Going My Way

"A golf course is nothing but a poolroom moved outdoors."--Father Fitzgibbon (Going My Way, 1944)

Well it's a lovely movie, especially to watch at Christmas time.  If I close my eyes I can pretend I'm watching White Christmas.  What's it about?  Bing Crosby.  Seriously.  He sings, it's great, and I think he's a priest who helps people and saves a church?  Don't know.  Don't really care.  I enjoyed watching it, I loved the music, and I don't really remember what it was about.  Entertaining film with Bing Crosby?  Absolutely.  Oscar-worthy film?  Eh--probably not.

Fathers O'Malley and Fitzgibbon

The Plot
The film starts in New York City, with mortgage broker Ted Haines Sr. reluctantly telling elderly Irish Father Fitzgibbon, played by Barry Fitzgerald, that if he doesn't make his mortgage payment on St. Dominic's church soon he will have to call in the mortgage.  Ted, Jr. argues with his father to give the church a break, but his father insists.  Father Charles Francis Patrick O'Malley, played by Bing Crosby, arrives in the neighborhood with modern ways that upset the locals.  He greets Father Fitzgibbon in a sweatshirt and slacks and announces he is to be his new curate.

Father O'Malley is the new curate.

Father O'Malley visits with his childhood friend Father Timothy O'Dowd, a local priest and the only one who knows that Father O'Malley was really sent to replace Fitzgibbon at St. Dominic's, which is in financial difficulties as well as in a troubled neighborhood.  When Ted, Jr. is sent to evict Hattie Quimp, who is O'Malley's biggest detractor, O'Malley promises the church will guarantee her rent.  On his walk back to the church, O'Malley notices two young boys stealing turkeys, with which they will later escape into the church garden and then gift to Father Fitzgibbon.  O'Malley mentions the boys are in trouble, and Fitzgibbon refuses to believe it until he discovers the turkeys are stolen.  But instead of punishing the boys, O'Malley takes them to a baseball game instead.  Meanwhile, one of the local policemen brings pretty, eighteen-year-old runaway Carol James to see O'Malley after picking her up on the street.  She turns down O'Malley's offer of a job keeping house at the church, and mentions her desire to become a singer.  O'Malley tries to coach her, and then gives her $10 when she insists on leaving.

Father O'Malley talks to the boys.

Now having earned the trust of the boys in the neighborhood, O'Malley convinces them to train as the church choir.  Fitzgibbon, having had enough, goes to the bishop to ask for O'Malley's transfer, only to learn that O'Malley has been sent as his replacement.  Upset, Fitzgibbon runs away, but O'Malley's policeman friend finds him in a storm and brings him home to O'Malley and the distraught housekeeper.  O'Malley and Fitzgibbon bond over Irish whiskey and songs, and Fitzgibbon mentions his desire to see his ninety-year-old mother, who still lives in Ireland.  A little while later, O'Malley runs into an old friend and flame, Metropolitan Opera star Genevieve "Jenny" Linden, played by real-life opera star Rise Stevens, who is surprised to learn her dear friend has become a priest.

Father O'Malley sees Jenny.

Hattie Quimp, still antagonistic, informs Fitzgibbon that Carol has taken the apartment across from hers, and has no problems "paying" her rent to Ted, Jr.  O'Malley goes over to check on her, and finds that the two are in love and Ted, Jr. has let her live in a vacant apartment without telling his father.  O'Malley plays them a song, and makes them realize how serious they are about each other.  A little later, Jenny and O'Dowd visit St. Dominic's and  see the choir.  O'Dowd mentions that he has been attempting to get O'Malley's latest song, "Going My Way" published by his friend, but it has been rejected as "too schmaltzy."  Meanwhile Ted, Sr. has finally found out about Carol, and bursts into her apartment to find her in her nightgown and Ted, Jr. coming out of the bedroom.  It turns out they're married, and they blissfully ignore Ted, Sr.'s sputtering.  But just when Ted, Sr. has reached his boiling point, his son comes out in a Army Air Force uniform, and bids them both a fond farewell.

