“People come, people go. Nothing ever happens” laments the hotel’s bitter resident Dr. Otternschlag, but in this glamourous Best Picture-winning classic, the “people” include such cinema legends as Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, and a young and vibrant Joan Crawford, and the “nothing” includes burglary, murder, romance, and a dying man’s final wish. Austrian writer Vicki Baum penned the original, best-selling novel (Menschen im Hotel) before moving to Hollywood to launch a successful screenwriting career. 

Director: Edmund Goulding. Cast: Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery. 1932. 115 min. USA. B&W. English. 35mm. New print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive.

All film screenings of Vienna in Hollywood: Émigrés and Exiles in the Studio System are available here.