Grand Hotel (BD) [Blu-ray]

MGM's 1932 all-star extravaganza, GRAND HOTEL, was the first of its kind to include several major box-office names in one production. The film utilized a wide range of filming techniques - overhead crane shots, moving camera, cross cutting, artistic lighting and long takes - to infuse emotion and drama into its premise which takes place entirely at a posh Berlin hotel while overlapping the individual crises of its patrons. It was a novel idea and proved extremely successful, spawning many similarly structured films such as DINNER AT EIGHT (MGM,1933), WEEKEND AT THE WALDORF (MGM,1945), THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY (Warner Brothers,1954), and THE V.I.P.S (MGM, 1963), to name a few.Based on a novel and play by Vicki Baum, GRAND HOTEL was directed by Edmund Goulding and stars Greta Garbo, John and Lionel Barrymore, Joan Crawford and Wallace Beery all in roles of equal importance, and each shines in what counts among their best performances. The luminous Garbo is perfect as a tired of life ballerina, her stylized acting captures just the right note of eccentricity. This is the film in which she utters her signature line, "I want (not "vant") to be alone". Crawford is radiant, chic and sensitive as a stenographer assigned to work for boorish business magnate Beery, who, despite his villainous character, manages to generate our sympathy. Beery is the only one to affect a German accent which serves to underscore his menace and alienates him from the other characters. John Barrymore displays his celebrated profile and gives a touching and ultimately tragic portrayal as a thief forced into his trade out of dire need, and Lionel Barrymore is a likeable old fellow who believes he's dying and decides to live it up during his stay at the Grand Hotel.The hotel itself figures as one of the main characters, and its elaborate art-deco design is showcased to great advantage, consisting of a circular construction and checkered floor tiles, topped off by the main lobby desk and telephone switchboard. Everything was given top-notch treatment, resulting in a film that epitomizes the Hollywood studio system at its very finest. Quality and dignity represented the order of the day in that classical period of filmmaking, and GRAND HOTEL met every expectation both critically and commercially, going on to win Best Picture of 1932. To this day it's still regarded as one of the greatest films of its decade, and has been selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".The newest Blu-ray release of GRAND HOTEL from Warners is quite grand to be sure, with a clarity and density that outdoes the previous DVD. The grain configuration is tantamount to 35mm film, and details in clothing and background elements are readily apparent. This pristine presentation of an 81 year old film makes one appreciate even more the exceptional skill of the cinematographers of that time. Of course, they also had movie stars with the kinds of fabulous faces that the camera could adore. The audio on this release is clear and crisp, with voices registering at a pleasing pitch without any distortion. All in all, it makes viewing this vintage classic a very enjoyable experience.The extras are all taken from the DVD: "Checking Out" - a making-of documentary, the Grauman's Chinese Theater premiere newsreel, "Just a Word of Warning" Theater Announcement, the Vitaphone spoof "Nothing Ever Happens", and trailers for GRAND HOTEL and WEEKEND AT THE WALDORF - a 1945 semi remake. The only new feature is a well researched commentary by Jeffrey Vance and Mark Vieira which adds insight and is particularly helplful to viewers who are challenged by older movies.Highly recommended.

Bunch of great actors, when a young Joan Crawford looked nice, never a fan of Garbo, pretty fair poser, acting not so much, BARRYMORES. Always on the money

A gem of a classic!!! The acting is superb. A little of history of social norms of those times.The Barrymore’s never disappoint.Wallace Beery- incredible scoundrel !Joan Crawford- so young!I love those black and white movies . Grateful !