Ted, Jr. and Carol fall in love

O'Dowd has convinced his publisher friend to come see Jenny perform "Going My Way" with the St. Dominic's choir.  But while he still feels the song too corny, he accidentally catches the boys singing O'Malley's more upbeat "Swinging on a Star."  The money for the song will be used to save the church, but at O'Malley's suggestion the publishers come to church, and put the money into Fitzgibbon's collection.  Fitzgibbon is so excited, he agrees to go golfing with the other fathers, and surprises everyone with his swing.

The fathers go golfing.

But all this comes to an abrupt end when the church catches fire and burns down.  Father Fitzgibbon falls ill after trying to solicit donations in the rain.  O'Malley tells Fitzgibbon that Ted, Jr. is on his way home after a minor jeep accident, and Jenny, who is touring with the boys' choir, has sent a check for $3,500 from the proceeds.  But just as construction has begun on the new church, O'Malley is transferred to another church that needs his help.  Fitzgibbon is sad to see him go and shocked to discover the irreverent O'Dowd has become his new curate.  As Fitzgibbon gives a sermon thanking O'Malley for all he has done, Jenny brings in Fitzgibbon's elderly mother as O'Malley watches.  As Fitzgibbon tearfully embraces his mother, O'Malley walks away into the snowy night, whistling.


Father O'Malley leaves.

The History
Leo McCarey, Oscar-winning director of The Awful Truth, made the success of his new film, Going My Way, seen unlikely.  It would contain a series of vignettes about a priest, have no female leads, and boast crooner Bing Crosby in the lead.  He was an unusual choice to play a priest but Crosby was already incredibly popular with audiences, especially the troops.  This, however, was the first film in which Crosby would be considered an actor, rather than a singer, and he was named the number one box office star of the year.  Crosby would go on to become one of the top stars of the decade, and he, along with his music, are still popular today.



Leo McCarey and Bing Crosby

The film was a surprising hit with audiences, with the Hollywood Reporter claiming that "it's a good bet that the McCarey-Paramount clicker may even top the Selznick-MGM big grosser [Gone with the Wind]."   Darryl F. Zanuck's pet picture, Wilson, an epic about President Woodrow Wilson,  was much more
elaborate and war conscious than Going My Way.  But while it retained some good critical reviews, Wilson flopped at the box office, and Going My Way beat it in nearly every category at the Awards.  Zanuck was so upset that he ordered his staff to never mention the movie about his favorite historical hero ever again.

Publicity still for Going My Way

Going My Way was nominated for ten awards, and won seven: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Screenplay, Original Story, and Song ("Swinging on a Star").  It is the first film to have both won "Best Song" and "Best Picture."  It is also the first and only film to have a single star (Barry Fitzgerald) be nominated for both actor categories for the same film.  Though he was nominated for both "Best Actor" and "Best Supporting Actor" he would only win "Best Supporting" while the "Best Actor" award would go to Bing Crosby.  Because of this, the Academy changed their rules to ensure actors could only be nominated in one category per film. 

Publicity still for Going My Way

Going My Way was followed by a sequel, The Bells of St. Mary's.  There would also be a short lived television show based on the film, starring Gene Kelley in 1962.  This film was the top box office grosser of 1944, and has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."  Despite its popularity, it has since faded out of significance, in the wake of Crosby's far more popular film, White Christmas.  It is perhaps best remembered for its award-winning song, "Swinging on a Star."

Singing "Swinging on a Star."

The Academy Award Ceremony was slowly changing.  This year at the ceremony producer Mark Sandrich's behest, small clips of each nominated film would be played for each award presentation, so as not to give one award preference over another.  This would also be the first ceremony that would be broadcast nationally on the fledgling network, ABC--on the radio, of course.  Unfortunately, Mark Sandrich would not live to see the ceremony and his many changes.  He died on at the age of 34 of a heart attack, mere days before the show.

