S01E05: Grand Hotel

The Oscar Best Picture reviewing continues this week with 1932's Grand Hotel starring the elusive Greta Garbo and the slightly less elusive John Barrymore.  We also discuss whether the rise of streaming services has been a positive or a negative to the film industry.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Cinema Social Club. Joining me this week are Glenn and Sarah. Elisa is out on sick leave, and we wish her a reasonably speedy recovery. And on this week's episode, we will continue our reviews of Oscar Best Picture Winners with 1932's Grand Hotel. We will also be discussing whether streaming services have been good or bad for the film industry, and I will be torturing my co-hosts with my own brand of fun and games. But first, a look at some recent entertainment news. And this week, many questions have been answered in the entertainment industry. First, does anyone really want to see another Toy Story movie? The answer seems to be very much a yes, as the film opened to staggering box office numbers on its first weekend, bringing in two and a half times more money than the other top nine films combined. The question of whether Timothy Chalamet is just another pretty face will soon be answered, as it turns out it's been announced that he and Selena Godbenz will be teaming up for a new animated film from Universal. Very much in lines with current trends, it is an alien movie titled Not Alone. And finally, the age-old question, can you tell me how to get how to get to Sesame Street has been answered. It turns out you just have to be Netflix and you have to get into a bidding war with the entire year, with the same people you seem to always be getting into a bidding war with, and everything in life will turn out fine and you'll get rights to a Sesame Street film. Congratulations, Netflix! And that's this week's entertainment news question and answer. And now a quick look at this past weekend's top five at the box office. At number five, it's scary movie, reminding us that the only thing harder to kill than Mike Myers is a horror movie franchise. At number four, it's more horror, but with a slightly yellowish tint, it's Backrooms. At number three, and the part where I start wishing that more films were being made so I could stop talking about the same ones over and over and over again, it's obsession. Currently enjoying a solid month in the box office top five. At number two, Steven Spielberg's latest sci-fi flick disclosure day has dropped quickly out of the number one slot to make room for some animated toys. At number one, bringing in approximately 160 million in its opening weekend, it's Toy Story 5. And that's the Box Office Top 5. And now I'm going to bring in my co-hosts as we discuss whether or not the rise of streaming is a good or bad thing for the film industry. Glenn and Sarah. Glenn is currently wrestling with a dog, so he might be slightly distracted.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

Who is backing herself out of the room? Click clacking along.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

She figured it out. Proud of you, Becky.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

The pad pod causes chaos. This is why we can't have nice things. So our question is our streaming, is the rise of streaming services good or bad for the film industry? Thoughts.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Um I so I was because I was thinking about this today, obviously, because we knew this was going to be the question.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

And I couldn't like pre-preparing.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

I hate pre-preparing, but it snuck into my brain anyway.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

I thought about it two minutes before we started. Precisely.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

I don't like to overly prepare, but I was thinking about how I wanted to approach this question today because I do think, much like any development in technology, it it is a mixed bag. Because on the one hand, I have been exposed to a lot that I otherwise would, and a lot of different directors, actors, writers, stories, ways of telling stories that I don't know we would have had so many opportunities to explore if we did not have all the different streaming platforms. And I will say I do watch a lot more television, which is arguably not the film industry. I do think that it definitely benefits the television industry significantly more than it benefits like the full-length film industry. Um, but much like anything, there are hundreds of streaming platforms. So there are movies that come out that I don't even know exist until two or three years after it randomly comes up on HBO, and it's like, oh, what is this brand new thing that I've never heard of? And then it turns out it came out like in 2019, and I just never heard of it because it snuck onto HBO and got buried in the hundreds of other things. So it's I think it's very much a good and a bad thing, which is not a helpful answer.

SPEAKER_02 4:52

I I agree. It's it's a it's it's hard to say, you know, and it's funny, you you're you approach streaming services services, not surfaces, from an even different perspective than I do, because you grew up in an era not of streaming services, but of cable television and the ability to rent movies at will. And and I grew up in an era where silent pictures. Where, yeah, if they weren't in the theater or being re-released in the theater, you were not likely to see them unless they're or they showed up on like the Sunday night movie.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

Exactly. They would they would show up every now and then they always have like a movie month.

SPEAKER_02 5:31

So it's really weird. And I agree that it's really good and we're exposed to a lot more different movies, directors, actors, types of films. I think in that way it's been actually fabulous. Um I mean, there's just no end to the things you have to to watch and consume. Um has it watered down the content? I thought at first it did, but then I've seen some really good, like made-for streaming services.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

Yeah. Traditional movies do.

