1931/1932: Grand Hotel

The Academy gave its fifth Best Picture award to 1932's "Grand Hotel," produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.  It is the only film to win Best Picture without receiving any other nominations.

For some reason, I was under the impression that "Grand Hotel" was a comedy.  It's not, but it certainly isn't a huge drama, either.   It follows the goings-on of the guests staying at Berlin's Grand Hotel.  There are many different story lines which ultimately overlap, but I think it's best to start by identifying the characters:

Dr. Otternschlag (Lewis Stone), a permanent resident at the hotel,  begins by observing "People coming, going.  Nothing ever happens.   His face is disfigured, the result of his service in WWI.

Otto Kringilein (Lionel Barrymore) is a meek accountant who has just discovered he is terminally ill and doesn't have long to live.  He thus decides to live out his days in luxury and books one of the most luxurious rooms in the hotel.

General Director Preysing (Wallace Beery) is Kringilein's former boss.  He as at the hotel to close an important deal, but negotiations aren't going well.  He hires Flaemmchen (Joan Crawford), a s stenographer, to assist  him.

Madame Grusinskaya (Greta Garbo) is a ballerina whose glory days are behind her.    Her shows in Berlin are not well attended and she is very depressed about the state of her career.

Finally, Felix von Geigern (Lionel Barrymore) is a baron who has squandered his fortune, and now supports himself as a gambler and thief.  Early in the film he takes a liking to, and befriends Kringilein.

While Madame Grusinskaya is at the theater, von Geigern breaks into her room to steal her jewelry.  She returns early, and he hides in the closet.   He overhears her talking of wanting to end her life, and he comes out of hiding to find her holding a vial of some sort of medication.  Despite a burglar

John Barrymore and Greta Garbo

having just emerged from her room, she finds herself attracted to him.  The next day, von Geigern returns the jewelry he had stolen, and asks Grusinskaya for forgiveness.  She invites him to accompany her to Vienna, which he says he will do.  One problem: he has to get some money first.

The Baron joins Kringilein and Flaemmchen at the hotel bar.   Flaemmchen gets the timid accountant to dance with her, but Preysing cuts in and demand she dance with him.  Disgusted by his former bosses crass behavior, he tells the man just what he thinks of him.  Preysing attacks Kringilein, and the two men must be separated.

Lionel Barrymore and Joan Crawford

Later, the Baron and Kringilein get a poker game going. Kringilein is the big winner, and subsequently gets very drunk.  When he drops his wallet, the Baron picks it up and hides in his jacket pocket.  But when Kringilein begins frantically searching for his money, the Baron doesn't have the heart to steal from his friend, and gives him back the wallet.

In a last desperate attempt to get his business deal done, Preysing asks Flaemmchen to accompany him to London.  The two are in Preysing's room, when he sees the Baron rifling through his things.  He confronts the would-be thief, the two struggle, and Preysing beats the Baron to death with the telephone.  Flaemmchen calls the police, and Preysing is arrested.

Grusinskaya leaves for the train station, expecting to find the Baron waiting for her there.  We don't see her again, but presumably she returned to Vienna, never knowing why the Baron didn't show up.

Kringilein offers to take care of Flaemmchen, but she suggests they travel to Paris together and seek medical treatment for his condition. They're the only two who get a happy ending.  And the final moment of the film is the Doctor repeating the sentiment with which the film began: "Grand Hotel. Always the same.  People come. People go.  Nothing ever happens."

"Grand Hotel" obviously enjoyed a star-studded cast, and it was fun to see all the performances of the day's big movie stars (I particularly liked Lionel Barrymore).   The story is cleverly constructed but while dramatic things happened, there just didn't feel like there was much drama.  It was enjoyable enough, but certainly not the type of film we'd expect to win Best Picture today.  Overall, it was just kind of "meh."