Father O'Malley and Father Fitzgibbon play golf.

A little known fact about Bing Crosby is that his favorite pastime was golf, and is now a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Aside from Bobby Jones and Arnold Palmer (the man, not the drink), Crosby may be the person most responsible for popularizing the game of golf.  He was a two handicap who competed in both the British and U.S. Amateur championships.  So when March of 1945 and the Awards ceremony came around, Paramont Pictures' biggest star was to be found on the 12th hole of Lakeside golf course mere hours before the show.  When the publicity crew came to beg him to attend, Crosby shrugged them off and told them to invite his parents in his stead.  They did invite his parents, but instead Crosby's mother called her son and gave him such a scolding that he did, indeed, decide to attend.

Fitzgerald and Crosby with their Oscars

Crosby was not the only golf enthusiast in Going My Way.  Barry Fitzgerald was an avid golfer himself.  When he recieved his award and came home after a night of celebrating, he decided to practice his golf swing and decapitated his plaster Oscar statuette (the statues were made of plaster during wartime).  The studio had to pay $10 to replace the sheepish Fitzgerald's award.  So he did, in fact, win two Oscars that year.

The Verdict
What to say about this film?  It's very warm and fuzzy.  I could listen to Bing Crosby sing forever.  He and Frank Sinatra have those soothing, liquid voices that seem to seep into one's pores.  I also like the way Crosby manages to distribute advice without ever once sounding patronizing.  He makes a speech about giving back to others or following your dreams or something, and I just nod my head and say, "Yes, Bing.  You're right.  I should join a choir to save my church.  And it's normal that you just turned a street gang into a choir with little-to-no effort."  So it's completely understandable he's in almost every scene.  This movie would fall apart without him.

Father O'Malley in his neighborhood.

Not to say that I didn't enjoy the rest of the cast.  It's always fun to watch Barry Fitzgerald of How Green Was My Valley  and The Quiet Man play an irascible old Irishman.  Partially because I think he was an irascible old Irishman.  And Rise Stevens was a real-life opera star, so her voice is very nice to listen to.  But while this movie is fun to watch, it is basically unremarkable.

I find two things interesting about this film.  The first is the original movie poster, replicated again above.  Rise Stevens is a minor character in the film who only appears half-way in.  She is holding hands on the poster with Bing Crosby, whose priest collar has almost disappeared from sight.  This completely downplays the entire plot of the film.  Were the advertisers afraid that by both making the main character a priest and having no female lead the film would do poorly?  Stevens is also in the corner in an Opera costume she never wears in the film.  Barry Fitzgerald and the choir are almost non-existent in the corner.  I don't know quite what to make of this, but it bears noting.

Carol bids Ted, Jr. goodbye.

And lastly, perhaps because of the last few films I've watched, the war element in this film, again, is fascinating to me.  In fact, my favorite subplot was that of Carol and Ted, Jr., especially in the scene when he goes off to war.  Now unlike Mrs. Miniver and Casablanca, there is nothing in this film that is about war.  But this small scene shows how omnipresent war was in the society of 1944.  And how awesome nightgowns were.

Ted, Jr. shakes hands with his father.

No matter what type of film it is, (and the last three films differed greatly) each somehow reflect the realty of war lurking in the background of ordinary lives.  In this film it is a small enough thing, but just seeing Ted, Jr. put on a uniform and leave his young bride sent a chill down my spine.  That would never occur in today's films.  In fact, I would hazard to guess that in no time period since has such a type of film existed.  Because of the nature of World War II, war itself has become a background element to all films during this time period.  This film may be saccharine and childish, but Ted is still going to fight a war.  He even becomes injured, though not badly.  It is the contrast between the smiling, all-American men and women in these films and the constant threat of war that gets to me.  Ted shakes his fathers hand and leaves with a smile on his face.  It is a scene that we will never see since.  Not with Vietnam, and certainly not with 9/11.  With the era of World War II America coming to an end, I find myself struck by how strange it must have felt to live under the constant shadow of a real world war.  I imagine it felt something like this scene.  Only not nearly as nice and smiley. 