SPEAKER_02 6:04

Yeah, I think the big ones like Netflix and Amazon Prime have come through with some phenomenal originals.

SPEAKER_00 6:09

Yeah, amazing original. And HBO as well. HBO was kind of the first one to really start to push a lot of that. And I think the biggest benefit for me for streaming services is that it just does allow you to push, like I should push the envelope, for lack of a better way to say it, because you can use more profanity. There's also a lot more representation in a lot of streaming because you're not as concerned about appealing to the audience that goes to the movie theaters because you know that you will find someone who will watch your show. And Netflix and HBO and Amazon and all of those different types of platforms are so much more willing to take a risk and a swing at a single season thing. Yeah. My beef with Netflix is that they will cancel what we know to be great shows. But that's a television thing. And that's a television thing, which is why it is kind of a separate conversation because I do think the relationship that streaming has to television versus the relationship it has to film are totally different things.

SPEAKER_02 7:05

I I think it in for film overall it's been it's actually been a good thing, and I was highly skeptical of it. In a some way, I see the mirror of the various streaming services to the studio system in in a in a certain way, in that they have the money to back some big names in films, you know, like the old.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Well, and at this point, is Netflix any different than a major film studio? I would argue it's not a major film studio.

SPEAKER_02 7:35

Yeah, the only thing they're not doing is holding talent under contract.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Yeah, that's how they're pushing the product out. Yeah. If Netflix sent everything they did to a movie theater, they'd be the exact same as MGM or Paramount or Universal or It's much easier for them, too.

SPEAKER_02 7:51

I mean, the they don't have to worry about distribution and well heck, they don't have to worry about their audience. So, you know, in a movie in the past, especially in like in the 60s and 70s when the studio system had fallen and the up-and-coming directors were making grittier, tougher films, you had a lot of R-rated films that limited the audience, and they really used like people used to have to fight to get a certain rating so that they could get to their audience or get a wider audience. Streaming services don't have to do that.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

Oh, they don't care.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

A 13-year-old kid can you know log into mom and dad's Netflix account, no problem, and and watch anything.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Well, I mean, the other thing is when you were releasing things in the movie theater, if a director's film didn't do any box office, he'd be hard pressed to get another job. Whereas I don't think you would even necessarily know what the streaming numbers were if you made a film for Netflix.

SPEAKER_03 8:42

Right.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

And it wouldn't really matter because Netflix isn't concerned about individual film streaming numbers. I mean they are to a certain extent, but not to any great degree. Right.

SPEAKER_03 8:52

Right.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

And I think that, you know, if they if they put out the occasional, like very, very indie niche product, then they know that they're also appealing to that audience. And they get to say and advertise that, oh no, we'll we'll work with the little guy. We'll put we'll put those first-time directors out, we'll put those first time writers out. Because even if, you know, 10%, not even of their platform watches it, 900 million other people are watching everything else that they have. Yeah. And they have games now, they have all these. So there's a million different ways that they can make money. So they can quite literally afford to take a chance on a first-timer, the way that other studios just wouldn't even let them through the door.

SPEAKER_02 9:29

Yeah, true. I think from the one negative I see from this is definitely more from a nostalgia factor than anything else is going to the movies used to be very special. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

And and now, granted, it's definitely a negative to the theater going. It is. It is not necessarily negative to the film industry. It's a negative going out to the movies.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

Yeah, I mean, not you, you you're really taking a chance.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

I would not mourning the death of people go at all.

SPEAKER_02 9:57

But back in the day, it was a big deal to, you know, go out and see the latest film that's out, or you could see like what's what's playing this month at all the various theaters around you, and pick like two or three that you could go see that month, you know, and now it's you could just sit on your couch, turn on the TV. It's not an event anymore. So, again, that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just from a nostalgia thing, movies don't quite feel as special necessarily.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

I agree with that. And I don't think, and I think kind of in in a way that it affects the movie theater going experience. I think that because people can just stream everything at home anymore, they don't treat going to the movies when they go to the movies with the same respect that they should. Like I remember we went and saw backrooms in theaters, because for me, there are certain films because I do love going to a theater, A, because I like the community aspect of going with friends and discussing the film afterwards, but B, there are just films that lend itself to that kind of experience, and you're not going to capture that same visual experience on a smaller screen. Yeah. So like we went and saw backrooms in theaters because that's just a movie that lends itself to seeing it in theaters. And what was crazy to me was that it was actually pretty much a full house. But the amount of people that just don't know how to act in theaters anymore, everyone is talking, no one is turning their phones off. There were little kids everywhere, which is also insane because it's a rated R horror film. But I think because the accessibility is so unlimited, in their mind it's no different than sitting on their couch. And at that point, I'm like, okay, well then stay.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

Well, and a lot of these theaters have now added drinking.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

Oh my god, they've added drinking, they have heated reclining seats. Like it is basically like that.

