At first, the 1930s all-star comedy-melodrama "Grand Hotel" seems like the type of movie they don't make anymore. But one of the major trends in modern Hollywood is the ensemble movie where different characters' stories interweave in surprising ways, and "Grand Hotel" might just be the father of them all. It's not as overstuffed as some modern movies, focusing on just five characters: a hotel thief pretending to be a baron (John Barrymore), an industrial magnate (Wallace Beery), his secretary (Joan Crawford), an aging and neurotic ballerina (Greta Garbo), and a nebbishy, dying man spending his last days in the luxurious hotel (Lionel Barrymore). Their adventures are generally predictable, though always believable and in-character. Overall, the movie is a moderately fun time, especially in order to see a wide range of 1930s acting styles in one movie.
Hard to believe that Garbo and Crawford were born just months apart--they were both 26 during filming, but Garbo's world-weary ballerina looks and behaves as though she were 36. Though everyone in the film has a different acting style, Garbo's stands out the most. She swoops her chiffon sleeves and looks meltingly romantic in close-ups, as if she were still in a silent movie, but then speaks extremely flowery dialogue. At only 26, then, Garbo seems like a relic or a self-parody. Crawford, on the other hand, is a fun, sassy, modern girl, who knows both how to flirt and how to keep things from going too far. She definitely steals the movie with her tough-minded performance. Garbo's acting works in movies that consistently maintain a keyed-up romantic tone, but in the stylistic mishmash that is "Grand Hotel," Garbo seems the least real--even to a 1932 audience. The DVD features reveal that her line "I want to be alone" got spoofed as soon as the movie came out!
John Barrymore has important scenes with both ladies, and works hard to find an acting style that complements their two very different approaches. He succeeds by playing his character as a reserved gentleman, more moderate than his scene partners. That way he can be flirtatious but not crackling with Crawford, romantic but not melodramatic with Garbo, and friendly but not effusive with his brother Lionel. Lionel, too, has a distinctive style--very mannered, stuttering, bowing and scraping as the little bookkeeper who is finally learning how to live. Yet his enthusiasm is sweet and touching. Wallace Beery gives a decent comic-villain performance complete with off-and-on German accent, though I had trouble caring about his character's money problems. I wonder, too, if the Great Depression and other events of the 1930s had some influence over the plot line where little-guy Lionel Barrymore gets the courage to stand up to the big bad CEO Beery.
Other than that, "Grand Hotel" is not particularly concerned with social or political problems--it's strange to think that it takes place in Weimar Germany and just two years later, the Nazis would take over. It doesn't have much emotional resonance, but it's a useful time capsule of 1932 Hollywood.
Hard to believe that Garbo and Crawford were born just months apart--they were both 26 during filming, but Garbo's world-weary ballerina looks and behaves as though she were 36. Though everyone in the film has a different acting style, Garbo's stands out the most. She swoops her chiffon sleeves and looks meltingly romantic in close-ups, as if she were still in a silent movie, but then speaks extremely flowery dialogue. At only 26, then, Garbo seems like a relic or a self-parody. Crawford, on the other hand, is a fun, sassy, modern girl, who knows both how to flirt and how to keep things from going too far. She definitely steals the movie with her tough-minded performance. Garbo's acting works in movies that consistently maintain a keyed-up romantic tone, but in the stylistic mishmash that is "Grand Hotel," Garbo seems the least real--even to a 1932 audience. The DVD features reveal that her line "I want to be alone" got spoofed as soon as the movie came out!
John Barrymore has important scenes with both ladies, and works hard to find an acting style that complements their two very different approaches. He succeeds by playing his character as a reserved gentleman, more moderate than his scene partners. That way he can be flirtatious but not crackling with Crawford, romantic but not melodramatic with Garbo, and friendly but not effusive with his brother Lionel. Lionel, too, has a distinctive style--very mannered, stuttering, bowing and scraping as the little bookkeeper who is finally learning how to live. Yet his enthusiasm is sweet and touching. Wallace Beery gives a decent comic-villain performance complete with off-and-on German accent, though I had trouble caring about his character's money problems. I wonder, too, if the Great Depression and other events of the 1930s had some influence over the plot line where little-guy Lionel Barrymore gets the courage to stand up to the big bad CEO Beery.
Other than that, "Grand Hotel" is not particularly concerned with social or political problems--it's strange to think that it takes place in Weimar Germany and just two years later, the Nazis would take over. It doesn't have much emotional resonance, but it's a useful time capsule of 1932 Hollywood.