Father Fitzgibbon hugs his mother.

On a Magical Journey

Based on my new idea to broaden my posting horizons please enjoy a short vingette based on recent modern movie travails....

The past week or so have contained an epic battle-one of good versus evil; of wrong versus right.  This is a battle where truth, justice, and an indomitable will combined to--okay, fine, this week was a battle to get one of my friends to go with me to see Tangled.

Rapunzel

Now before you judge me too harshly let me point out a few important facts.  First of all, digitally animated moves are very in right now.  Toy Story 3 got a 99% on the RottenTomatoes.com meter (personally, though the movie was great, I think that rating is a little too high).  Secondly, I have to say I have an uncanny ability to pick entertaining movies based solely on previews.  I knew it would be awesome.  And thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, I have never outgrown my love of princesses, animated or otherwise.



Rapuzel and her magic hair

It's true!  I know all the lyrics to all the Disney princess songs.
Unfortunately, I am now considered to be an adult.  So if I were to go see the movie alone, I would be the creepy person in the back of the theater.  None of my friends or close relatives have children, and I am not currently babysitting any suitable little children that I can drag to the movie as an excuse.  Therefore, one of my friends has to go with me.

Rapunzel's castle and some Disney magic.

I informed them of this, and received only eye-rolling.  But I persevered.  It only took several impassioned speeches, five threatening emails, one incidence of blackmail, and a pointed facebook post before finally one of them agreed to come along.  And I promised to buy her margaritas.

Tangled early story sketch



Terrifying Mother Gothel probably appreciated the margs...



So--a pitcher of fabulous frozen raspberry margaritas later (was it inappropriate to drink before a children's film?) and we were off to a 3D adventure.

A side note about 3D.  Is it really all that necessary?  Kind of gives me a headache...

My verdict?  I enjoyed the film, though perhaps not the best princess story I've seen.



Rapunzel and her magic hair

Tangled is the story of a princess named Rapunzel, played by Mandy Moore.  Right before her mother is about to give birth, the queen becomes ill, and the only thing that can cure her is a magical flower hidden in the kingdom.  The flower is watched over by an evil witch, Mother Gothel, played by Donna Murphey, who sings a magic song and therefore uses its powers to remain young forever.  But one day Mother Gothel is careless, the guards find the flower and feed it to the queen.  She gets better and gives birth to Rapunzel, who has the power to heal in her shiny golden hair.  Mother Gothel sneaks into the castle and attempts to snip her hair, but when cut, Rapunzel's hair turns brown and looses its power.  So the evil witch steals her away, hides her in a tower and pretends to be her mother.  Heartbroken, the king and queen release golden lanterns into the air on her birthday every year, hoping that the lanterns will reach their daughter and bring her home.

Magic lanterns around the castle.

Eighteen years later, Rapuzel is determined to set out on her own to seek the lanterns, which have become special to her though she doesn't know why.  Mother Gothel refuses to let her leave, claiming the outside world too dangerous.  Enter Flynn Ryder, played by Zachary Levi, a notorious theif who has stolen the missing princess's tiara from the castle.  But in his haste to get away, he ends up hiding in Rapunzel's tower.  She kidnaps him and refuses to return the tiara until he takes her (and her trusty sidekick, Pascal the chamelion) with him to see the lanterns before Mother Gothel returns.  What follows is a typical chase through the forrest, avoiding both Flynn's pursuers and Mother Gothel's machinations.  Rapunzel learns to grow up and face the world, and Flynn finds himself falling in love with the intrepid princess.  But when Mother Gothel becomes determined to keep Rapunzel at all costs, Flynn must step in to save the day by being true to himself and the one he loves.



