The Story Archive

Grand Hotel

Edmund Goulding · 1932 CE · Film · Modern / American · Modernist

In a Berlin hotel a ballerina announces she is finished, a broke baron works as a jewel thief, a dying bookkeeper spends his savings on one good week, and an industrialist works a deal with a stenographer waiting outside. Goulding keeps the circular lobby in motion and lets the stories cross in passing rather than in scenes. The first all-star ensemble picture, and the only best-picture winner nominated in nothing else.

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Attributes

Genre
RomancePsychological
Theme
Isolation & AlienationDeath & MortalityWealth & Greed
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
EverymanWandererAnti-Hero
Plot structure
PolyphonicEpisodic
Symbol / motif
The StaircaseThe ClockThe Garment
Conflict
vs Societyvs Self
Mode / tone
RealistElegiac
Culture / tradition
Modern / American

Closest analogues