Line #12 Film/GrandHotel


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/grand_hotel_5444.jpg]]
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3	->''"Grand Hotel... always the same. People come, people go. Nothing ever happens."''
4	-->-- '''Dr. Otternschlag'''
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6	Adapted from Vicki Baum's novel, this 1932 [[Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer MGM]] film was directed by Edmund Goulding and featured an AllStarCast that included Creator/GretaGarbo, brothers {{Creator/John\|Barrymore}} and Creator/LionelBarrymore, Creator/JoanCrawford and Creator/WallaceBeery. It tells the intertwining stories of the various guests who check into Berlin's famous Grand Hotel (based on the RealLife Adlon Hotel):
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8	* The Baron (John Barrymore), a poor aristocrat who's resorted to thievery to pay off his debts.
9	* Mr. Kringelein (Lionel Barrymore), who has come to the Grand Hotel to live it up after finding out he is terminally ill.
10	* Flaemmchen (Crawford), a secretary who is barely scraping by.
11	* Preysing (Beery), a businessman who is desperate for a deal that could save his failing company.
12	* Grusinskaya (Garbo), a Russian ballerina who is burned out on life.
13	* Their stories are observed by Dr. Otternschlag (Lewis Stone), who's too drunk to notice that stuff does happen in the Grand Hotel.
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15	This film is probably the first true AllStarCast film ever made, featuring most every A-lister in the MGM lineup. ''Grand Hotel'' won the UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Picture, without even being nominated for any other Oscars, the only time this has ever happened.[[note]]At least part of the reason is that there was no clear lead actor or actress, and there were no supporting acting awards at the time.[[/note]] Contains the SignatureLine of Garbo's whole career--"I want to be alone."
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17	Followed by a SpiritualSuccessor, ''Film/DinnerAtEight'', which not only featured a similar narrative structure but had several of the same actors playing similar parts. It was remade in TheForties as ''Weekend at the Waldorf'', starring Creator/LanaTurner. A musical adaptation went to Broadway in the late 80s and early 90s, later adapted by the Creator/TakarazukaRevue. Vicky Blum later wrote a sequel to the book, ''Hotel Berlin'', which was also adapted into a film, ''Film/HotelBerlin''.
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19	Not to be confused with ''Series/GranHotel'' which shares the same English-language title, or ''Film/TheGrandBudapestHotel'', which doesn't.
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22	!!Tropes found in the film:
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24	* AndTheAdventureContinues: A young married couple check in to the hotel at the end, indicating that more people will come and have adventures at the Grand Hotel.
25	* BalconyEscape: The Baron enters Grusinskaya's room by climbing from balcony to balcony.
26	* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: Shortly after the Baron dies, the majordomo of the hotel (Jean Hersholt) finds out that his wife has delivered a baby boy.
27	* BittersweetEnding: The Baron is dead, and Grusinskaya's going to be alone (quite possibly even getting back to DrivenToSuicide mode). Kringelein is still going to die. But Preysing at least will face justice, and Flaemmchen and Kringelein will grab some happiness while they can. And Flaemmchen believes that with all Kringelein's money they can find a great doctor who can cure him.
28	* BlackSheep: The Baron describes himself as this. Apparently he's been cut off by his family.
29	* BookEnds: Opens and closes with the inaccurate observations of Dr. Otternschlag.
30	* ContinuityNod: Pay close attention at the end and you will hear one of the desk clerks calling out rooms that have become vacant--the rooms that are being vacated by the movie's main characters. (160, 164, 166, 170 and 176.)
31	* DistractedByTheSexy: Preysing notices Flaemmchen's legs while dictating a letter.
32	* EnsembleCast: Each character gets to carry a storyline, and no single character takes much more screen time than the others.
33	* ExtremelyShortTimespan: Takes place over about 48 hours, or two days and nights at the hotel.
34	* GentlemanThief: "Baron" Felix von Geigern, although in this case he's apparently been forced to become a hotel thief due to being deeply in debt to bad people.
35	* HaveAGayOldTime: The Baron and Kringelein agree that the best life is "a short life and a gay one."
36	* ImpoverishedPatrician: The Baron is the BlackSheep of his family, and flat broke as a result.
37	* InfoDump: A series of telephone conversations at the beginning sketch out the stories of several characters.
38	* IronicEcho: The "nothing ever happens" line, said by Dr. Otternschlag for the second time after a great deal has happened.
39	* JerkAss: Preysing is a perverted [[BadBoss tyrant]] and a cheat.
40	* TheLastDance: Kringelein, terminally ill, blowing all his money on having a great time at the Grand Hotel.
41	* MeanBoss: Preysing is this, as established by Kringelein, who was a low-level accountant at Preysing's company. Kringelein lets Preysing have it in an epic TheReasonYouSuckSpeech after Preysing is rude to him at the hotel bar.
