Jun. 26, 2002 - 11:28 pm
finally, another Best Picture down. only 5 more now. this one won the 1932 award beating out 7 other films you and i have probably never heard of. yes, early on they often had many more than 5 films up for each award. there's always only one winner though, which gives me the advantage.
this film is actually about the happenings of a Berlin hotel over a 3 day period. a group of guests all arrive one evening and stay for the same period. it's an odd group of people. one pig-headed industrialist is there for a business meeting, one dying man is there to live out his last days in style (Lionel B.), a ballerina is staying there while performing in the city (Garbo), one man is there to rob her (John B.), and one woman comes to act as a stenographer for the industrialist (Crawford). it's a little slow at the beginning and confusing because you're trying to learn about 5 main characters at once, but it quickly picks up and has a solid ending. they all have a hard time leaving the hotel. but some of them do eventually convince themselves to leave the hotel, plus one of them gets arrested, and one is dead.
this one introduced me to two new leading ladies and one new leading man that i had never seen before. you've got Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, and John Barrymore. also playing a large role is Lionel Barrymore (seen recently in You Can't Take It With You (1938)). John Barrymore did a very good job, but you can't help comparing him with his brother Lionel who was just outstanding. Greta Garbo, i disliked her character and her performance. she over-uses her eyebrows i think. weird, but true. and she looks like Kirsten Dunst. Joan Crawford on the other hand is wonderful and i find it hard to believe that John Barrymore's character would fall in love with the ballerina (Garbo) after having met this woman. i guess they had different tastes back then?
i liked what little interesting cinematography took place in the movie. also Crawford and the Barrymores were wonderful to see. it was a decent plot, but not extraordinary. since it's classical Hollywood and uses mostly invisible style, i can't really criticize much except for the acting and the plot.
a couple of random things though: was John Barrymore wearing eyeshadow in this film? i think he was. and it disturbed me thoroughly. also i have to commend them on the scene where one character attacks another with a telephone. it's very similar to a certain scene in Twelve Monkeys (1995) where Bruce Willis flips out when Kathryn gets attacked by a pimp. i mention that movie too much. wait, you can't mention that movie too much.