A few weeks ago, my wife and I went to the Spectrum Theatre in Albany to see the film Grand Hotel. I didn’t review it then because I was struggling for a narrative.
It came across, at least early on, as stagey and melodramatic. From Wikipedia: “Alfred Rushford Greason of Variety, comparing the film to the stage production, wrote, “[it] may not entirely please the theatregoers who were fascinated by its deft stage direction and restrained acting, but it will attract and hold the wider public to which it is now addressed.”
Once the story started revealing itself, it became more interesting. Doctor Otternschlag (Lewis Stone), a permanent resident of the Grand Hotel in Berlin, observes, “People coming, going. Nothing ever happens.” He is proven wrong on the latter point.
Felix von Gaigern (John Barrymore) has the title of baron, but the assets from his position are spent. He survives as a gambler and sometimes a thief. Otto Kringelein (Lionel Barrymore) has a fatal condition and decides to enjoy his remaining days at the luxurious hotel.
General Director Preysing (Wallace Beery) seems to be a decent industrialist trying to close an important deal. He hires aspiring actress Flaemmchen (Joan Crawford) as his stenographer.
Russian ballerina Grusinskaya (Greta Garbo) is no longer packing theaters, causing her despair.
Most of these folk interact. As we get to know them, we find that the thief has a conscience and that the industrialist is not as nice as he initially seems.
Kael says
The Times of London wrote: “Even all this brilliance of acting and even the remarkable ingenuity of the production cannot disguise the simple artifice of the whole construction, which seems all the more obvious in a plotless story designed to show a section of life.” I wouldn’t say plotless. It was more that the strands began to overlap.
The late, great Pauline Kael (1919-2001) wrote in the New Yorker: “There is every reason to reject Grand Hotel as an elaborate chunk of artifice… But if you want to see what screen glamour used to be, and what, originally, ‘stars’ were, this is perhaps the best example of all time.”
Notice the word “artifice” in both quotes. Yes, the acting seemed, at times, overly affected. Then I remembered that this movie was released in the early days of film with audible dialogue.
So I was glad I saw it. It has Garbo’s “I want to be alone” quote. Two brothers in the legendary Barrymore family are represented; Drew Barrymore is John’s granddaughter.