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Movies / On DVD / Grand Hotel
Grand Hotel

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Grand Hotel (1932)

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Reviews Counted:27

Fresh:23

Rotten:4

Average Rating:7.4/10

Consensus: Perhaps less a true film than a series of star-studded vignettes, Grand Hotel still remains an entertaining look back at a bygone Hollywood era.

Runtime: 2 hrs 8 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: The crème de la crème of MGM's pantheon gathers at the luxurious Grand Hotel, where "nothing ever happens." Greta Garbo is at her most radiant and poetic as the melancholy ballerina who finds a... The crème de la crème of MGM's pantheon gathers at the luxurious Grand Hotel, where "nothing ever happens." Greta Garbo is at her most radiant and poetic as the melancholy ballerina who finds a reason to dance again after she falls for the down-and-out Baron (John Barrymore) who planned to rob her. In another room a ravishing young secretary (Joan Crawford) succumbs to the advances of an arrogant industrialist (Wallace Beery). In yet another, a fatally ill office clerk (Lionel Barrymore) spends his life savings in a desperate effort to derive some pleasure from this bleak and brief existence. Downstairs at the bar, a disfigured doctor (Lewis Stone) dispenses wry commentary as people come and go. This precedent-setting ensemble piece of frothy, bubbly, tear-jerking super soap cemented the A-list status of its director, Edmund Goulding. It's an oft-imitated, never duplicated spectacle; the old Hollywood star system lighting up the sky with all the wattage at its disposal. [More]

Starring: Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery

Starring: Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, Jean Hersholt, Robert McWade, Purnell Pratt, Ferdinand Gottschalk, Rafaela Ottiano

Director: Edmund Goulding

Director: Edmund Goulding

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Feb 3, 2004

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Grand Hotel

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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As it is, the hotel is well filled.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment Comment
02/17/09
TIME Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Grand Hotel was the first Garbo film I ever saw, and she enchanted me effortlessly, despite the presence of the rest of the powerful ensemble cast.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
05/09/08
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Creaky, aged and utterly enchanting.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
02/20/08
David Parkinson
David Parkinson
Empire Magazine

A commercial picture of high box office potential, first by assembling the most impressive aggregation so far of strictly Bradstreet screen names, and then by filming the play practically unaltered in form.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
01/29/08
Alfred Rushford Greason
Alfred Rushford Greason
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Less effective as a movie than as a dazzling parade of star iconography.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
12/12/06
Dave Kehr
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

An all-star cast give varying shades of good performances to highlight a fun and interesting story about the sordid affairs of the rich and not-so-famous.

Full Review Source: Oscar Guy | comment Comment
10/05/06
Wesley Lovell
Wesley Lovell
Oscar Guy

The Nashville of its day, Grand Hotel's reputation has outgrown its actual quality

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Derek Adams
Derek Adams
Time Out

It comes with a grand reputation but by today's standards is outdated.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
09/26/05
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

MGM at its glossiest and most melodramatic, with a an all-star cast that includes Garbo, John and Lionel Barrymore, Joan Crawford, and Lewis Stone--the kind of pictures they don't make anymore.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
06/06/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

It’s a Hollywood legend, a big, brassy melodrama overflowing with top stars.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
02/27/05
David Cornelius
David Cornelius
eFilmCritic.com

A lesson on just how far motion pictures have come, and thank heavens for 1970s independent filmmaking or Hollywood might still resemble Louis Mayer’s fantasy world.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
08/23/04
Jamie Gillies
Jamie Gillies
Apollo Guide

Movie stars existed before Grand Hotel, and yet this picture seems to reinvent the whole concept right before your dazzled eyes.

Full Review Source: Nick's Flick Picks | comment Comment
07/30/04
Nick Davis
Nick Davis
Nick's Flick Picks

Sometimes moving, sometimes funny, and almost always entertaining.

Full Review Source: Goatdog's Movies | comment Comment
07/11/04
Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Goatdog's Movies

What may come as a surprise is that, among this illustrious cast, it is Crawford who stands out.

Full Review Source: Film-Forward.com | comment Comment
04/20/04
Kent Turner
Kent Turner
Film-Forward.com

...perhaps just a tad too much swooning and preening from its two principal stars to make it an absolute personal favorite. But entertaining? You bet.

Full Review Source: DVDTown.com | comment Comment
02/02/04
John J. Puccio
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com

If you're in the mood for a sentimental look back, by all means check in.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
01/11/04
Jake Euker
Jake Euker
Filmcritic.com

No review available.

comment Comment
10/31/03
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal

Luminous star-studded classic with standout Garbo and John Barrymore performances.

comment Comment
08/24/03
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Less a movie than a series of vignettes starring some of the greatest names Hollywood and the stage have ever produced.

Full Review Source: Matt's Movie Reviews | comment Comment
07/17/03
Matt Easterbrook
Matt Easterbrook
Matt's Movie Reviews

Goulding, a master of camp, shepherds rather than directs his famous cast through the series of adventures and misadventures.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
05/24/03
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
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