*** 1\2 (out of ****)
"Best Picture" Oscar (1933)
With the Academy Award celebrations tomorrow night as we add one more title to that selective group of "Best Picture" Oscar winners and since I've been reviewing some of the past winners, I thought why not review one of my favorites. But "Grand Hotel" is not just one of my favorite "Best Picture" Oscar winners, it is also simply one of my favorite movies of all time.
"Grand Hotel" is a surprisingly difficult film to watch. It is challenging, especially when you consider when it was made. It is a bold film with a unique vision. The film deals with love and death. The human condition. Living in an empty world.
The film takes place in the "Grand Hotel" in Berlin. It is the place where "nothing ever happens". We follow a group of various characters, each in their own drama. Their lives will intersect, some will find love while others will meet a worst fate. They will come to an ultimate end.
Lionel Barrymore plays Otto Kringelein, a sick man who is dying of an unknown disease. He has taken a sick leave from work to enjoy his last days and experience "life" for the first time. He takes his life saving and decides to spend it all on a lavish hotel room, drink for the first time, flirt with beautiful women and even gamble. Also in the hotel is Kringelein's boss, Mr. Preysing (Wallace Beery). A happily married man for the past 28 years with two grown daughters. He has come to the Grand Hotel on business. He is in deep financial trouble. A business merger is about to fall through. Without it, Preysing will go bankrupt. Put into a corner he is confronted with ethical questions he has never asked himself before.
John Barrymore plays a Baron, who is also in financial trouble. He owes some people a large sum of money. His plan is to steal some jewelry from his next door neighbor, a famous ballet dancer, Grusinskaya (the great Garbo). Rounding out this all star cast is Joan Crawford, as a stenographer sent to work for Preysing, but, finds herself falling for the Baron. Lewis Stone is a war vet who suffered a trouble grenade accident, leaving his face disfigured. And Jean Hersholt plays a head Porter at the hotel. Speaking of Hersholt, he of course has an honorary Oscar named after him for his humanitarian work. This year the award will be given to comedy madman Jerry Lewis.
The strange thing about "Grand Hotel" is none of the characters are truly likable. Granted, perhaps in a different movie, under different circumstances these people may have been likable but "Grand Hotel" takes good people and puts them in bad situations. That's where the drama comes from. Are good people capable of bad things? When we are pushed to the limit will we not be surprised by our actions? Do we understand our own human nature?
The film was directed by Edmund Goulding, who directed a pair of Bette Davis classics, "The Great Lie", which really has a bizarre story, and "Dark Victory". It was based on a German play written by Vicki Baum entitled "Menschen im Hotel" and was adapted by William Drake. It was only nominated for one Oscar, in the "Best Picture" category. Shamefully none of the well deserving performances were.
None of the actors really outshine one another. That's another great thing about "Grand Hotel" normally, when a group of stars get together in a film there is rarely enough screen time for each actor to develop interesting characters and provide much on-screen. To me the "Ocean" movies are a good example. Here Garbo, Crawford, Beery and the Barrymore brothers each give individually great performances.
I've written about the great Garbo on here when I reviewed some of her silent films; "The Kiss" and "The Single Standard". Here she is not much of a temptress, but she delivers perhaps her most famous line of all time,"I want to be a lone". She is a temperamental ballet dancer who feels no longer appreciated by the audience, since she has been dancing for half full houses lately. She has become very moody and usually skips performances. "Grand Hotel" is one of her great films. Maybe not as good as "Mysterious Lady" with Conrad Nagel, where she plays the "mysterious lady" in question, and plays the temptress role she is known for. Here however she is much more vulnerable. It is a nice change for her.
Lionel Barrymore has some standout moments as well. His situation, along with his brother, are probably the most interesting story lines. Much of Lionel Barrymore's storyline is really the heart and soul of the film. His dilemma has the strongest effect on the other characters.
Viewers unfamiliar with John Barrymore, who was nicknamed "the profile" because he always wanted to be filmed from his left profile. Pay attention to that. Gives quite a performance here but if you really want to blow your mind. Watch him here than watch him in the Howard Hawks comedy, yes I said comedy, "Twentieth Century" with Carole Lombard.
"Grand Hotel" is quite a mature film, that every once in a while gets kind of risque. Pay attention to a scene between John Barrymore and Joan Crawford, when they first meet. They are shamelessly flirting with each other. Barrymore suggest sometime they go dancing. But the way he says "dancing" gives the viewer the impression he is talking about more than dancing. And her acceptance tells us something more about her. All of Crawford's scenes involve sex in some way or another. Preysing finds her very attractive and makes advances at her. She doesn't push him away however. She is a poor working girl. Is this film saying in order for a poor working girl to get ahead she has to sacrifice or compromise herself? Another interesting scene deals with Preysing making Crawford a business proposition. Again, these characters are talking about more than business.
Besides sex, but also adultery, we get themes of suicide and moral corruption. "Grand Hotel" was a film way ahead of its time. Looking at it from this perspective it is shocking the film won a "Best Picture" Oscar. Very few Oscar winners from the 1930s are this bold and adult in subject manner. "Grand Hotel" holds very little back.
Besides Garbo's famous declaration, the "nothing ever happens" line I think says something about society as well. There is a lot of ugliness in the world but it is all hidden. The hotel always tries to present itself in a dignified manner. It hushes up any scandal. Society, at the time, worked the same way. Much was kept quiet. People worried about their image more back then. Standards were set higher. It just seems like "nothing ever happens" but if we can take a closer look inside we will see the true nature of people.
The film ends with a shot of the hotel's revolving door as a doorman hails a cab for some guest. It is hard not to think of F.W. Murnau's "The Last Laugh" with Emil Jannings, while watching it. There was another film about a hotel which mirrored the ugly nature of society and a man's downfall. In "Grand Hotel" we are watching more than one character's downfall.
For it's bold vision, adult manner and amazing all star cast "Grand Hotel" will forever be one of the masterpieces of cinema.
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