Grand Hotel (1932)

Academy Awards, USA 1932

Winner Oscar

Best Picture

MGM
Directed by Edmund Goulding
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Warner Bros.)

John Barrymore is a hotel thief planning to steal the jewels of ballerina Greta Garbo staying in a posh Berlin hotel. He is attracted to stenographer Joan Crawford while milling around the hotel and manages to talk her into a date the next afternoon. She is working for a wealthy industrialist trying to close a business deal. Meanwhile, hotel guest Lionel Barrymore is dying and plans to spend his final days living in luxury. The thief strikes up a friendship with him. That night, he sneaks into the ballerina's room but is discovered. They spend the rest of the night talking, and falling in love. She is suffering from a lack of confidence on the stage, making her susceptible to his compliments. The next day, he shows up for his date with the stenographer but tells her he has fallen in love with someone else in the meantime. She is crestfallen and turns to Lionel Barrymore for consolation. Still needing money for gambling debts, the thief sets his sights on the wealthy industrialist, but is caught in the act and accidentally murdered. Dizzying array of characters is handled adeptly by director Goulding. Tends to be mostly melodramatics, and Garbo really overplays her character, but denouement is quite satisfying.