Which one of these remarkable actresses do you think of first, when you think about this picture?
For me, it's Crawford's movie. She has much more to do in this movie, and gets to interact with more interesting characters (Beery, both Barrymores, etc...)than Garbo does.
What do you think...?
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Easily Crawford, It felt like Crawford was in it twice as much. And Garbo annoyed me in each of her scenes. I know she was supposed to be a diva, but even that felt overacted. Garbo was overrated and poor in each scene, I just wanted her scene to be over and move on. While I couldn't get enough of Crawford, she stole the movie and Berry more was a fool to go with Garbo.
shareI thought Garbo's performance was brilliant, but I could not help feeling throughout that her character Grusinskaya absolutely defines the term "high maintenance." Unbelievably annoying!
shareCrawford, though it is an all-star movie, and I have to agree with a former poster: it's Lionel Barrymore's movie- if anyones.
However, I am a fan of Garbo, but GG wasn't at her best in this movie. Crawford seemed more natural, GG on the other hand seemed extremely dramatic. I can't help it, it's simply not one of her better performances in it.
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Alix, it's an ensemble cast of course but...as much as many folks think of Garbo in this picture, at the end, Crawford really does it for me. IN ANOTHER WAY.
There's no comparison in their acting styles. And they both bring something different but remarkable to the film.
Enrique Sanchez
Hi Enrique-8,
I watched it last night and was in tears at Crawford's star turn at the end. She broke my heart. Both actresses were fabulous as was the entire ensemble. "Grand Hotel" is a milestone in classic cinema, a classic made just three years after MGM first transitioned to sound.
Crawford. She was basically an up and comer here and more than held her own opposite more established and experienced actresses/actors.It's no coincidence that in a very short time after this film, Joan's pictures would be the top grossing films at M-G-M. I love Grand Hotel and her performance, as much or more than anyone's, makes this movie what it is. She is vibrant.
I came to Casablanca for the waters.....
Crawford, by a huge margin. I have never been among the throngs who worship at the altar of "the divine Garbo;" she had an annoying tendency to be extremely hammy which was no doubt a holdover from her days in silent films when overacting was actually a necessity because the actors had to communicate without words.
Here, Garbo is simply miscast. Tall, lanky, and frankly rather clumsy, I did not believe her for a minute as a star ballerina. In fact, in that one scene where she dances around her hotel room for love of the baron, I couldn't help thinking that any minute she would knock something over or trip over her own klutzy feet. She wasn't the least bit graceful, and when she said, "I want to be alone," I couldn't help wishing they would let her.
Crawford, on the other hand, is a revelation. Flaemmchen, the saucy stenographer, is a broad on the make in a city that is beginning to drown in its own corruption. Crawford may have won an Oscar for her noble and self-sacrificing mother in MILDRED PIERCE, but I have always enjoyed her most when she played ladies whose virtue was somewhat less than perfect, like Flaemmchen here and her delightful turn as Crystal Allen in THE WOMEN.
Crawford herself admitted quite frankly that she knew nothing about acting when she arrived in Hollywood. But her filmography shows that she was willing to learn, and learn she did.
Never mess with a middle-aged, Bipolar queen with AIDS and an attitude problem!
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