Evening star., 1932-04-24
The
Moving Picture
Album
BY ROBERT E. SHERWOOD.

TINE loudly advertised movie YER
sion of Grand Hotel has come
up to expectations. Indeed 1t
has actually passed them. The
reasons for this success are not
hard to ind. All the members OF an
all-star cast are seen to best advantage
In a vehicle that is worthy of their dis
tinguished talents. Under the remark
ably able direction of Edmund Could
ing the possibly discordant elements
have been merged into a harmonious
whole. The Moscow Art Theater Itself
couldn't have achieved a more skillful
modulation OF assorted styles IN ORA
matte expression.
There has never been any doubt i'll
these quarters that Greta Garbo Is a
fine actress-the finest, as have previ-
ously announced, that the screen has
ever known, and John Barrymore Is
fine actor (more often than not). But
they are as radically different in meth
cd and style as Joan Crawford Is dif-
ferent from Wallace Beery. One had
every reason to anticipate that a love
scene played by Miss Garbo and Mr..
Barrymore would bear some resemblance
to a disarmament conference between
the japanese Empire and the Union
of Socialist Soviet Republics. Instead
of which, their intimate duet provides
as lovely an episode as you will observe
this side Of the millennium. It's mir
acle of perfect adjustment
I could go on talking with similar
ecstasy about all of the occupants OF
this truly Grand Hotel, b'rt shall re-
sist the temptation to do so. Suffice
it to say that Miss Crawford, Mr.. Beery,
Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone, Jean
Hersholt and several dozen others are
all absolutely marvellous.
If Grand Hotel" doesn't bring back
the teeming audiences that used TO eX-
ist in the days Of The Covered Wag-
on" and "The Big Parade" then the
film theaters of America may be said
to be incurably non-refillable.
4
THERE Is a school Of thought in
l. HOLLYWOOD which views Grand
Hotel" as a considerable menace. We'll
ford Beaton, in the Spectator, has even
gone so far as to state that it will do
serious harm to the motion picture in
dustry.
Perhaps this is true. The after ef
fects of a too sumptuouS repaSt are not
always pleasant, and the public may
be glutted by this munif1cent feast.
Also Miss Gsrbo and the others may
never again seem as powerful as IN
dividual stars as they were in unison.
However, I don't believe that the day
has dawned when a picture could be
condemned for being too much OF
good thing. It is all very well to say
that Grand Hotel" being a magnifl-
cent bargain in entertainment, Will
make it extremely hard for all the one
star or no-Star productions that are TO
come. But that is like saying that
Babe Ruth has hurt base ball by Great
ing in the fans an appetite for home
runs that no other player can satisfy,
or that Shakespeare ruined the theater
by writing Hamlet"
It seems to me that the millions of
members Of the movie audience de-
serve really big treat. They've had
to subsist on pretty thin Cruel in re-
cent years, and even If Grand Hotel
does result in an attack of dyspepsia 1t
will still be regarded gratefully as a
luscious evidence Of Hollywood's capacity
for munificence.
IT is splendid news that Joan Craw-
l. ford is to have the big part in Lewis
Milestones production of Rain" This
supremely interesting young actress has
waited too long for major opportunity
Miss Crawfords is strange case
She is a victim of her own terrific
popularity, most of which dates from
"Our Dancing Daughters" Intensely
intelligent and ambitious to do the
finer and better things" she has been
forced to act in cheaply sensational
stories. 1t wasn't that her employers
were brutal with Miss Crawford, they
were just practical. They knew that
her huge box-office drawing power
would cover a multitude of literary sins,
and the fact that they were right has
been proved by Our Blushing Brides"
Possessed" and similar sensational
epics.
There are several impressive flashes
of Miss Crawford's peculiar dramatic
power in Grand Hotel" particularly in
the eXpertly directed dancing scene with
Lionel Barrymore. There will be
great many more Of these in Rain"
and consequently a lot more cause for
rejoicing by her fervent admirers.