SPEAKER_02 11:31

Now, do you when you go, do you do you take like blankets? Do you go on your PJs and take your blankets and slippers? Like I watch people walking into the theater with their like their in their PJs and their blankets, adults with their blankets and slips.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

That's that's what that's I don't get it.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

I have my more comfortable jeans that are like more suitable for theater in those kinds of evenings versus going out kinds of evenings, but no, I can't, I don't have it in me to go to judge.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

But and I'm not even of the Pan Am generation, but I mean the fact that people are going flying in their pajamas.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

It's true, it is different. But and I do think that just the accessibility of films is it's a big part of that because people just don't see it as this special, fun, big thing to do. Yeah, and it and it is, and it used to be, and I do see theaters are trying so hard to stay current, to still have that experience. So, like to Cameron's point, all of them serve alcohol now, all of them serve meals to the like that. Used to be the big thing, like at the movie tower, and that was the only place that could do that, and it was a big deal to get to go there because you would get dinner served to you and a drink, and it was very fun. That's just kind of the norm now, because theaters are just trying everything they possibly can to stay relevant and they're jacking up their ticket prices like crazy so they can stay open. So that part I think is on a really unfortunate side effect because we are losing the mystique of film, I think, with that to your point, Glenn. But the I do like the varieties.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

But the problem is also that films have gotten so expensive to make that they can't make their money back in theaters anymore. It's very true. I mean, if you're if your budget for your film is $300 million, the chances of you making that money back showing in the theaters is pretty slim.

SPEAKER_02 13:19

Yeah, and things changed. There's more movies being made. I mean, it's it changed throughout all the every decade that motion pictures have been in existence. Yeah, so change is inevitable.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

I mean, it's not like back in Glenn's day where the reason you went to the theater is because it was the only building in town air conditioned. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Well, and the other thing is the the like the long-term thing that I think about a lot is that a lot of this just does not exist physically anywhere. So much of it is just a digital copy. And so if you like, because it used to be you owned every kind of DVD, VHS, everything. So if anything happened, you still had it. Now, if some if Amazon just goes up in flames randomly and all of their streaming platforms shut down, all of their streaming services shut down, there goes all of that media.

SPEAKER_02 14:03

Including everything you thought you bought, but not actually just leasing.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Like I think about the Rolodex of films that I've paid for over the years.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

Yeah, back on it.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

Yeah. Here's what's crazy about Netflix, though, is they started years and years and years and years ago as a male DVD by mail service. Yeah, because it was a big deal. They still called themselves Netflix, which meant that they were thinking in the future, yeah, this is the direction we're heading. Even though for years all they did was DVDs by mail.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

Yeah, I remember we would do that. It was a big deal, like our weekly mail subscription. We I think because you I would limit what you could get, so you could only get a certain number of DVDs.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

So it was always the based on the plan. Yeah, because you always went with like the three-disc plan, and then you're like, Yeah, maybe I'll just I'll just boob it up.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Well, because that was always the great debate when we would be returning DVDs. It's like whose turn is it now to pick a movie to be delivered?

SPEAKER_01 15:01

And then you'd forget you'd lose them, and then they'd be like, Well, you've now bought the film, and you're like but it was like two dollars anymore. So it's like, well, I'm just gonna lose all of these now.

SPEAKER_03 15:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Um, so we're coming on the side of I think it's the fine, really. Like it's I mean, we're all in there's minuses and negatives to everything, but exactly.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

It's fine and it's also inevitable.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

So well, and also I mean there's nothing to distinguish between the Hollywood studios and Netflix and Amazon anymore. They all do exactly the same thing. Yeah, I mean you're you're uh the M well, what's a Hollywood studio now? I don't even know. I mean technically Paramount's still one because they own all the rest of them.

SPEAKER_00 15:42

But does Amazon and Amazon and Paramount do they have a relationship?

SPEAKER_01 15:46

No. Okay, I just and certainly Netflix and Paramount don't have don't have much of a relationship. But uh but Paramount has a streaming service that they put their films out on.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

I pay for it through Amazon.

SPEAKER_01 15:58

I suppose the only difference is Netflix is more reluctant to release films in theaters, although they do. Yeah, they do. But it's usually, you know, we'll release it in the theater, but it we're gonna stream it simultaneously or within a day or so.

