Rating: 
Summary: ALL-STAR CAST ,Best Picture 1932 now on remastered DVD!
Review: Warner Brothers continues to re-release all of Hollywoods Golden Years Classics Movies thru their "Warner Home Video Inc" label under the SPECIAL EDITION DVD series. This DVD series is includes; outstanding digitally remastered video and sound, original movie trailer and movie documentaries.If you want to see what screen glamour used to be, and what originally "stars" were, this is perhaps the best example of all time!!!! "GRAND HOTEL" won a Best Picture Oscar in 1932. This was Hollywoods first ALL-STAR movie presentation with; the alluring Greta Garbo, the great John Barrymore, electrifying Joan Crawford, larger than life Wallace Beery and the lovable Lionel Barrymore. Summary: A very complex story line set with an ALL-STAR cast at the "Grand Hotel" in Berlin Germany. A broke Baron (John Barrymore) tries to hustle woman out of their jewels & money. A beautiful reclusive Ballerina (Greta Garbo) finds love too late. A short tempered Millionaire (Wallace Beery) finds himself in a scandal. Hired stenographer (Joan Crawford) is hustling rich men for marriage and Lionel Barrymore plays a terminally ill hard working wealthy man who comes to the "GRAND HOTEL" to experience the joy of living. This movie a joy and the cast performs magnificently. I must admit, Joan Crawford is electrifying and steals the show!! The extras include; New making of documentary; "Checking-Out", Grand Hotel News-reel, Just a word of Warning Theatre Announcement, Vitaphone Musical short - "Nothing Ever Happens" & movie trailers. This is a 'GRAND' addition to your DVD movie library. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: ALL-STAR CAST ,Best Picture 1932 now on remastered DVD!
Review: Warner Brothers continues to re-release all of Hollywoods Golden Years Classics Movies thru their "Warner Home Video Inc" label under the SPECIAL EDITION DVD series. This DVD series is includes; outstanding digitally remastered video and sound, original movie trailer and movie documentaries. If you want to see what screen glamour used to be, and what originally "stars" were, this is perhaps the best example of all time!!!! "GRAND HOTEL" won a Best Picture Oscar in 1932. This was Hollywoods first ALL-STAR movie presentation with; the alluring Greta Garbo, the great John Barrymore, electrifying Joan Crawford, larger than life Wallace Beery and the lovable Lionel Barrymore. Summary: A very complex story line set with an ALL-STAR cast at the "Grand Hotel" in Berlin Germany. A broke Baron (John Barrymore) tries to hustle woman out of their jewels & money. A beautiful reclusive Ballerina (Greta Garbo) finds love too late. A short tempered Millionaire (Wallace Beery) finds himself in a scandal. Hired stenographer (Joan Crawford) is hustling rich men for marriage and Lionel Barrymore plays a terminally ill hard working wealthy man who comes to the "GRAND HOTEL" to experience the joy of living. This movie a joy and the cast performs magnificently. I must admit, Joan Crawford is electrifying and steals the show!! The extras include; New making of documentary; "Checking-Out", Grand Hotel News-reel, Just a word of Warning Theatre Announcement, Vitaphone Musical short - "Nothing Ever Happens" & movie trailers. This is a 'GRAND' addition to your DVD movie library. Enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: Life styles of the rich and famous!
Review: When I first rented this movie I had no way of being prepared for what I was about to see. I assumed like most films of this era that it was going to be some sort of cute romantic movie, that probably never deserved to win the "Best Picture" Oscar. I was completely shocked as I watched this film to see the themes that unfolded; the meaning of life, love, lust, and death! Based on the play "Menschen im Hotel" by Vicki Baum and the American play by William A. Drake, "Grand Hotel" catches our attention right from the very beginning. The film, for those who don't know, and I'm sure there are many who don't, is about the "Grand Hotel", and what exactly goes on in a place we are told nothing ever happens. If they only knew!! Otto Kringelein (Lionel Barrymore) is going to die very soon, so he decides to take out his life savings, and enjoy the last days of his life. This very same idea was later used in Kurosawa's "Ikiru". The one thing Kringelein HAS to do is stay at the "Grand Hotel". And, he wants the best room they have! Then there's Baron Felix Von Geigern (John Barrymore), who has run out of his luck, and now is broke, he finds himself in debt, and will do ANYTHING to get out of it. Wallace Beery (Preysing) is a business man who finds himself also in a load of trouble, his company won't be able to close a deal that might cost his job. Grusinskaya (The ALWAYS amazing Greta Garbo!! One of my all time favorite actresses)is a dancer who just doesn't want to dancer anymore, she feels that the audience no longer enjoys her performances. And, finally rounding out everything, there's Joan Crawford (Flaemmchen) who works for Preysing (Beery), and has fallen under the charms of Geigern (J.Barrymore). Edmund Goulding's directing is very good. He's able to display each story in a way that makes it fresh. He doesn't take the same appoarch to every scene. Which really impressed me. Most directors, even today, could and might of [goofed] up the whole movie by not knowing how to "treat" it. I'm not going to discusse every little detail about this movie, that would take me far too long, but, I will make a few more comments. The ending is a shocker! I did not see it coming, I assumed it would of ended happily, in a way I'm glad it didn't. For a movie made in 1932 I think this was a bit ahead of it's time. I hope many many others rent or buy this film. It's a wonderful movie that has some of the best actors\actresses of that era (Garbo, L. Barrymore, and J. Crawford). Truly deserving of it's Oscar.
Rating:
Summary: Ultimate Movie Legend!
Review: When younger movie buffs ask me for suggestions for "old" movies they should watch to get an idea of Hollywood's long-gone glamor, "Grand Hotel" is my answer. On this beautifully restored DVD, you catch mythical movie stars at their peak. Garbo, Crawford, the Barrymore brothers, etc. More than that, thanks to MGM's phenomenal crew of artisans, you can study how legends were created--from Adrian's sleek gowns and furs for the ladies to the severely tailored suits for the men. From the highly lit art deco sets of Cedric Gibbons to the wonderfully stylized performances elicited from the magical cast by British director, Edmund Goulding. Those meticulous close-ups of Garbo and Joan Crawford took hours and hours to light and film. You can watch the physical beauty of John Barrymore, just before he slid into acute alcoholism. The music, those great limousines, the sets, the make-up, MGM's superb array of character actors (dig Rafaella Ottiano as Garbo's long-suffering maid), help contribute to the powerful ambiance of Hollywood in l931. There are some great goodie extras, too. I'm glad I got this DVD because I've worn out at least 3 video tapes of this timeless classic.
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