BEFORE: Wrapping up the Joan Crawford chain by jumping back to this Best Picture Oscar winner - it's been a while since I watched one of those, I think the last one was "Rebecca". Out of 86 Best Picture winners, after tonight I will have seen 69 of them, with plans to watch another 3 that are on the list. Damn, that would just leave 14 unwatched, I could theoretically complete the set in a 2-week span...
I'm getting a late start tonight because were out at the theater, watching "Les Miserables" on Broadway as part of my wife's birthday celebration. Of course, it's odd to compare a stage production to a film because a film can do so much more with props and scenery - but still I found the stage production to be rather minimalist. There were many times when actors appeared on what was essentially a bare stage, with a colored or moving backdrop. A bare-bones use of props meant that they could really keep the play moving in an innovative and constructive way - scene changes were so rapid that there was no need for the use of a curtain between set-ups, for example - but still it almost felt that when it came to decorating the stage in some scenes, they just weren't even trying.
THE PLOT: A group of very different individuals staying at a luxurious hotel in Berlin deal with each of their respective dramas.
AFTER: Speaking of minimalism, this film features a group of people staying at a hotel. Apparently it didn't take much to impress audiences back in 1932 - what year was it when audiences were shown a film of an approaching train and they all ducked out of reflex? I can only imagine the same people being bowled over with exciting footage of people checking into their rooms, and talking on phones! Oooh, now they're drinking at the bar! How very grand!
I guess you have to figure that the Great Depression was also taking place, so people were looking to movies as a form of escape from their financial troubles, so staying at an opulent hotel in Berlin was probably not in the budget for most Americans. High-stakes gambling and fancy dining and dancing may have something of a pipe dream, so perhaps that explains the appeal here.
I've seen some strange depictions of the upper-class this week, it's almost like Hollywood didn't quite know what to do with rich people. The rich Monte in "Mildred Pierce" was sort of an idle rich man, slowly going broke by paying taxes on his properties and letting them be foreclosed on - but still, getting a job and trying to salvage his situation seemed out of the question. And Bette Davis' character in "Now, Voyager" used a long ocean cruise as a form of both therapy and matchmaking - why, it was the answer to all her problems! (And the start of a few new ones.) And then in "The Catered Affair" we had the dilemma of rich parents of the groom while the parents of the bride were working class.
Here in the "Grand Hotel", oddities among the rich are surfacing again, so I've got my unexpected theme for the week. You'd expect a baron to have some money, but the one depicted here is also a cat burglar whenever he needs cash, or perhaps he just likes the thrill. Then we've got a factory owner involved in high-level negotiations for a merger - and an employee of his who just happens to be staying at the same hotel, having saved for years to do so.
The employee, Kringelein, represents the working class - as does the stenographer played by Crawford who's not above making a little extra money from lonely executives by staying the night. Hey, you did what you had to do during the 30's, I guess. The character of the doctor summarizes the hotel by saying "People come. People go. Nothing ever happens." But he couldn't be more wrong, a lot goes down but I guess he just couldn't see it, or had seen too much of it.
I said I'd be pulling some fast and loose linking - perhaps you're expecting me to follow this one with "The Grand Budapest Hotel". It's not on the list yet so I'm not planning it, but I had the option - and, I like the way you think. I programmed this one thinking I might have that film on the list by now - but I think it's running on premium cable next week, so I'll have to add it to next year's list. But that's a great example of the TYPE of linking that's coming up before the end of the year - two films from different eras that are essentially the same.
Also starring Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, Jean Hersholt.
RATING: 4 out of 10 Louisiana flips
No comments:
Post a Comment