At Grand Hotel "they come and they go" utters the house doctor played by Lewis Stone. Indeed the lobby of the opulent Berlin hotel is like the world in microcosm as travelers from all over hurry through its busy foyer. A series of their stories are intertwined in which romance, suspense, tragedy await. <br /><br />Over the years many films of this type (Dinner at Eight,Separate Tables, Ship of Fools, Airport,)have been produced with varying degrees of success. None have ever equaled Grand Hotel much to the credit of director William Goulding who managed to evenly distribute roles and get fine performances with a cast of the era's mega stars without having them bump into or upstage each other. <br /><br />Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Lionel Barrymore and Wallace Beery all deliver classic representations of what made them stars of that period. The pace of the film moves briskly and never slows as one major star replaces another in scene after scene. The overall story itself edits well into each segment due to the well defined connections between the characters. <br /><br />Naturally the scenery and set design are plush and Goulding presents it well with controlled, unobtrusive camera work. But it is the stars as a group glowing brighter than ever in a time to quote Norma Desmond when pictures were still big, the players larger than life. The physiognomy and chemistry of icons Garbo and Barrymore, Crawford before she hardened, as the working class hero, Beery at his surly best and Lionel Barrymore as the pathetic retiree stealing every scene he is in. <br /><br />Grand Hotel still holds up today with its story line and performances but it is also an excellent example of a period that was about to come to an end (1932). For just outside the door's of this four star hotel National Socialists were in the streets unwittingly plotting to end everything grand about the city of Berlin.