42	* MeaningfulName: Baron Felix Amadeus Benvenuto von Geigern, by his own admission, is a cheerful, charming man who has been awfully lucky all his life, getting into tough spots and out of them. Until his luck ran out. The meaning of his names, in order: "happy/lucky/successful," "love of God/love God," and "welcome."
43	* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: [[spoiler:The Baron gets killed because he tries to rescue Flaemmchen from being raped by her BadBoss. Of course, he was only there because he wanted to steal Preysing's wallet, but ''still''.]]
44	* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: The only one to use a German accent was Wallace Beery, who plays the main villain.
45	* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: Subverted and lampshaded (see Ironic Echo).
46	* PetTheDog: Grusinskaya, initially implied to be ThePrimaDonna, has a moment of gratuitous niceness when she offers to help a frail old woman entering an elevator.
47	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Kringelein, who no longer has anything to lose, gives this to his scumbag boss, Preysing.
48	* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: Kringelein's response when a desperate Preysing tries to buy him off.
49	* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections:
50	** The Baron pulls this to get a room for Kringelein, threatening to disturb Baron Rothschild.
51	** The police officer squashes Zinnowitz's complaint about [[spoiler:Preysing's arrest]] (that it could ruin Preysing's life, just because he defended himself from a hotel thief) by asserting that [[spoiler:"the deceased was a Baron"]] (implying that it meant he couldn't possibly be a thief. Which he ''was'', regardless of the events following his attempt to burgle Preysing).
52	* SexySecretary: Flaemmchen, who models in her spare time.
53	* TalkingDownTheSuicidal: When the Baron, hiding in Grusinskaya's room in an attempt to steal her pearls, overhears her "in despair," his response is to disclose his presence and confess his feelings for her so she'll have something to hold onto.
54	* TheVonTropeFamily: Baron von Geigern, child of nobility, who has fallen on hard times.
55	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Averted with the Baron's dog, Adolphus. He is brought down to the lobby, and one of the staff takes charge of him. Like the Baron himself, he's quickly removed from the hotel (almost swept out by a janitor's broom), but the audience can presume he'll be fine.
56	* WhiteDwarfStarlet: Grusinskaya's ballet tour is drawing very poor audiences. After she blows off a performance, she notices that no one missed her. This seems to be both caused by and contributing to her depression; after she meets the Baron and is happy again, her next performance gets rave reviews.
57	* YourDaysAreNumbered: Otto Kringelein has a terminal illness, so he spends all his money to live the end of his life in luxury.
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60	!!Tropes found in the musical:
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62	* AmbiguouslyBi: Otto Kringelein. He sings "The sleek young men/The slender girls/They please my eyes," in "At the Grand Hotel." He's quite affectionate to the Baron - a highlight from the Takarazuka production: the way Miya Rurika's Kringelein gently, almost tenderly, dabs the Baron (Tamaki Ryou)'s forehead with his handkerchief -, pays very little attention to the SexySecretary Flaemmchen, and at the end of "We'll Take a Glass Together" he leaps into the latter's arms (and being held aloft off the ground). While this ''can'' be chalked down to the Baron being "kind to [him] as no one ever was," it has not stopped the shippers.
63	* CrossCastRole: The Takarazuka productions have Raffaela played by ''otokoyaku'', actresses who usually play male roles.
64	* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: [[spoiler:The Baron gets shot accidentally while struggling for Preysing's gun, instead of clobbered with a telephone]].
65	* DyingDream: [[spoiler:The Baron's DeathSong, "Roses at the Station" involves him seeing his life flash before his eyes, and getting to the Berlin main train station to go to Vienna with Elizaveta, but unable to see her. (Most productions put Elizaveta in the same scene, frantically looking for the Baron)]].
66	* MissedHimByThatMuch: The Encores production has Elizaveta and the Baron miss each other by mere ''centimeters'' on the staircase. [[spoiler:Of course, it's his DyingDream, but still]].
67	* MortalWoundReveal: In the Encores production of TheMusical, [[spoiler:the Baron]] holds a bouquet of red roses for most of "Roses at the Station." Near the end, he drops the flowers, revealing the gunshot wound on his crisp white shirt.
68	* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: The Baron, in the middle of [[spoiler:burgling Preysing,]] rushes to save Flaemmchen from [[spoiler:being assaulted. He gets killed for it in an accidental struggle for the gun.]] Lampshaded by Doctor Otternschlag: "No creature on this planet is more miserable than an impoverished nobleman who can't help being ''noble.''"
69	* SanitySlippageSong: James Snyder (Encores production) plays "Roses at the Station" this way. "I'm here, Elizaveta, at the station/Here with you, dear, at the station," and "Where are you? I can't see you," therefore become {{Madness Mantra}}s.
70	* TimeShiftedActor: The Creator/TakarazukaRevue production of TheMusical has the young and adult Baron sharing the stage for "Roses at the Station."
71	* TogetherInDeath: [[spoiler:The stage show implies Elizaveta kills herself after finding out about the Baron's death]].

Context Film / GrandHotel