Movie Description The crème de la crème of MGM's pantheon gathers at the luxurious Grand Hotel, where "nothing ever happens." Greta Garbo is at her most radiant and poetic as the melancholy ballerina who finds a reason to dance again after she falls for the down-and-out Baron (John Barrymore) who planned to rob her. In another room a ravishing young secretary (Joan Crawford) succumbs to the advances of an arrogant industrialist (Wallace Beery). In yet another, a fatally ill office clerk (Lionel Barrymore) spends his life savings in a desperate effort to derive some pleasure from this bleak and brief existence. Downstairs at the bar, a disfigured doctor (Lewis Stone) dispenses wry commentary as people come and go. This precedent-setting ensemble piece of frothy, bubbly, tear-jerking super soap cemented the A-list status of its director, Edmund Goulding. It's an oft-imitated, never duplicated spectacle; the old Hollywood star system lighting up the sky with all the wattage at its disposal.
| Credits | | Writer: | William A. Drake | | Cast: | Ferdinand Gottschalk, Greta Garbo, Purnell Pratt, Rafaela Ottiano |
Notes DVD Features:
Region 1 Snap Case Full Frame - 1.33 Audio: Mono - English Mono - French, Theatrical release: September 11, 1932.
The film was remade in 1945 as WEEKEND AT THE WALDORF, directed by Robert Z. Leonard starring Ginger Rogers and Lana Turner, and was later turned into a Broadway musical directed by Tommy Tune.
Editorial Reviews "[T]his picture is the granddaddy of such modern-day concoctions as LOVE ACTUALLY..." Premiere - Glenn Kenny (03/01/2004)
"This is Golden Era Hollywood-studio style at its most opulent." Total Film - Philip Kemp (04/01/2004)
"The two actresses are great." USA Today - Mike Clark (02/03/2004)
Awards 1932Academy AwardsBest Picture
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