SPEAKER_02 16:12

Very soon, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

Yeah. And maybe that's the model. Not that that's gonna help theaters very much either. Although it gives a person a choice, I guess, if you don't want to sit at home and watch it, you can't.

SPEAKER_02 16:22

And I think more change is coming, we just don't know what it is yet.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

Well, yeah, other than AI.

SPEAKER_02 16:27

Well, that's one of them that's coming. Oh, big time.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

Well, here.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

It's no longer coming. It's it's it's arrived.

SPEAKER_02 16:34

Yeah, well, yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Um, yeah, so there you go. Let's now turn to our review for this week. Uh, and we continue our look at every Oscar Best Picture Winner. We've arrived at 1932's Grand Hotel, directed by Edmund Goulding. The film is perhaps best known for a single line delivered by a film superstar and one of the most elusive figures in Hollywood history, Greta Garbo, the line, I just want to be left alone. Except that's not the line. That's what she claimed the line was. The actual line is I want to be alone. And she said it a few times. And she said it twice, back to back. Uh it will go on to be attached more to the actress than the person that she's playing in the film, because obviously Greta Garbo would go on to just want to be left alone. Uh the film is also celebrated for having one of the most stacked casts in early Hollywood films. Aside from the aforementioned Greta Garbo, the cast includes Joan Crawford, everyone's favorite mother figure, Jean Herschelt, whose name would go on to be immortalized by the Academy Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the form of the Gene Herschelt Humanitarian Award, and not just one, but two members of the illustrious Barrymore acting family, in this case brothers Lionel and John. But does all this star power help or hurt the film in the eyes of our little band of amateur experts? Let's find out as I turn to my fellow co-hosts and we review Grand Hotel. Thoughts. Peeps. Thoughts and pod dogs.

SPEAKER_02 18:10

You want to kick it off?

SPEAKER_00 18:12

Sure. It's interesting because this is this is like a little bit of a tough one because for me at least, and we'll get into it, we do more final ratings. You know, when there's a movie that like on paper, technically speaking, all boxes were checked.

SPEAKER_02 18:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:28

But it's still just kind of nothing at the end of it. Like not bad quality, nothing, but just kind of a a a slice of life smear of inconsequential information about people you kind of don't care about at the end. It was just a very for me, it was kind of it was nice to look at. Yeah. I thought it was reasonably well acted. It was just probably one of the more two-dimensional films.

SPEAKER_02 18:51

Just left it kind of flat?

SPEAKER_00 18:52

Yeah, it's just kind of flat.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

But on the other hand, is that not the purpose of the film? And because the film is bookended by the lines people come and people go, nothing ever happens.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

And that's why I'm kind of at a bit of a loss on how to approach this, because I do think technically it it achieved what it sought out to do.

SPEAKER_02 19:11

Yeah. I I think the stacked cast certainly helped. Sure. Um, some of the people were just or very early on in their careers, maybe could have done a little bit better as Garbo in particular, um who was who was really over-emoting.

SPEAKER_01 19:27

Um again, her character and sort of dramatic ballerina. Ballerina, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:33

So maybe that's that could be it too. Um, absolutely loved the Barrymore brothers in this. Uh Wallace Beery. Yeah. As well. Love to hate. Love to hate. He's just a great character in it. Um, I think the movie looked great. I commented on the set, especially at the end, but I mean it was a wonderful looking set. It was a grand hotel very lobby, art deco and absolutely massive. Um I think it looked good, it sounded good. I liked the music they used. They used a ton of actual classical music um throughout the film.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

But not distractingly. Not distracting.

SPEAKER_02 20:10

Very much, very much low. Um, I think it worked what they were playing when they were playing it. Um, I had never seen this film before. I had seen a film that she would that Gar Garbo would do later called Ninochka, which I really liked her in. Um this movie threw a couple of curveballs at me because I found myself at first kind of like you.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:33

These are kind of two-dimensional people. I don't think I really cared too much about them. And be certainly before we were halfway through, maybe a third of the way in, I started to really like the characters, and I wanted to know what was going to happen to everybody in that hotel. Sure. Because I knew the whole point of the movie was these people are coming in, they're gonna do their thing, and at the end of the movie they're gonna leave, and a new crop of people are gonna commence. Kind of like the love boat before the love boat.

SPEAKER_00 20:56

Very slice.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Or like the Grand Budapest Hotel, except less annoying.

