/24
Director: Edmund Goulding
Writer: William A. Drake
Starring: Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone, Jean Hersholt
Available to rent or buy on most platforms.
First Time Watch? Yes
One thing you should probably know about me is that I just love a movie with multiple interconnected storylines. That, to me, is extremely good shit. When I watched Magnolia for the first time in the early 2000s, it rewired my brain and changed my perception of what a movie could accomplish, what real storytelling could be.
Many years later when I watched Short Cuts for the first time, I thought “Oh, Magnolia really just did a copy + paste of this, and I fucking love it.” I’m even a sucker for the wildly problematic holiday rom-com Love, Actually. Look, we all have at least one movie that we’re loathe to admit to enjoying, and this is a safe space to admit it!!
A hotel is the perfect setting for such a plot, so much so that I’m surprised there haven’t been many, many attempts to recreate what Grand Hotel has accomplished here. You have multiple people, from varying backgrounds, dealing with their own unique situations, staying at the hotel for their own specific reasons, with their only commonality being their location. As we see in Grand Hotel, it’s a perfect breeding ground for intrigue, romance, and conflict.
Life is wonderful, but it’s very dangerous. If you have the courage to live it, it’s marvelous.
The least convoluted way to synopsize this movie might be to, first, give a rundown of the characters:
Grusinskaya (Greta Garbo) - A famous dancer whose career is on the decline
Baron Felix von Gaigern (John Barrymore) - A bankrupt baron who is addicted to gambling and frequently steals jewels from other Grand Hotel guests
General Director Preysing (Wallace Beery) - A ruthless businessman who is about to close an important deal
Flaemmchen (Joan Crawford) - A flirty young stenographer and aspiring actress who is hired by Preysing
Otto Kringelein (Lionel Barrymore) - A dying accountant and former employee of Preysing, who is spending his last days living it up at the Grand Hotel
Doctor Otternschlag (Lewis Stone) - A disfigured WWI veteran and permanent resident of the Grand Hotel
Otternschlag observes with a sense of ennui as a new crop of guests check in to the Grand Hotel in Berlin. The Baron meets Flaemmchen and they flirt heavily, and make plans to attend a dance together. Later that night, he sneaks into Grusinskaya’s room to steal her jewelry, but she unexpectedly returns from the theater, prompting him to hide. Depressed with the state of her career as a dancer, Grusinskaya contemplates suicide out loud to herself, believing she’s alone in the room. The Baron, overhearing this, comes out of hiding to gush about her talent and profess his love for her. Okay Baron, I thought you were sweet on Flaemmchen, but sure! The Baron returns Grusinskaya’s jewelry and she forgives him, even inviting him along to her next performance in Vienna, and then they fuck all night.
The next day, the corrupt Preysing negotiates a bad deal, and goes to the hotel bar afterword. There, he sees Flaemmchen, who has struck up a conversation with Kringelein while waiting for the Baron, and Preysing tries to steal her away from him. First of all, let’s not steal women, okay? The tension between Preysing and Kringelein escalates, with Kringelein calling Preysing out for paying pitiful wages to his employees, and for threatening to fire him while he was sick.
Realizing that the Baron has stood her up, Flaemmchen accepts Preysing’s offer to travel with him to England to try to save the merger he just botched. The Baron, meanwhile, wants to turn over a new leaf and leave the gambling and thievery behind, but he is still in desperate need of money. He organizes a card game with Kringelein in the hopes of winning enough money to settle his debts, but ends up losing all of his money, while Kringelein wins big. Kringelein collapses from all the excitement of winning, and Baron steals his wallet—he has a change of heart when Kringelein shows distress over the missing wallet, and the Baron pretends he’s found it for him.
Still broke and desperate for money, the Baron sneaks into Preysing’s room to steal his valuables. Preysing catches him in the act, and beats him to death with a telephone receiver. Flaemmchen, horrified, runs to Kringelein for help. Kringelein calls the police and turns in Preysing, getting his sweet revenge on his no-good employer, and Preysing is arrested.
The next morning, the guests are checking out of the hotel. Flaemmchen leaves with Kringelein to go to Paris, where they intend to find another Grand Hotel to stay in. Grusinskaya, still unaware of the Baron’s fate, is shielded from news of his death and told that he will probably meet her at the train station. She swans out of the hotel, not thinking anything of it. Otternschlag observes as new guests filter into the hotel lobby, echoing his sentiments from the beginning of the film, that the Grand Hotel is “always the same. People come, people go. Nothing ever happens.”
He looks so peaceful. It can’t be so hard to die.
