MOVIEmeter
SEE RANK
Down 464 this week

Grand Hotel (I) (1932)

Passed  |   |  Drama, Romance  |  11 September 1932 (USA)
7.6
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 7.6/10 from 12,168 users  
Reviews: 105 user | 74 critic

A group of very different individuals staying at a luxurious hotel in Berlin deal with each of their respective dramas.

Director:

Writers:

(by), (play) (as William A. Drake) , 2 more credits »
Watch Trailer
0Check in
0Share...

Watch Now

From $2.00 on Amazon Video

ON DISC

Celebrate IMDb's 25th Anniversary with Photos We Love

IMDb turns 25 on October 17! To celebrate, we put together a gallery of some of our favorite movie, TV, and event photos from the last 25 years.

See the Photos We Love

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 39 titles
created 12 Mar 2013
 
a list of 49 titles
created 29 Apr 2013
 
a list of 44 titles
created 8 months ago
 
a list of 31 titles
created 6 months ago
 

Related Items

Search for "Grand Hotel" on Amazon.com

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: Grand Hotel (1932)

Grand Hotel (1932) on IMDb 7.6/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of Grand Hotel.

User Polls

Won 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 1 nomination. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

Cimarron (1931)
Certificate: Passed Drama | Western
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6/10 X  

A newspaper editor settles in an Oklahoma boom town with his reluctant wife at the end of the nineteenth century.

Director: Wesley Ruggles
Stars: Richard Dix, Irene Dunne, Estelle Taylor
Cavalcade (1933)
Certificate: Passed Drama | Romance | War
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.1/10 X  

A cavalcade of English life from New Year's Eve 1899 until 1933 seen through the eyes of well-to-do Londoners Jane and Robert Marryot. Amongst events touching their family are the Boer War,... See full summary »

Director: Frank Lloyd
Stars: Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook, Una O'Connor
Biography | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.3/10 X  

The biopic of the famous French muckraking writer and his involvement in fighting the injustice of the Dreyfuss Affair.

Director: William Dieterle
Stars: Paul Muni, Gale Sondergaard, Joseph Schildkraut
Adventure | Drama | History
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.8/10 X  

Fletcher Christian successfully leads a revolt against the ruthless Captain Bligh on the HMS Bounty. However, Bligh returns one year later, hell bent on avenging his captors.

Director: Frank Lloyd
Stars: Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone
Certificate: Passed Musical | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.4/10 X  

Harriet and Queenie Mahoney, a vaudeville act, come to Broadway, where their friend Eddie Kerns needs them for his number in one of Francis Zanfield's shows. Eddie was in love with Harriet,... See full summary »

Director: Harry Beaumont
Stars: Bessie Love, Anita Page, Charles King
Biography | Drama | Musical
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.9/10 X  

This biography follows the ups and downs of Florenz Ziegfeld, famed producer of extravagant stage revues.

Director: Robert Z. Leonard
Stars: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Luise Rainer
Wings (1927)
Drama | Romance | War
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.8/10 X  

Two young men, one rich, one middle class, who are in love with the same woman, become fighter pilots in World War I.

Directors: William A. Wellman, Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast
Stars: Clara Bow, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Richard Arlen
Mrs. Miniver (1942)
Drama | War
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

A British family struggles to survive the first months of World War II.

Director: William Wyler
Stars: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Teresa Wright
Comedy | Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8/10 X  

A man from a family of rich snobs becomes engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family.

Director: Frank Capra
Stars: Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Lionel Barrymore
Going My Way (1944)
Certificate: Passed Comedy | Drama | Music
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.3/10 X  

Youthful Father Chuck O'Malley led a colorful life of sports, song, and romance before joining the Roman Catholic clergy, but his level gaze and twinkling eyes make it clear that he knows ... See full summary »

Director: Leo McCarey
Stars: Bing Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald, Frank McHugh
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

The rise and fall of a corrupt politician, who makes his friends richer and retains power by dint of a populist appeal.

Director: Robert Rossen
Stars: Broderick Crawford, John Ireland, Joanne Dru
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.4/10 X  

A reporter pretends to be Jewish in order to cover a story on anti-Semitism, and personally discovers the true depths of bigotry and hatred.