In the 1930s MGM claimed to have "more stars than there are in the heavens" and it occurred to them that one way to make successful movies was to combine them into spectaculars so that instead of just one or two stars with supporting players, there were several, sometimes as many as half a dozen, major stars, all with juicy roles in the same picture. MGM would make movies the other studios just plain did not have the resources to make.This proved to be not only expensive but it could be difficult to find roles for diverse stars somehow to play together in the same film.One of MGM's most conspicuous attempts to do this is in the 1932 ensemble piece Grand Hotel. The idea was, all these different people had somehow ended up in the same remote luxury hotel at the same time and various random interactions ensued. Adapted from a successful stage play, it sounds like fun, but can it be made both interesting and plausible? What can be done with a self obsessed prima ballerina, a baron of some kind who is actually both penniless and unscrupulous, a ruthless tycoon suddenly on the brink of failure, a strange and mostly loony old man who thinks he's dying and wants to blow all his money on one last good time, a free swinging young woman who works as a stenographer but is continually reassessing what she is willing to do for money, and a mysterious doctor with a patch on his face who acts as a sort of Greek chorus throughout it all?Throw in a bit part about a hotel concierge whose wife is about to have a baby and you have seven parts, all of which require marquee level actors.Grand Hotel stirs all these together and almost gets away with it. Almost. Interestingly enough, the movie won the Oscar for Best Production but no actor or other function won any other such award. Think about this. Actors and actresses, directors, writers, cinematographers, costume designers, set designers, sound engineers - all were thought outclassed by others in other movies, but this film still won as best picture.For me, some of the parts work and a few do not and the overall work suffers from a lack of focus, this in the dramatic sense, not in the operation of the camera. I could not get much from Garbo as the ballerina. She ricochets between being a terminally spoiled star Russian ballet dancer and a silly youngster somehow on the verge of her first love. She nails every scene she's in and emotes and chews the scenery mercilessly but her character never becomes a real person and I always realized I was just watching the actress and not the character. John Barrymore is perfect as the preening phony who first tries to seduce her to steal her jewelry and then falls in love with her. Or so he says. Lionel Barrymore overplays the simple old man to the point of hilarity. It's OK, as he's terrific and the movie needs his character and overdone antics. One reason this works is that John Barrymore is pretty much playing himself, whereas Lionel Barrymore is playing a completely different and improbable character whom he successfully brings to life.A young Joan Crawford is also delicious as the foxy young woman with a twirling moral compass whom we only hope makes the right choice. Famously aggressive in real life, Crawford is in a sense also playing herself in this film.Wallace Beery is perfect as the ruthless, bad tempered tycoon with both an ironclad air of superiority and no apparent lower limit as to what he is willing to do to win and he successfully maintains his slight but distinct German accent. Lewis Stone as the mysterious doctor and Jean Hersholt as the new father have impossible and irrelevant roles and read their lines as if seeing them for the first time.It's eventually all too contrived and complicated for me and the screenplay seems to have been written by a committee, not all of whom ever communicated with any of the others. The foxy secretary somehow bounces off two of these characters before ending up with a third, and one of them murders another for no reason connected to any of the other stories. The ballerina swoops out the door to her next event and a couple of extremely weird characters emerge from an equally weird vehicle.Spoiler: The concierge has a son and his wife is fine. I mean, his wife has his son and all concerned are fine. At this point you may or may not agree with the mysterious doctor who once again deadpans "Nothing ever happens." The end.If you can piece it all together and enjoy the different performances, the movie will keep you entertained, as it is indeed well wrought. The Blu-ray video and remastered audio are flawless.

My. Son likes it

This is indeed a great film, the story itself, the acting, the lavish sets and costumes, the directing, are all perfect. I am amazed at the quality of the restoration work that was carried out on this classic for the blu-ray release. There isn't a blemish to be found on the picture, and the sound has been properly cleaned up too. The picture is also very still and doesn't shake about like many unrestored movies of that time period (this one came out 87 years ago folks). I believe all old films should get this treatment, after all, a film isn't just entertainment, it's also a window on a certain time period. I know that restoration of a high calibre is very expensive, but film buffs such as myself need it. The viewing experience is so much more pleasurable when a film has been restored to its former glory.

Goldeneraofhollywood.averysimpleplotandwellmade

Great film. Fast delivery. A++++

Desafortunadamente no puedo hablar el idioma tan bien que puedo escribir cualquier comentario. Es cierto, Google Translate, pero será demasiado laborioso.