MGM made several star studded films in the 1930s featuring all their most important stars--such as this movie and DINNER AT 8. They shared a common soap opera-like approach and bounced back and forth between the characters as they prepared for the big dinner party or, as with Grand Hotel, explored their lives in their rooms and in the hotel lobby. The acting in both was superb as were the writing and direction. However, unlike DINNER AT 8, this film is a little darker as one of the plots involves thieves and character Wallace Beery plays is rather chilling. It's excellent and will keep your attention throughout. Also, make sure to see DINNER AT 8--it's even better, and that's saying a lot!

Known as the film to win Best Picture but receiving no other Oscar nominations and as the first all-star film to many, 'Grand Hotel' still holds up as very impressive with a huge amount to admire 85 years later.

'Grand Hotel' is not quite a masterpiece, at least to me. It does run a little too long and inevitably for a film adapted from a stage play there are parts that creak whether in pacing or drama (which was not unexpected seeing as it was always a potential trap that numerous early films adapted from stage plays fell into).

While Greta Garbo's performance has been criticised for being over-the-top (which is an understandable and valid criticism),again to me there is one actor who overdoes it much more, and pretty painfully too, and that is Wallace Beery. A take or leave it actor and no stranger to hamminess, Beery's bombastic scenery chewing on occasion does threaten to unbalance the film.

Even though not a subtle performance in a theatrical role that called for theatricality, it cannot be denied that Garbo's presence here is luminous and impossible to forget and she always had a gift for comedy (as seen in 'Ninotchka'),dignity (as seen in 'Queen Christina') and for pathos (as seen in 'Camille' and 'Anna Karenina').

John Barrymore personified suave better than anyone before the likes of George Sanders (this was before his decline where alcoholism did him in and his performances became self-parody),while his brother Lionel is amusing and heart-breaking in a role far removed from his iconic villain Mr Potter from 'It's a Wonderful Life'. It's Joan Crawford at her most subtle, most charming and most sparkling who steals the show however.

So essentially, with the exception of Beery, an all-star cast giving fine performances. They are supported by a number of factors, such as the meatiness and density of the characterisations and a script that still sparkles in its wit and sophistication. Edmund Goulding directs with class.

Despite the long length, 'Grand Hotel' rarely lags and very nearly always remains interesting, with interconnecting story lines done so deftly and with such colour. 'Grand Hotel' was a visual and technical achievement back then, and to this day still dazzles with its stunning set and some ingenious cinematography that solves all potential scene change problems and allows one to revel in the hotel's glory. The score is just as ravishing.

Overall, while not a masterpiece 'Grand Hotel' is still a delight. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I cannot watch this movie anymore without hearing those lyrics of the title song from the 1990 Broadway musical. "People come, people go. Where there's life overflowing. Come begin in old Berlin. You're in the Grand Hotel!" The musical allowed the major characters to flow in for dramatic introductions, identified by the embittered partially blind doctor. "Nothing ever happens!", he says dramatically in both the movie and the musical, but you're hearing that from a man going through life with one eye shut. Lewis Stone, so wise as Judge Hardy, fails to convince in character. There's plenty happening in the most opulent hotel in all of 1930's Germany, a shell of itself after a world war, and at a turning point in it's history. Scary for many here, facing their mortality through their immorality.

The two immoral characters here are nobleman (and a thief!) John Barrymore and sadistic businessman Wallace Beery. Dying clerk Lionel Barrymore is the most vulnerable, wanting one last fling with life, and finding more than he bargained for. Typist Joan Crawford gets a rare glimpse of heaven on Earth, and finds hell, exploited by Beery and finding supposed romance with John Barrymore. Her friendship with Lionel Barrymore is the one honest relationship in the film, outside of ballerina Greta Garbo and her devoted companion, Rafaela Ottiano. Authors of the musical were so taken by Ottiano that they named the character in the musical after her.

Then there's hotel clerk Jean Hersholt, waiting for the news on his wife, in the hospital preparing to give birth. It's a minor part of the story, with the focus on Barrymore's (John that is...) seductions of both Crawford and Garbo. The two divas never cross paths or seem to be aware of the other's presence. Of the two, it's Crawford who is the most natural. Something in Garbo's performance indicates that she was pretty bored, wanting to be alone like her character, although through camera on her works its magic to fool the audience into thinking she's fully in character. Crawford shines in her energy, and her big eyes never more alluring. This has so much going for it that it is extremely difficult to find any fault. Truly a gem in pretty much every detail.