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All-Star Accommodations: “Grand Hotel” (1932)

Author
Brad Shreve & Tony Maietta
Published
Wed 27 Aug 2025
Episode Link
None

"Grand Hotel...people come, people go. Nothing ever happens."

With all due respect Lewis Stone, the actor who utters these immortal lines in this MGM classic, we couldn't disagree more!  “Grand Hotel” (1932), stands as one of the most significant achievements in early Hollywood cinema, not only for its revolutionary approach to casting but also for its sophisticated storytelling and visual innovation. 

"More stars than there are in the heavens" was MGM's famous tagline from the 1930s, and this Best Picture Oscar winner more than proves the point. Released during the darkest year of the Great Depression, this MGM masterpiece starred Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Joan Crawford, and Wallace Beery, and created the template for what we now recognize as the "all-star cast" film – a bold and innovative concept at the time that continues to influence filmmaking nearly a century later.

 So, join us as we check into an era where decadence, debauchery, and deadly ambition can all be served up with an order of room service... all happening at a magical place called Hollywood and "Grand Hotel".


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Links to Tony's website, and Brad's website at www.goinghollywoodpodcast.com

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To watch "The True Story of the Barrymores," go to https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0CZTHYN6D/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r

To watch Tony's WIRED video "Tech Support: Old Hollywood" go to https://youtu.be/6hxXfxhQSz0?si=TO4Xv6q87XhBnqDT

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