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Grand Hotel (1931-32) — 4 Comments

  1. I totally agree with the standouts, especially Lionel Barrymore. I really like hotel movies and books. The intertwining stories of strangers impacting others just by being in a place and time is thought provoking.

    The movie Hotel led me to read the book by Arthur Hailey. I hope A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles will be made into a movie. It is the ultimate hotel story.

  2. I love stories like this as well, in a hotel or bar or club. In a way, “Casablanca” is like that. Everyone passes through Rick’s Place on their way to somewhere else. Fascinating settings.

  3. A fascinating film with wonderful performances.
    Crawford does, indeed, outshine Garbo. First of all, she’s better written. But she also simply seems to shine. I always feel like Garbo is trying too hard.
    I wish I knew more about John Barrymore’s Count. An odd personality to be in the business that he’s in. We’re clearly catching him at a pivotal moment in his life where, hopefully, everything is about to change and he takes a different path.
    There is so much sadness to this film. Even when Crawford and Barrymore #2 gleefully leave at the end, there is still a great sadness to it, almost as if they were trying to hurry before the next tragedy strikes.
    I love John Barrymore in this film. Such a charmer and such a tragic end. I also love watching him and his brother work together. The times that John reaches out and touches his face or kisses him on the top of the head.
    You really do want everything to work out for these people. But as the Baron says to Ms. Flaemmchen, “Such is life”.
    (It did leave me pondering what we might have seen if Irving Thalberg had been on the planet longer than he was. How things may have been different.)

  4. I agree about Thalberg, and your comment is particularly appropriate for this film. Everything about “Grand Hotel” is a fleeting moment. People coming and going through the revolving door, including Thalberg, in hindsight, who was gone four years after this movie. Great observation.

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