Director: Elia Kazan
Stars: Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, John Garfield
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
...
...
...
Doctor Otternschlag
...
Senf - the Porter
Robert McWade ...
Meierheim (as Robert Mc Wade)
Purnell Pratt ...
Zinnowitz (as Purnell B. Pratt)
Ferdinand Gottschalk ...
Pimenov
Rafaela Ottiano ...
Suzette
Morgan Wallace ...
Chauffeur
...
Gerstenkorn
Frank Conroy ...
Rohna
Murray Kinnell ...
Schweimann
Edit

Storyline

Berlin's plushest, most expensive hotel is the setting where in the words of Dr. Otternschlag "People come, people go. Nothing ever happens.". The doctor is usually drunk so he missed the fact that Baron von Geigern is broke and trying to steal eccentric dancer Grusinskaya's pearls. He ends up stealing her heart instead. Powerful German businessman Preysing brow beats Kringelein, one of his company's lowly bookkeepers but it is the terminally ill Kringelein who holds all the cards in the end. Meanwhile, the Baron also steals the heart of Preysing's mistress, Flaemmchen, but she doesn't end up with either one of them in the end... Written by Gary Jackson <garyjack5@cogeco.ca>

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Taglines:

Thank The Stars For A Great Entertainment !

Genres:

Drama | Romance

Certificate:

Passed | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Country:

Language:

|

Release Date:

11 September 1932 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Menschen im Hotel  »

Box Office

Budget:

$700,000 (estimated)
 »

Company Credits

Production Co:

 »
Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

(Turner library print)

Sound Mix:

(Western Electric Sound System)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

Greta Garbo was very particular as to how her love scenes with John Barrymore were shot. She requested red front-lighting and required curtains to be placed between the camera and film crew to help set the mood and create the illusion that she and Barrymore were alone. During one take, Garbo got so carried away with the scene that she continued kissing Barrymore for three full minutes after Edmund Goulding had yelled cut. The bonus smooching footage survives, however, it was not used in the film's final cut. See more »

Goofs

As Grusinskaya is on the phone (while the Baron is watching), she holds the receiver with different hands between shots. See more »

Quotes

Dr. Otternschlag: Believe me, Mr. Kringelein, a man who is not with a woman is a dead man.
See more »

Connections

Featured in MGM Greatest Moments: A Video Sampler (1987) See more »

Soundtracks

Kunstlerleben (Artist's Life), Op.316
(1867) (uncredited)
Written by Johann Strauß
Played as background music often
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.

User Reviews

A Grand Classic!
24 December 2007 | by (Fraggle Rock) – See all my reviews

More than 70 years later and it stood the test of time. Edmund Goulding directs the movie which starts at a slower pace but towards as things proceed, pace picks up. Greta Garbo was definitely the star of the time but here she's quite a drama queen. It's Joan Crawford who gives the best performance (and has a more fleshed out role than Garbo). The actress indeed has a stronger presence than Garbo and she's simply terrific. Lionel Barrymore and John Barrymore are equally impressive. Lionel is particularly good in balancing his characters tragedy and comedy. The supporting cast is adequate.

The cinematography is amazing as it gives us a marvelous glare of the grandness of the Grand Hotel, the overhead shot of the operators who're connecting the incoming calls, and then focussing on the different characters who're all either desperate for money, happiness or nothing (as they are satisfied with what they have e.g. the head hotel clerk). Everyone is shown to be busy with their own individual life and this is further stressed on in the final scene.

In addition to that, the set designs are spectacular reflecting the indifferent atmosphere and the beauty of the hotel. The reference to the War is also put in a very subtle way (as the film was made in the 30s) through the Baron's story and the scar on the doctor's face. Some might be bored in the beginning (due to the slow pace) but just bear with it, the film does get better and one will indeed understand why it stood the test of time. A grand classic it is indeed!


22 of 24 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
Crawford's Movie or Garbo's Movie Alix1929
Joan Crawford steals the movie! FranLovesBetteD
very disapointing downbeat83
Greta Garbo jucalon
Should Be In Top 20 marbleindex
If remade? wagb1986
Discuss Grand Hotel (1932) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?