EveryBestPicture.com revisits this Oscar Best Picture winner Five minutes in and you think that the beginning gave too much away. The exposition is really heavy handed but, fortunately, this movie has plenty up its sleeve. The main characters are introduced making phone calls in the lobby, each explaining their identity: “I am awaiting news from Manchester, without it I cannot sell my business” says the factory owner, “I am dying, and plan to live out my final days in the grand hotel, the greatest of hotels, spending all my savings. And I hate my boss, the factory owner.”... and so on. If you ever find yourself wanting to explain exposition with a copy of Grand Hotel to hand, play the first 4 minutes. The pace is slow to begin with, but as we meander alongside the protagonists, through the halls, rooms and balconies of the Grand Hotel we benefit from this pacing. We are gently absorbed into and by the construct, it watches much like a novel. The flailing about of the early talkies had been off-putting, here I found myself admiring the magnetism of the drama. The characters are driven by endearingly simplistic motivations and remain true to them throughout. There is Greta Garbo’s Russian Ballerina (Gusinskaya) who has lost inspiration and John Barrymore’s Hotel Thief (Baron Felix) who finds the light in her presence, Joan Crawford’s playful ‘Flem’... there is a strange pleasure in watching these finely crafted charicatures’ stories play out. Each character has their best moments when they hold the spotlight in masterful two-handers. A fine collection of character actors, they feed off each other but always in a shared spotlight. Any combination of characters seems to bring something new, reveals something you hadn't yet seen, one of the clearest examples of this is with Kringelein, the aforementioned accountant who finds a new lease of life in his final days spending all his savings on champagne and gambling. When opposite the Baron he becomes more confident, with Flem he is a shy boy or ‘soft old fool’ and when in the presence of his boss of 30+ years he cowers, but later rails against his cruelty. They are all defined by their relationships with others, and once you see this you realise that you cannot wait to see who comes together next. Wallace Beery plays said boss: General Director Prysing, factory owner. Although shown in a sympathetic light at first, a businessman trying to keep a company afloat, his turning point comes when he lies to push a business deal through in desperation. Generally a distasteful character, he is responsible for crushing any chance of a happy ending for the Baron and the Ballerina in the final act. In the context of the first years of the great depression it would have been very easy to set him up as the bad guy, and likewise the Baron as the hero.The latter, a man down on his luck resorting to crime to survive, maintains his honour as best he can and always supporting the underdog: just what the 1930's needed. And so, the pace picked up towards the end and really found its groove in the final act. 'Life goes on, regardless' is the message and it is delivered artfully. The Grand Hotel itself is an apt metaphor for the world which continues to turn despite goings on on the surface. Guests come and go, fall in and out of love, births, deaths, gain or let slip a fortune. But, the doors will continue to open and shut dispassionately. Money is also a theme- how people will sacrifice morality and dignity or simply what is right in order to keep it or to make it, despite their often noble instincts. Here, we have another early talkie worth watching, you do come away wishing to have booked a room and stayed even one night. This film gives you two hours in the Grand Hotel and they are worth it: I've given it 5 stars on tripadvisor. |
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AuthorPablo Griffiths is a man with a passion for many things. He has recently taken an interest in writing about film, and himself in the third person. |