They just can't get his nose right.

What did I love?

Zachary Levi.  You probably know him as the title character in the TV series, Chuck.  This film is an entirely new side of him as an actor.  Flynn is the best character in this film, by far.  He is funny, charming, witty, and vulnerable.  Actually, I think I'd rank him up there with Aladdin, another thief with a heart of gold.  Levi manages to make the audience actually care about this Disney prince, when the princess is usually the scene stealer.  And this is supposed to be Rapunzel's story. 

Rapunzel's tower

Another great thing was the scenery.  I saw an interview in which the animators mentioned they were inspired by old Disney films like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty.  I can definitely sense the older, more magical vibe of those films.  In many ways the animation harkens back to the golden age of animation, which, with The Princess and the Frog, Disney has been attempting to return to.


Flynn with one of the villians-with-a-heart-of-gold

Less thrilled about... Suprisingly, the music.  This film was scored by Oscar-winning composer, Alan Menken, he of such famous films as Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Enchanted.  I cannot tell you a single song from this movie.  The songs were unmemorable, all realtively similar, and did not help to progress the story line.  The best one is probably the song sung by all the villians in the pub into witch Rapunzel stumbles, and there's also "Mother Knows Best" sung by the evil Mother Gothel.  But when you have a noted singer in your aray of actors, it is suprising when her songs are so completley unmemorable.


Rapunzel with the villians.

Which brings me to Rapunzel...
I've never hated Mandy Moore, though her combination whiney/impassioned little girl acting has recently begun to grate.  But I at least appreciate the effort to be different, instead of routinely banging out syrupy half-baked romantic comedies like so many other actresses these days.  I actually like it when she plays a mean girl.  Much more fun.


Rapunzel and Flynn

But I think her Rapunzel never really gets off the ground.  She has a voice perfectly suited to princessdom (sweet, innocent, and a good singer without being too good) but there are moments where she just becomes too cliqued of a character.  She's just so darn earnest..with everything.  I don't need another five heartwarming "I get achieve my dream if only I try" songs.  Just one or too would have been okay.  She's not bad, but when the prince is much better, you know you have some problems.  Also if your personality is eclipsed by your hair...again...problems.  Look to Aladdin and Jasmine.  They have a partnership that actually seems to snap and crackle and work.


Flynn finds Rapunzel

All in all, not a bad film, although I do think Disney has the potential to create bigger and better films a la The Little Mermaid and Aladdin.  The Princess and the Frog was definitely a step in the right direction.  This film feels close--but not quite there (Treasure Planet, anyone?).  I look forward to their next attempt...Winnie the Pooh!

Grand Hotel

"Grand Hotel... always the same. People come, people go. Nothing ever happens." --Doctor Otternschlag, Grand Hotel

This film prescribes to the belief (still prevalent in films today) that if you pack enough stars into one film it will have to be a hit.  Although this is not always the case, with the amount of talent bursting at the seams of this movie, it is impossible for it to fail.  And it doesn't.  Through sometimes plodding in its pace, Grand Hotel weaves an interlocking collection of stories together in unexpected but ultimately satisfying ways.


The Plot

Joan Crawford as Flaemmchen

Greta Garbo as Grusinskaya

Flaemmchen and Preysing

Welcome to The Grand Hotel in Berlin, Germany, home to Europe's rich and famous, and full to bursting with interesting characters.  There is Baron Felix von Geigern, played by John Barrymore, a devil-may-care womanizer and war veteran, who has turned to gambling to increase his seriously depleted funds.  Grusinskaya, played by Greta Garbo, is a spoiled, perennially depressed prima ballerina who is still suffering from her defection from Russia.  Wallace Beery plays an industrial tycoon, General Director Preysing, who married his way into his job but is now trying to push a merger through just to stay afloat.  His newly hired stenographer, Flaemmchen, played by Joan Crawford, pines for the Baron while fending off the advances of Preysing.  Otto Kringelein, played by Lionel Barrymore, is a man who has just discovered he has a terminal disease, and has decided to quit his job as a bookkeeper in one of Preysing's factories and live the remainder of his life in the most extravagant way possible.  Lastly is Dr. Otternschlag, played by Lewis Stone, a disfigured war veteran who hangs around the Hotel, commenting on them all.  Hanging around the fringes are Grusinskaya's many attendants, the head porter whose wife is in labor, Preysing's laywer, and the other hotel guests.