SPEAKER_02 21:00

Yes, much more understood. So I found myself very charmed by a lot of the characters and and pulling for them.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

I was I will not give the one of the stingers away, but I was spoiler alert to eight film made 90 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

Okay, very abrupt stinger, too. I did not expect that to be the direction.

SPEAKER_02 21:20

I was very hurt by that. Yeah. Because it was a character that I absolutely loved. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:26

Um Yeah, for for me, he was definitely the most lovable of the characters.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

There's a lot going down here. Certainly the gods agree with you. Dog wanders off, lights go up.

SPEAKER_00 21:40

And I thought he was a very fun character. Like, I thought he was a really fun character. I love it. I love a gentleman thief. I always think that's such a fun archetype to play around with. Um, and I thought he did a really good job of it. And he had a lot of depth and he had a lot of soul. Um, and I thought he was an incredibly believable character. Like, uh, in it.

SPEAKER_02 21:57

You're talking about John Barrymore's character.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

Yes, John Barrymore's character specifically. And as you know, it progressed, I felt more and more toward him. And I think he was probably the only character that I felt that kind of depth of attachment to. I also quite liked his older friend. He was very sweet, and their dynamic was really good.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

Yeah, I got close to that with his brother. Well, Lionel Byrne, whose character I don't remember the name of it. That's the thing.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

I'm trying to remember his name.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

They all had vaguely German names. They did.

SPEAKER_00 22:27

But their relationship and their dynamic was really nice. I thought um Greta overacted and actually managed to do it in such a way that she ended up falling kind of flat because all of her emotions were so over the top and everything was so crazy. And like the the the brief but deep love affair kind of fell a little bit flat for me. But just because I don't know if it was a directional issue or a performance issue, but someone told her to emote and she just like ran with it as fast as humanly possible.

SPEAKER_02 23:01

Did Joan Crawford's character exist simply to mirror the other characters or throw a mirror up at them? Because she made one character look incredibly good and noble, and she made one other character look incredibly creepy. And that that's all I could think she was there for. Like there wasn't much else to her.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

No, although she was arguably the most natural of the actors.

SPEAKER_00 23:25

She was I agree with that too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:27

It was so funny. Like now thinking about her character and what she did, I'm like, she's just there to illustrate who these people really are in a way, because other than that, she doesn't have much going on until the very end. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 23:38

And the and then even kind of I don't and again, it this was this was a short amount of time. This was a drop you in, pluck you out kind of film. And I actually typically really like films like this, like like this kind of thing. Um and I didn't again, it's a this is a weird one for me because like it's not fair to say that I disliked it because I didn't dislike it. Um I just didn't think, other than the one spoiler at the end, that is quite a dramatic turn, there just was not a lot happening. Right. Kind of the whole time, and it's meant to be very character-driven. And I think some characters did a really good job of doing that, and other people like the really weird big creepy Russian dude guy or German guy, I'm not sure what yeah, German guy. German guy.

SPEAKER_01 24:25

Industrialist, yes, the industrialist, like was sufficiently terrifying to be a member of some sort of like was a military group.

SPEAKER_00 24:35

He was sufficiently disconcerting, but beyond that, there was kind of nothing much more there. Um, so that's what I think. The for me, a lot of it was just very service level, enjoyable, but like just not a lot of depth.

SPEAKER_01 24:47

I actually thought he had because I started thinking the same way at the beginning. I think he actually had quite an interesting story. I do too. Because he's clever. Yeah, well, he started out sympathetic and then ended up not sympathetic, which is not the same story arc as the rest of the characters.

SPEAKER_02 25:05

One in particular who starts out a little bit more sneaky and becomes more honorable as the entire time. You find out part way through, but he never does anything bad to anybody.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

No, whereas this guy he tries to, but he's just fails afterwards.

SPEAKER_02 25:22

Um Yeah, I think he did have an arc, uh, Wallace Beery's character. Yeah, like Mr. whatever.

SPEAKER_01 25:27

Yeah, it's I don't know, Mr. Industrial. Mr. Industrial.

SPEAKER_00 25:31

I would be curious to know, other than obviously the millions of various hotel shows and films and everything that are out there that do this kind of thing, was this particular story ever remade? Because to me, this does just lend itself to a modern retelling. Someone could have a lot of fun with it. But I mean like an actual good retelling, not a Wes Anderson fever treatment.

SPEAKER_02 25:56

No, I don't think that it has.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

I think it's I think that'd be a cool one to read to because this is something that I was like, this would be fun to do like a six-part miniseries on and actually kind of dig in depth with the different characters because it made me very interested. It just didn't have that like back punch.

