Grand Hotel (DVD), Warner Home Video, Drama

A true early talkies classic. I've heard about this movie but only the other day did I catch it on Turner Classic Movies and (like the two Capra classics It Happened One Night and Mr. Deeds Goes To Town) I'm want it in my movie collection. Wallace Beery, John and Lionel Barrymore, Greta Garbo (this is the "I vant to be alone" movie) and a young Joan Crawford are the new visitors to the hotel and the movie allows you to get to know them all as well as the staff of the hotel. There's a certain look and feel to those 1930s movies -- a rawness and energy -- that sets them apart from the more refined flicks of the 40s and 50s that makes these movies a treasure to behold. To those reading, I highly recommend this movie. It may be a polished and high production value drama but there's a lot of heavy material here that showed that period before the Hays commission got teeth and the studios began producing 'wholesome' movies. If you enjoy only modern movies, this will likely not appeal to you but if you love cinema and have favorites among all the decades, Grand Hotel isn't a second guess for a purchase.