Grand Hotel (film)
"Grand Hotel" is a classic 1932 film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that features an ensemble cast of renowned stars, including Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, and Joan Crawford. The film is notable for its lavish Art Deco design and elegant costumes, which exemplify the classic Hollywood style of the era, created by designer Cedric Gibbons and costume designer Adrian. The narrative revolves around the lives of various guests at a luxury hotel, reflecting the public's fascination with the opulence of five-star accommodations during the pre-Nazi years. Although the film's stars, Garbo and Crawford, famously never appear on screen together, the interactions of the Barrymore brothers add emotional depth to the story.
"Grand Hotel" is based on Vicki Baum's 1929 novel "Menschen im Hotel" and was later adapted into several remakes, including the 1945 film "Week-End at the Waldorf." Its influence extended beyond film, inspiring stage musicals like "At the Grand" and "Grand Hotel: The Musical." The film is recognized as one of the first to showcase a studio's top talent in a single production, a trend that would continue in Hollywood until it became financially impractical. Overall, "Grand Hotel" remains a significant cultural artifact, illustrating the glamour and complexities of life in luxury hotels during its time.
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Grand Hotel (film)
Identification Motion-picture drama about interactions of guests in an opulent Berlin hotel in the early 1930’s
Director Edmund Goulding
Date Released on September 11, 1932
Known as the film in which Greta Garbo uttered her signature line, “I want to be alone,” Grand Hotel won the Academy Award for best motion picture of 1932, its sole nomination. Based on the popular 1930 novel by Vicki Baum, Menschen im Hotel(people in a hotel), the film’s screenplay was adapted from a stage play by William A. Drake, which opened on Broadway on November 13, 1930, and ran for 459 performances.
Grand Hotel brought together seven of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s brightest stars—Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone, and Jean Hersholt—in a legendary production that enjoyed the premiere of the year at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. The famously jealous Garbo and Crawford were never on screen at the same time. The Barrymore brothers had several moving scenes together.
The film’s lavish Art Deco design by Cedric Gibbons and the elegant costumes designed by Adrian Adolph Greenberg (better known as Adrian) were a perfect example of classic Hollywood style. A West German film with the title of Vicki Baum’s original 1930 novel, Menschen im Hotel, was made in 1959.
Impact
Life in five-star hotels fascinated the public of the era. The Grand Hotel of the title was ostensibly based on the Hotel Excelsior in Berlin, where the elite of the pre-Nazi years met. The film’s impact is noteworthy from the remakes, one of which was Week-End at the Waldorf (1945) with Ginger Rogers, Lana Turner, Walter Pidgeon, Van Johnson, and Edward Arnold. It was also made into two stage musicals, At the Grand (1958) and Grand Hotel: The Musical (1989). Grand Hotel was the first of the vehicles to showcase a studio’s top talent. This trend continued during the 1960’s and 1970’s but later grew too expensive.
Bibliography
Baum, Vicki. It Was All Quite Different: The Memoirs of Vicki Baum. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1964.
Eames, John Douglas, and Ronald Bergan. The MGM Story: The Complete History of Sixty-nine Roaring Years. London: Hamlyn, 1993.
Flamini, Roland. Thalberg: The Last Tycoon and the World of M-G-M. New York: Crown, 1994.
Kobler, John. Damned in Paradise: The Life of John Barrymore. New York: Atheneum, 1977.
Paris, Barry. Garbo: A Biography. New York: Knopf, 1995.
Robinson, David, and Paul Duncan. Greta Garbo. London: Taschen, 2007.