SPEAKER_02 26:12

I never while I was mentioning during this movie that Arthur Arthur Haley, the man who wrote Roots, yeah, um, mini miniseries were very popular back in the 1970s. Roots was a miniseries, but he also wrote a book called Hotel, a novel, which I never read, and then they made it into a miniseries on TV, which I didn't watch, but I have a sneaking suspicion it may possibly be along these lines.

SPEAKER_01 26:33

I don't know that well this film is also adapted from a novel. Yeah, which makes sense. That makes total sense.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

I would have guessed it was a novel or a play because everything feels very rich.

SPEAKER_01 26:45

Which literally translates to people at a hotel.

SPEAKER_00 26:49

Yeah, I mean that is exactly what it is.

SPEAKER_02 26:52

The only title worse than that would be like bus stop.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

Now I will say, I believe, and don't quote me on this, I think they did uh adapt this into a Broadway musical.

SPEAKER_00 27:05

I think interesting. I couldn't. Like in the like late 80s, I think there was a pair of things. I could see that happening.

SPEAKER_02 27:11

It certainly could be a Broadway show, and I why not be a musical. Why not? Titanic was.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

Oh god, yeah. What Titanic is the new one. Go on.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

Um so I quite liked it. Yeah, I thought it was it was interesting, is the wrong word. Well, no, it was interesting. It was interesting how they approached it. Sure. Because it literally is just a sort of slice of life drop you in and you're part of the story, and you have to sort of piece things together as you go along. And they make a point of showing at the end of the film the guests that you have come to live with leave. Yeah, yeah, and a whole new crop of people who you suspect would be just as interesting, but you never really get to know because it's at the very end of the film, show up and you're like, Well, now what are these people's stories?

SPEAKER_00 27:58

Yeah, which is a very fun way to end this. I will say, very fun way to end the film.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

Yeah, well, yeah, I want to know those two characters who are in the race now. I want to know what their story is.

SPEAKER_02 28:07

And the head bell man, he had a story too.

SPEAKER_01 28:09

He had a story, which is really interesting.

SPEAKER_02 28:11

So everybody had a story.

SPEAKER_01 28:12

Yeah. And I quite liked The Doctor, I thought.

SPEAKER_00 28:14

He was fun, yeah, for as sparingly as he was used to.

SPEAKER_01 28:17

And obviously, he bookended the film with the you know, people come, people go, nothing ever happens.

SPEAKER_00 28:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:22

Yeah. Even though things technically happen. Like a movie about nothing. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 28:26

They should make a TV show about nothing.

SPEAKER_00 28:27

They should make a TV show about nothing.

SPEAKER_01 28:29

Yes, and then everybody will not be able to shut up about it. Uh anyway, uh, we have our four ratings areas, which we rank out of five, and then the total out of 20. So the four areas are visuals, story, acting, and rewatchability. We decide amongst ourselves collectively what out of five we give it. And we will start with visuals. Visuals. Visuals. Visuals. This will be costumes, this will be cinematography, et cetera.

SPEAKER_02 28:57

I thought it had really good visuals. I agree. I was thinking a couple of times the wide shots, especially the overhead shots, of the lobby from I don't know how many floors up. Which was it was obviously an in-camera effect of some kind. Still that would look low, it's a lot of things. I think that the hotel looked real, it looked occuped occupied, it looked like you know, a swanky, bustling place. And I think it was shot very well with the right amount of like width, you know, the right lenses were used for close-ups and for wide shots. So I think it looked great, and we saw a very good copy of it. I'm gonna give it a four for visuals.

SPEAKER_00 29:32

I would also give it a four because I I thought it to a glance point, it was a really beautiful copy. I would and you could tell kind of the second it came on, I was like, oh, this has a lot of really nice clarity to it. So it was easy to look at, which I love. Um, and it really had a lot of very impressive shots that I thought were very artistic, very creative. I thought the costuming was beautiful, everyone's suits looked excellent, everyone's dresses looked beautiful. Like it was a very believable man, wouldn't we? Oh, it'd be gorgeous to see it in color. It was a very believable level of opulence for a grand hotel. So I agree with the four. That feels very fair.

SPEAKER_01 30:07

Uh yeah, I would go four. I I think um in the lull moments where you're like, okay, well, we're sort of at a moment of impasse with this storyline, we're waiting for the next one. You start like noticing things around the screen, and then you're like, oh, that's an interesting costume choice.

SPEAKER_02 30:25

Well, they did some neat cuts and fades and wipes and things too that I thought were some of them were more jarring than others.

