Grand Hotel (Keepcase) | 
| Actors: John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Frank Conroy, Joan Crawford
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $3.17
You Save: $16.81 (84%)
New (44) Used (18) from $3.16
Rating:  54 reviews
Sales Rank: 38747
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dvd, Full Screen, Subtitled, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 112 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: D67516D
ISBN: 1419810561
UPC: 012569675162
EAN: 9781419810565
ASIN: B0009S4IKQ
Theatrical Release Date: 1933
Release Date: September 6, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com essential video
This Academy Award winner for Best Picture is a sweeping soap opera about the guests at the Grand Hotel. Several plots intertwine, but mostly it's about Stars! Stars! Stars! Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, and both Barrymore brothers head up the cast. Garbo is luminous as Grusinskaya, the neurotic and famous-but-slipping dancer and, yes, she "vonts to be alone." John Barrymore is a cat burglar with blue blood and a heart of gold, and Lionel Barrymore happily caroms off him as Mr. Kringelein, a dying man who wants to live out the time he has left with the rich. Joan Crawford is perhaps the biggest surprise of the movie: as Flaemmchen, a young career girl trying to decide between secretary and tart, she is uncharacteristically funny, vivacious, and downright bubbly. Along the way we discover that money, fame, and titles don't guarantee happiness, and being a jewel thief doesn't necessarily make you a bad person. The nicest touch is the hint that other, minor plots swirl around the edges of the film, suggesting that we've only seen a small chapter of the hotel's story. Grand Hotel is a great deal of fun and an excellent chance to see some famous faces in their prime. --Ali Davis
Product Description
Movie DVD
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| Customer Reviews: Read 49 more reviews...
 just a classic May 18, 2009
R. Bagula (Lakeside, Ca United States)
With Greta Garbo opposite John Barrymore you get you money's worth with this one: the film quality of this version sometimes lets you down,
but not the acting. They weren't all stars when this came out, but many of the character roles are played by screen greats like Wallace Beery and Joan Crawford ( very young here). The Baron( jewel thief) and the Russian ballet dancer makes for some very important acting in this movie.
I liked it!
Barrymore and Garbo May 11, 2009
Richard Manichello (New York, NY USA)
I found this film a very high-quality, well-appointed DVD product for the old movie collector or the Barrymore afficionado. John Barrymore at his romantic best as a movie star, probably in his waning years but nevertheless dashing and effective as the tarnished and destitute society leech and jewel thief. The scenes with Garbo are historic. And a young Joan Crawford is beguiling as an impressionistic secretary. Her beauty is mysterious and timeless. Great resolution in the transfer, clear and sharp and beautifully black & white. My research into John Barrymore's life and career was greatly enhanced by this DVD. Hopefully, archival material like this film will be marketed and promoted better in the future. We have a treasure in Hollywood films like "Grand Hotel."
 Saw it once, had to see it again December 17, 2008
Duhhh One (Illinois)
After watching this show once on TV, I just had to watch it again. The variety of personalities and their effect on one another is great. The way our actions cause reactions in others is timeless, and this is a perfect example of that.
Grand Hotel: Superb Example of MGM's Triumph of Style November 28, 2008
Norma Desmond (Atlanta, GA)
If you wish to learn more about the operations of the four major studios from the 1920s through the 1950s, I suggest you buy Thomas Schatz's excellent book, "The Genius of the System." Schatz's detailed research of the making of "Grand Hotel" clearly shows why MGM was considered Hollywood's top studio. Prior to going into production in January 1932, there were dozens of story conferences with producer Irving Thalberg, director Edmund Goulding, and several top MGM personnel. Complicated rewrites were needed before production could begin. Problems with the script remained even after dozens of rewrites. In mid January production began. There were no problems on the set due to such a professional cast under the supervision of Edmund Goulding, MGM's top director. In early March upon completion of the film, there were several previews held in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Much to the surprise of the studio and its cast, the film was not well received. Back to the rewrites, reshooting and editing. A month later, the film premiered and this time the audiences' reception was quite different. MGM proudly saw this film nominated for Best Picture--which it won months later.
Money, Money, Money October 6, 2008
Kevin Killian (San Francisco, CA United States)
Lewis Stone with his twisted and burned up face, that looks bright red when he shows his right profile, steals the show if you're looking for the freakish side to pre-Code films. They would not have allowed him to wear that makeup had the film been made a year later. It's still pretty startling and symbolizes, I suppose, Janus, the face that looks backward and forward at the same time: a suitable pendant for the mise en scene of the GRAND HOTEL, where nothing changes, everything is always the same, and yet everything happens if you look at it from a different angle.
It's sort of a mishmash of acting styles, but in general terms we are seeing the final bid of silent acting as a viable art form. Garbo in particular seems to think she is still in silents, as does Wallace Beery, and their wonderful faces are always exquisitely placed within the frame. The brothers Barrymore are in there trying to make sense of modern-day "talkie acting"--unfortunately this gives Lionel the permission he's seeking to go all over the place with those ridiculous moans, snorts and giggles. Really it's enough to make you wonder why all the characters (but Beery) think of him as such a cute "odd duck." He's about as cute as a toad. John Barrymore, on the other hand, breaks on through into the slick modernity of screen acting, calming down his larger than life gestures and sublimating them to a bigger scheme of the what the story demands. (Which is peculiar in many ways and is about as far from the present-day demands of the three act structure as you couldm imagine.) His part is the most difficult as well as the most integrated, but he has to show us that he has fallen in love with Garbo's ballerina at the same time that he is developing some sort of erotic/romantic/paternal feelings for the young stenographer Flaemmchen (Joan Crawford). All the stories revolve around him, and this is possible because of the bizarre "classlessness" of his Baron. Is the Baron a real gentleman, or are his aristocratic affectations part of the con artist's resume? This question is, exquisitely, never answered and the ambiguity is at the heart of the Weimar romance.
Of course things were changing in Berlin in the very year GRAND HOTEL was being produced. Here and there you could swear you are seeing the up and coming signs of Hitler's reign coming on: in the scene, for example, where the grown bellmen line up for their shift and turn their hands palm upwards and down for cleanliness inspection.
And yes, Joan Crawford is pretty great here--though again Lionel Barrymore's relentless hamming prevents me from actually believing Flaemmchen honestly cares for him--though even if she's just after his money, the storyline still works.
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