The Baron is desperate for money to pay his way out of the criminal group he has been working with. He and Kringelein get a card game going, and Kringelein wins everything, then becomes intoxicated. When he drops his wallet, the Baron stashes it in his pocket, intending to keep not only the winnings but the funds that will see Kringelein through the last weeks of his life. However, moved by the sight of Kringelein’s despair, the Baron – who desperately needs the money, but has become very fond of Kringelein – pretends to have discovered the wallet, and returns it to him. As part of a desperate merger plan, Preysing must travel to England, and he asks Flaemmchen to accompany him. Later, when the two are in her room—which opens onto his—Preysing sees the shadow of the Baron rifling through his belongings. He confronts the Baron; the two struggle, and Preysing bludgeons the Baron with the telephone, killing him. Flaemmchen sees what happened and tells Kringelein, who confronts Preysing. He insists he acted in self-defense, but Kringelein summons the police, and Preysing is arrested. Grusinskaya departs for the train station, expecting to find the Baron waiting for her there. Meanwhile, Kringelein offers to take care of Flaemmchen, who suggests they seek a cure for his illness. As they leave the hotel, Doctor Otternschlag again observes, "Grand Hotel. Always the same. People come. People go. Nothing ever happens." Cast Greta Garbo as Grusinskaya, the dancer John Barrymore as Baron Felix von Gaigern Joan Crawford as Flaemmchen, the stenographer Wallace Beery as General Director Preysing Lionel Barrymore as Otto Kringelein Lewis Stone as Dr. Otternschlag Jean Hersholt as Senf, the porter Robert McWade as Meierheim Purnell B. Pratt as Zinnowitz Ferdinand Gottschalk as Pimenov Rafaela Ottiano as Suzette Morgan Wallace as Chauffeur Tully Marshall as Gerstenkorn Frank Conroy as Rohna Murray Kinnell as Schweimann Edwin Maxwell as Dr. Waitz Allen Jenkins as Hotel Meat Packer Production Producer Irving Thalberg purchased the rights to Vicki Baum's novel Menschen im Hotel for $13,000 and then commissioned William A. Drake to adapt it for the stage. It opened on Broadway at the National Theatre on November 13, 1930, and ran for 459 performances. Pleased with its success, Thalberg had Drake and Béla Balázs write the screenplay, and budgeted the project at $700,000. There was some controversy about Greta Garbo, with her strong Swedish accent,