SPEAKER_01 30:30

Some of them had the old like silent movie just fade in black, fade back in again.

SPEAKER_02 30:35

And some of them were commercials.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

Yeah, and some of them were commercials. We watched a platform which had uh alarming color modern commercials that would just pop up. Um story. So it four for visuals uh story. This inasmuch as there is a story. And that's again, that that's the sort of tricky one because there's something with this one sort of story, I don't think.

SPEAKER_00 30:59

Yeah, that's I think it technically achieved everything it was supposed to achieve. So arguably, yeah, and it had a great little bit of a lot of things.

SPEAKER_01 31:06

That's probably more acting.

SPEAKER_00 31:08

So arguably it it had exactly the kind of story it wanted to have, and it succeeded in doing so. But I also don't necessarily want like in my mind, it's closer to like somewhere between a three and a four, only because I was not that engaged in it.

SPEAKER_02 31:25

Right.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

And I think that's because there were just some areas where, and this might be more to acting than storyline, but there were just some areas where it didn't quite feel so believable or it felt a bit rushed. Um, but then there were some very poignant moments.

SPEAKER_03 31:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:38

So it's yeah, it's a weird one. It's it's an odd movie to try to rate.

SPEAKER_01 31:42

Well, it's also like again, this is also more acting than story, but there were parts of it that felt more stage play.

SPEAKER_00 31:50

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 31:50

And parts of it that felt more natural. And oddly, the the people in the scenes that felt more natural were like the stage actor. Like John Barry was famously a stage actor, and yet he was probably the more natural actor actor on them. And Greta Garbo, who I don't know, ever did much stage work, felt the most most sort of stage acty. Yeah. But again, she's supposed to be a ballerina, so I don't know whether that plays into the character or not. I don't know. Uh, story. There's a story. There is. I mean, I know modern day audiences are gonna want a thousand more things going on than there are.

SPEAKER_02 32:24

They're gonna want more, even grittier things going on.

SPEAKER_01 32:28

But that's also not how a random time period at a hotel would work necessarily.

SPEAKER_02 32:34

Especially a grand European Agatha Christie film.

SPEAKER_01 32:37

Yeah, really.

SPEAKER_02 32:39

I found it the story snuck up on me as it went along. Sure. Early on, because I was thinking about how we were gonna rate this, and early on, I'm like, right now this is about a two for story. And I mean a third of the way in, I'm like, oh, it's easy, easily a three. Halfway in, I'm like, I think this is more like a four.

SPEAKER_00 32:55

Which I'm agreeable to.

SPEAKER_02 32:57

I think there was a lot more story, and they they just snuck it in on us. Like meandering. It is, but like I I wanted to know what happened to everybody by the end of it. I want more about them.

SPEAKER_00 33:09

Well, and I think that's almost why, and and that is the point, and I have to keep reminding myself that that's the point.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

Yeah, and the idea of it is a wonderful story.

SPEAKER_00 33:17

That's my thing for me.

SPEAKER_02 33:18

That's the whole idea of this is a day in the life of this hotel, a day and a night in the life of this hotel. Yeah, and we can tell a whole story in this.

SPEAKER_00 33:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:26

I I'm gonna give it a four for story. You guys can rate whatever you want.

SPEAKER_00 33:30

Well, no, I'm not unwilling to give it a four because, yeah, this has been a weird one for me because I think it set out what it was trying to do. I think it executed it very effectively. If anything, it speaks to the quality of the story because my biggest beef with it is that I wish I had had more. Yeah, not necessarily more drama or more craziness, but I wanted more time with the characters. I wanted to learn more about them. I wanted to peek under the hood a little bit more, and we stayed a bit more surface than I would have liked. But I think the very fact that I want more speaks to an effective story because I want more about those characters specifically, not like a different story better told. I just want to know more about them. So I mean, I'm agreeable to a four.

SPEAKER_02 34:10

I mean, if you want to rate it lower, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 34:12

It's between a three and a four. So I'm gonna let Cam land either way, because I could really, truly go either way, depending on average. If the story didn't by the end of the movie, if the story didn't make you go, wow, that was a really good story, then don't like I'd be happily at like a three and a half, and then you can swing the average wherever you want. Because again, there were parts of it that were incredibly poignant, and there were character arcs that I really, really enjoyed. It was just kind of the overall come together didn't quite hit for me.

SPEAKER_01 34:40

Well, and I think that's the balancing act whenever you do something like this, where it's like multiple thread lines moving at once, is that some of them inevitably aren't going to be as interesting to some people as other thread lines.