So, how did the Academy do this time around?
I can definitely see the logic behind giving Grand Hotel the biggest prize of the night. It’s a fairly ambitious film, with some complicated blocking and choreography to get some of these elaborate long takes and tracking shots just right. It’s one of the early films of its kind, with a large ensemble cast of big stars, with overlapping storylines. The script is solid, with elements of comedy, drama, and romance. And most of the performances are compelling—my sure to be unpopular opinion here is that Greta Garbo was the weak link in this ensemble. Yes, even her delivery of her famous line, “I want to be alone,” felt underwhelming to me. Joan Crawford acts circles around her, to be honest.
Grand Hotel certainly has its merits, and I enjoyed the film overall, and I look forward to revisiting it at some point. I especially enjoyed the turn the movie made toward the end—I for sure was not expecting this story to lead to a murder!! I found myself wondering throughout the film where exactly this was going, and I wasn’t disappointed. If I’d had to guess, I would have thought Kringelein would be the one to leave the Grand Hotel in a body bag, and while I wished no ill will on the Baron, I was happy to see Kringelein get the happy ending that he deserved, even knowing that he is facing certain death after the credits roll.
Buuuuut… would this be my pick for Best Picture? Were it not for the excellence of Shanghai Express, absolutely. I’m just way too enamored with that film to not consider it my personal Best Picture of 1932. So, while the Academy didn’t fully flub this one, and I’m at least okay with their pick, they still could’ve done better. I guess when it comes to brooding European women of the 1930s, I’m more of a Marlene Dietrich girl over Greta Garbo.
And what do you do in the Grand Hotel? Eat. Sleep. Loaf around. Flirt a little, dance a little. A hundred doors leading to one hall. No one knows anything about the person next to them. And when you leave, someone occupies your room, lies in your bed... that's the end.
Quick Facts:
Nominated for 1 Academy Award, won 1
Best Picture (won)
The only Best Picture Oscar winner not to be nominated for any other Academy Awards. It was also one of only three movies to win the Best Picture Oscar without winning any other awards. The other two were The Broadway Melody (1929) and Mutiny on the Bounty (1935).
Lionel Barrymore’s character orders a drink called the Louisiana Flip at the bar, and tries to get others to order one as well. It was supposedly a popular drink at the time, but there is very little information on it when I did a hasty, half-assed Google, but I did find a recipe that seems more or less accurate:
2oz white rum
½oz Cointreau
½oz orange juice
2 bar spoons grenadine
1 raw egg
Place all ingredients into a mixing glass or shaker. Shake without ice for up to 30 seconds, or until foamy. Add ice and shake for another 30-60 seconds, until very cold and foamy
Stray Notes:
“Gowns by Adrian” in the credits? You love to see it.
Nice to see Wallace Beery in a different type of role for once, even though Wallace Beery the person is still detestable
So much lovely movement in these shots—and long takes! This initial scene in the lobby is so dreamy. Beautifully, seamlessly blocked & choreographed
I can see why Joan Crawford became such an icon. Her performance is very natural, but still captivating and alluring
We need dogs in movies again, just hanging out. Dogs that have nothing to do with the plot. It’s just a nice detail!
I neeeeeeed Greta Garbo’s robes—but her segments are a little slow for me.
Weirdly casual about suicide??
Garbo talks so slowly… so deliberately. It’s effective, but also I need her to get to the point, I’m tired.
The Barrymores are killin’ it here—solid performances all around, really.
Love the overhead shots of the telephone operators
This is pretty fun but ¾ of the way through I’m still not sure where this is going, or what it’s saying.
Y’all characters in the 1930s really fell in love in one day… wild.
THIS is why hotels will always be superior to AirBnB. This shit would never happen in an AirBnB! Or a freaking Vrbo? Please!!!
Greta Garbo reaching levels of horny previously never thought possible.
Oh no… I thought this was shorter… it’s two hours…
Those bar stools at the hotel are so comically high. Like—why?? It makes the composition of the shots look so silly.
Lionel Barrymore’s character—working class hero? Go OFF, king.
I love a good revolving door bit.
Okay I think LB’s character might be my favorite.
Did he just fucking KILL the BARon??
Omg
What a turn!
Looks like this hotel… might not be so “grand” after all…
Flowers make me think of funerals too, Greta!
Yeah, Joan Crawford really knocks it out of the park here.
“They can cure anything these days.” Ha. Ha.
Love this ending of the main cast checking out while new guests check in. Ummm, sequel, anyone??
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
Next Up: 42nd Street (1933)