Grand Hotel story
Grand Hotel is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film directed by Edmund Goulding and produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The screenplay by William A. Drake is based on the 1930 play by Drake, who had adapted it from the 1929 novel Menschen im Hotel by Vicki Baum. To date, it is the only film to have won the Academy Award for Best Picture without being nominated in any other category.
25 total · 2 choice · 10 major · 13 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| carpe diem | choice | A moral of the story is arguably that which Kringelein spelled out while drunk after gambling: That one must have the courage to seize life and live it to its fullest. |
| personal human experience | choice | Dr_ Otternschlag, also the narrator, both prefaced and concluded this story by saying that "Nothing ever happens" at the Grand Hotel. The story pointedly refuted this statement implying that the real theme was in fact this: There is drama and intrigue everywhere around us if we only care to look. |
| boss and employee | major | Kringelein and Mr. Preysing had several run ins and a major confrontation in the hotel bar regarding their unequal social status. |
| compromising one's ethical principles vs. great need | major | Baron von Gaigern desperately needed money to pay his way out of a criminal group. However, his scruples got in the way first when he tried to burglarize Grusinskaya's room, and then again when he tried to rob Kringelein. In both cases he aborted his attempt because of his conscience. |
| coping with a terminal illness | major | Kringelein had had a terminal prognosis and was intent on spending the remaining few weeks or months of his life in luxury. |
| coping with being in debt | major | Baron von Gaigern plotted to steal a pearl necklace to fulfill a 5,000 Mark debt that he owed. |
| desperation | major | The story had several desperate characters at the center, each desperate in their own way. Kringelein had been given only weeks or months to live. Baron von Gaigern needed money to pay off criminals. Preysing had to get the merger through or his company would go under. |
| facing financial ruin | major | Preysing had to get the merger through or his company would go under, leaving him in dire straights. Baron von Gaigern was broke and indebted to gangsters, and therefore would not be able to maintain his lavish lifestyle for much longer. |
| romantic love | major | Baron von Gaigern and Grusinskaya fell passionately in love. |
| the hospitality industry | major | The story is set in the Berlin Grand Hotel. Among other things Kringelein argured with the staff over the quality of his room and managed to get it up graded to a suite. |