The Best Picture of 1931-1932 is…..”Grand Hotel.” This film depicts the activities of residents of a hotel in Berlin between the World Wars. It is most famous for Greta Garbo’s line “I want to be alone,” and was the first major motion picture to feature an ensemble cast of big-name stars, which includes Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone, and Jean Hersholt. Credit goes to Irving Thalberg, the young MGM genius producer for this great casting.
The cast played a variety of roles: Garbo (dancer), J. Barrymore (baron), Crawford (stenographer), Beery (industrialist), L. Barrymore (accountant), Stone (hotel doctor) and Hersholt (porter). “Grand Hotel” offered some great close-ups, especially of Garbo and Barrymore, not to mention Crawford in some skimpy outfits in this pre-code motion picture. All of this must have kept cinematographer William H. Daniels very busy!
Director Edmund Goulding (“Paramount on Parade” 1930) did an excellent job of putting together this melodrama that is a good time capsule of Hollywood in the 1930’s. The screenplay was written by William A. Drake, adapted from his own 1930 play, which was in turn based on the 1929 novel of the same name by Vicki Baum.
“Grand Hotel” was a big hit at the box office for producer Irving Thalberg and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, distributed by Loew’s, Inc. The film was no doubt wonderful escapist entertainment for Depression Era audiences.
Grand Hotel (1932)
cinema
My Review
The Best Picture of 1931-1932 is…..”Grand Hotel.” This film depicts the activities of residents of a hotel in Berlin between the World Wars. It is most famous for Greta Garbo’s line “I want to be alone,” and was the first major motion picture to feature an ensemble cast of big-name stars, which includes Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone, and Jean Hersholt. Credit goes to Irving Thalberg, the young MGM genius producer for this great casting.
The cast played a variety of roles: Garbo (dancer), J. Barrymore (baron), Crawford (stenographer), Beery (industrialist), L. Barrymore (accountant), Stone (hotel doctor) and Hersholt (porter). “Grand Hotel” offered some great close-ups, especially of Garbo and Barrymore, not to mention Crawford in some skimpy outfits in this pre-code motion picture. All of this must have kept cinematographer William H. Daniels very busy!
Director Edmund Goulding (“Paramount on Parade” 1930) did an excellent job of putting together this melodrama that is a good time capsule of Hollywood in the 1930’s. The screenplay was written by William A. Drake, adapted from his own 1930 play, which was in turn based on the 1929 novel of the same name by Vicki Baum.
“Grand Hotel” was a big hit at the box office for producer Irving Thalberg and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, distributed by Loew’s, Inc. The film was no doubt wonderful escapist entertainment for Depression Era audiences.