Flaemmchen and the Baron

Preysing is worried.  If his merger doesn't go through, his company is sunk.  But the merger will only come through if "The Manchester Company" agrees to do business with him.  His lawyer hires Flaemmchen, a beautiful stenographer with aspirations to act, to assist him before the meeting.  Kringelein throws a fit because he wants a much better room than he has, and is finally accommodated.  The Baron befriends the hapless Kringelein, and the two of them meet Flaemmchen as she waits outside Preysing's room.  The Baron makes a date with Flaemmchen for the next night at 5pm, while waiting to see if he can catch a glimpse of Grusinskaya, to whom he has been sending frequent gifts.  Grusinskaya has been performing badly, and is suffering from bouts of melancholy that make her unable to sleep or dance, which in turn causes her staff to tear their hair out in frustration.  Returning from an incomplete dancing engagement, she turns everyone out of her room, uttering her famous line, "I want to be alone."  What she doesn't realize is that the Baron, up to his ears in gambling debts, has been coerced into stealing her priceless pearl necklace and is now trapped inside her room.  He reveals himself to her, while confessing that he has also fallen in love with her.  She tries again to send him away by repeating her famous line, but he stays and she finds herself falling for him as well.

Grusinskaya and the Baron

Grusinskaya and the Baron

Preysing stops Flaemmchen and Kringelein

Preysing and Flaemmchen

Preysing meanwhile has received a note that the Manchester deal is not going through.  At his meeting he tries to evade a straight answer, but finally is forced to lie and say he does have the Manchester deal to guarantee his merger.  Grusinskaya and the Baron spend the night together, and the next morning she invites him to travel with her.  The Baron refuses to take her money, but tells her he will find a way to make the money and get on the train with her the next morning.  Grusinskaya is happy once again, and her staff is relieved.  The Baron, however, is depressed.  He keeps his date with Flaemmchen, but tells her he loves another.  She is disappointed, but agrees to dance with the lovable Kringelein.  Preysing, witnessing this, becomes angry and tries to separate them.  Kringelein and Preysing exchange words, but after Flaemmchen finally dances with Kringelein she goes with Preysing up to his room.  She agrees to go with him to Manchester, and to stay with him in his suite at the hotel, though she is clearly repulsed by him.

Flaemmchen witnesses the Baron's death

Kringelein gambling with the Baron and Dr. Otternschlag

Flaemmchen and Kringelein

Increasingly desperate, the Baron tries a number of ways to pay off his debts.  He gets Kringelein to help run a gambling ring from his room, but he goes bust while a drunken Kringelein doubles his money.  Distraught, he tries to steal money from Preysing's room, only to get caught by Preysing himself as Flaemmchen is undressing in the next room.  They struggle, and Preysing hits the Baron over the head, inadvertently killing him.  Preysing tries to get a horrified Flaemmchen to cover for him, but she runs crying to Kringelein, who reports him.  Preysing is carried out in handcuffs and Kringelein and Flaemmchen run off to Paris together.  Fearing another bout of depression, Grusinskaya's staff hide the Baron's death from her, insisting that he will join her on the road.  As she leaves, finally happy, Dr. Otternschlag affirms his opening line, that nothing really happens at the Grand Hotel, although so much has.

