Grand Hotel Overview:

Grand Hotel (1932) was a Drama - Romance Film directed by Edmund Goulding and produced by Irving Thalberg.

The film was based on the novel Menschen im Hotel (People at a Hotel) written by Vicki Baum published in 1929.

SYNOPSIS

The Best Picture of 1932 established the episodic narrative device of following the diverse stories of various characters who drift through a location. It was to be repeated onboard ships, trains, and planes, in apartment buildings, resorts, anywhere the camera could observe comings and goings and the drama inherent in everyday life. Garbo stands out in an outstanding crowd of the screen's great faces as a world-weary ballerina pinning for her jewel-thief lover (John Barrymore). Other stories found in a Berlin hotel where "people come, people go, nothing ever happens" revolve around Lionel Barrymore's imminent death, Crawford's social climber, and Beery's business traveler. One of the greats.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

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Grand Hotel was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2007.

Academy Awards 1931/32 --- Ceremony Number 5 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best PictureMetro-Goldwyn-MayerWon
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Grand Hotel BlogHub Articles:

JOAN CRAWFORD, QUEEN OF THE SILVER SCREEN BLOGATHON: Grand Hotel (1932)

on May 10, 2019 From Caftan Woman

Pale Writer and The Poppity are hosting this blogathon tribute to Joan Crawford on May 11th and 12th. You can share in all the tributes to the amazing actress's career by clicking HERE or HERE. Thank you, Gabriela and Erica D! Vicki Baum's successful 1929 novel Grand Hotel became a popular Broa... Read full article


Grande Hotel (1932) / Grand Hotel (1932)

By L? on Aug 14, 2018 From Critica Retro

Grande Hotel (1932) / Grand Hotel (1932) “Grande Hotel” n?o precisa de propaganda – nem o filme nem o local. O Grande Hotel ? o hotel mais caro da Alemanha, como diz o personagem de Lionel Barrymore. “Grande Hotel”, o filme, ? uma aula magna sobre o star system, ... Read full article


Grand Hotel – Barrymore Trilogy Blogathon

By Rhonda0731 on Aug 17, 2016 From Smitten Kitten Vintage

I am pleased to bring you Grand Hotel , my contribution to the?Barrymore Trilogy Blogathon hosted by the wonderful Crystal over at?IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS OF CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD. The first time I saw Grand Hotel it was with my dad. He mentioned what a great film it was and since it had so many of my fav... Read full article


Grand Hotel (1932)

By Carol Martinheira on Aug 15, 2016 From The Old Hollywood Garden

Grand Hotel (1932) On August 15, 2016 By CarolIn Uncategorized What?s this? Another blogathon? You bet! I love my blogathons and August seems to be filled with them! So when Crystal of In The Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood announced that she was hosting a Barrymore... Read full article


Pre-Code vs. Post-Code: "Grand Hotel" and "Week-End at the Waldorf"

By David on Mar 26, 2016 From The Man on the Flying Trapeze

Vicki Baum's 1929 novel (and play) "Grand Hotel" was purchased by MGM, and in 1932 the studio released a film version featuring all the big shots on the lot -- Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Lionel Barrymore and Wallace Beery, with Lewis Stone and Jean Hersholt thrown in for good measur... Read full article


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Quotes from Grand Hotel

Dr. Otternschlag: Believe me, Mr. Kringelein, a man who is not with a woman is a dead man.


Dr. Otternschlag: When a man's collar is an inch too big for him I know he's ill.


Dr. Otternschlag: Grand Hotel... always the same. People come, people go. Nothing ever happens.


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Facts about Grand Hotel

Wallace Beery was originally upset at being cast as Preysing, believing that playing an amoral business tycoon would wreck his image, and tried to stage a "walkout" in protest. When he relented, he reportedly decided to steal as much of the show as possible and constantly tried to upstage the other stars in the film.
Buster Keaton proposed a comic version set in a New York flophouse entitled "Grand Mills Hotel" with himself in the Lionel Barrymore role. His proposed casting included Marie Dressler as a ballerina, Jimmy Durante as a Bogus count, Oliver Hardy as the industrialist, Stan Laurel as a collar button manufacturer, Polly Moran as the secretary, and Henry Armetta as a hotel clerk and expectant father. Although Thalberg wanted to make it, the comedian had been fired by Louis B. Mayer and didn't wish to return to the studio.
Greta Garbo requested the stage be lit in red to create a more romantic atmosphere for rehearsals.
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Best Picture Oscar 1931/32









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National Film Registry

Grand Hotel

Released 1932
Inducted 2007
(Sound)




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Also directed by Edmund Goulding




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Also produced by Irving Thalberg




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Also released in 1932




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