GRAND HOTEL
This 1932 commercial hit also won the Best Picture Oscar but nevertheless I was fearful that after all this time it would be creaky and generally old-timey. Not a bit of it. For a start the main five characters are surprisingly relatable, even if they are staying at a luxury hotel (in Berlin), due to them being recognisably human beings rather than caricatures. Perhaps most of the credit for this should go to Vicki Baum, the Austrian writer who wrote the novel (with the prosaic title of ‘People in the Hotel’) which was first adapted into a play and which then became this glossy star-studded vehicle. Well that description might be over-egging it a little. I doubt that Lionel Barrymore and Wallace Beery were the George Clooney and Brad Pitt of their day - they come across here more as talented character actors. And certainly at this point in her career Joan Crawford hadn’t reached full stardom. No, the real stars here are Greta Garbo and John Barrymore. Garbo play...