Introduced by film critic Matthew Kennedy
Directed by Edmund Goulding
Greta Garbo, John Barrymore
Dr. Otternschlag: Grand Hotel... always the same. People come, people go. Nothing ever happens.
Grand Hotel was one of the first films to showcase a “star-studded” cast. Greta Garbo as a ballerina, two Barrymores (John as a baron and Lionel as an invalid,) Wallace Beery as a corporate big-wig, and Joan Crawford as a lowly stenographer, take their bows in this lush movie about the denizens of a luxury hotel in Berlin. Naturally there is love, intrigue, at least one attempted burglary, moral stands and life-changing decisions, all in an opulent setting that no doubt gave Depression era audiences a needed respite from the economic realities of the time.
Co-sponsored with Humanities West.
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