The History
Irving Thalberg, "Boy Wonder" and creative mind behind MGM, purchased the rights to Menschen im Hotel by Vicki Baum and first produced a successful Broadway play before turning it into a film.  Before Grand Hotel, it was considered too costly to have more than one or two big stars per picture.  But Thalberg decided to launch the first "all star" film and choose five top MGM stars to play the major roles.  While both Barrymores agreed, Garbo, Beery, and Crawford all had their doubts.  Greta Garbo thought 27 was too old to play a ballerina, and only agreed after she was given control over who played her love interest in the film.  Beery thought the role would be too unsympathetic and damaging for his image, finally agreeing after Thalberg told him he would be the only one with a German accent.  Lastly, Crawford had to be persuaded into the role, as she thought that most of her scenes would be censored and she would lose screen time.  She wasn't completely wrong; theaters in more conservative states cut her racier scenes.

Flaemmchen and Preysing

When Thalberg eventually got everyone on set, things went a little more smoothly.  The famously reclusive Garbo surprisingly got along well with John Barrymore, even allowing the publicity department to take rare behind-the-scenes photos.  She requested that the love scenes in rehearsal be lit with red lighting so as to be more romantic.  Garbo and Crawford never appeared in the same scene together, so that one wouldn't upstage the other.  The director, Edmund Goulding, did decide to add more Garbo scenes after previewing the film, concerned that Crawford was stealing the show.  All the hard work and risk paid off; after a star-studded opening night, Grand Hotel would turn out to be one of biggest grossing MGM films of all time.  Grand Hotel has the dubious honor of being the only film to win "Best Picture" but not be nominated for any other category.  Incidentally, to prevent last year's disaster, the Academy made a rule that prohibited speech-making at the Awards.  This would also be the year that Walt Disney would win an "Special Award" for creating Mickey Mouse, and winners' names would be broadcast on a screen behind them with a small clip of their film.

Barrymore and Garbo backstage

Grand Hotel is still famous today.  Garbo's line, "I want to be alone," is ranked as #30 on AFI's List 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes.  It is also the line that managed to sum up Garbo's attitude toward her fame for the rest of her life.  It was the first all-star drama in Hollywood and also the first film that followed characters in one large setting, their lives either overlapping or completely separate.  This is what is now known as a "Grand Hotel theme" and has since been used in movies that have since been set at airports, aboard ocean liners, in large department stores and so forth.  While it has been criticized as being overly dramatic and "largeish," Grand Hotel is usually remembered for its glamorous theatricality and star power.

Filming of Grand Hotel

The Verdict?
The best description I can come up with for this film is "luxurious."  The women vamp their way through the film with low, throaty voices, dressed in silk stockings and robes.  The men wear expensive suits and plow their way through the film with heavy, important dialogue.  It is a melodrama, and it is as though the director is attempting to pack as much action as he can into each scene while still muffling the whole thing with expensive decor.

I don't suppose I'm making much sense.  Put it this way: this movie has rich people fighting, falling in love, falling in lust, dying, and gambling.  We as the audience are both very aware of the humanity of the main characters while simultaneously marveling at how fabulous they all are.  It's fun!  It's like watching an old Hollywood soap opera with better acting but less overt sex.  The thing about movies like this, however, is that they cause the audience to focus on who the actors are rather than the parts they are playing.  The entire movie, I didn't think that Grusinskaya was doing something, but rather that Greta Garbo was.  Some parts were a little slow, and it was difficult to focus because the plot really didn't matter.  New characters kept popping up all the time, each with a new story or problem.

The best part was discovering these old Hollywood actors.  Isn't Greta Garbo gorgeous, in a surreal, otherworldly kind of way?  And looking through these pictures, don't you desperately wish you had Joan Crawford's legs?  And watching both Barrymores allowed me to compare them to the current famous Barrymore, John's granddaughter Drew.  The stars make the film, without them this film would be just another 1930s melodrama.  It is worth watching just for the thrill of seeing incredible actors waltz around a plush hotel, draping themselves over divans and uttering "I want to be alone."  Hell, it's worth it just to hear that one line.