Grand Hotel

This old chestnut is no classic, but just a testament to the power of Irving Thalberg, who assembled a cast of MGM stars and promoted the production into huge success and a best picture Oscar. In this all-star showcase, Greta Garbo is hammy and histrionic in a way she usually isn’t, uttering her trademark line, “I vant to be alone.” But with the Barrymores, John and Lionel, and Wallace Beery chewing the scenery around her, and Joan Crawford as the young tootsie on the make, it was every star for him or herself in this portmanteau production set in a dazzlingly-designed soundstage rendition of a swank Berlin hotel. Edmund Goulding’s direction is smooth and soulless, and the cream of MGM’s studio ply their various trades to impressive but empty effect. (1932, dvd, n.) *6-*

Good news for would-be Garbo fans -- a ten-disk dvd set will be issued in September, along with release of individual films, most available for the first time.