SPEAKER_02 34:53

Um looking at you, love actually.

SPEAKER_00 34:56

Yeah, gone.

SPEAKER_01 34:57

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, there's a lot of thread lines.

SPEAKER_00 34:59

Unless it's Emma Thompson, I don't want to talk.

SPEAKER_01 35:01

Or Bill Nye.

SPEAKER_00 35:02

Or Bill Nye. Unless it's Emma Thompson or Bill Nye, I don't want to talk.

SPEAKER_01 35:05

I quite like Hugh Grant in that as well.

SPEAKER_00 35:07

Yeah, but he's great. His storyline is true, leaves something to be desired.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

Yes. Anyway. Agreed. So uh the story in love actually is about a two. And I'm we're I think we're gonna go four. All right, four uh great.

SPEAKER_00 35:23

I am agreeable to that.

SPEAKER_01 35:24

Uh acting.

SPEAKER_00 35:26

That's where I'm a little more critical.

SPEAKER_01 35:28

This is this might come up against um John Barrymore, very good. Yes, Lionel Barrymore. Both of the Barrymores. The Barrymores are very good. Especially the Barrymores, who are considered the greatest actors of all time, are quite well.

SPEAKER_02 35:42

Who would have thought? And even more as the film went on, when you got to see more of his character and more of what he was about. Sure. And um because both of their characters were just wonderful and they played them perfectly.

SPEAKER_00 35:54

They did. They the two of them, I would have just watched a film with just the two of them, and I would have been quite happy with that dynamic.

SPEAKER_01 35:59

I'm gonna make the argument that really the only person's acting who slightly suffered for me might be Greta Garbo. Yeah. Yeah. I I'm in agreement with you.

SPEAKER_00 36:07

I would say I was I'm trying to kind of think of if there was really I mean, and granted, there for being a hotel film about a lot of different stories and a lot of vignettes, there aren't actually a ton of main actors. You kind of have like your core five. Um, and of them, she she for me is kind of the only problem.

SPEAKER_01 36:26

And there was a lot of hand acting, which normally I don't really love, but then I have to keep in mind, she's a baller her character is a ballerina. It's all about move movement.

SPEAKER_00 36:34

It's like, is it possible that she nailed it? Like she's meant to be this like burnout has been diva. So is it possible that she actually I totally nailed it, and then she might have played it perfectly.

SPEAKER_02 36:46

Listen, they're what they're produced is like, who can we get that's so bad at acting that it look like it'll look good?

SPEAKER_00 36:53

Carbo!

SPEAKER_01 36:54

Some glumping Swedish cow. Yeah, and then Horson Wells.

SPEAKER_00 36:59

That's it, goes back to my through line with this entire movie. Is I technically think it executed everything kind of perfectly.

SPEAKER_02 37:05

Her acting bothered me.

SPEAKER_00 37:06

Her acting bothered me, but I don't I I'm almost thinking that was the character, but I think that was the character. It doesn't matter because she bothered me. Like even if it was a character choice, it wasn't a good one because I found her kind of annoying.

SPEAKER_01 37:18

But actually, I think her character would bother me.

SPEAKER_00 37:20

Yeah, that's the thing. I would find her bothering. Yes. And so it's again, it's hard because technically I think everybody did what they were supposed to do.

SPEAKER_02 37:28

Well, I mean none of my rating with her has anything to do with the fact that we only dated for like three months. Oh, I mean she dumped me. It was a tough time for Gladiator.

SPEAKER_00 37:36

To be fair, you were in your early 20s. You were young.

SPEAKER_02 37:38

Well, my lower time.

SPEAKER_00 37:39

You're young. Um It's weird because she was so annoying.

SPEAKER_02 37:46

She's a two for me in this.

SPEAKER_00 37:47

That's the thing, but I think they're much higher. They're so good. I'm leaning. I mean, we've kind of been there across the board, but I would not be mad about like somewhere like a three-four range. And I'm almost leaning four because everyone else's performances were so much stronger than hers.

SPEAKER_01 38:01

And actually, she's the headlining star of this. She's but her screen time is not it's not that much. No, no. John Barrymore arguably has more, Lionel Barrymore has more. I would say even the industrialist really has more. Joan Crawford, I think, is on screen more. Yeah. Because she's going through all the storylines. So all over the place.

SPEAKER_00 38:23

She was a good conduit kind of for everybody.

SPEAKER_01 38:25

I really just Greta Garbo. And can how much can I bring it down just because of one?

SPEAKER_00 38:30

No, that's the trouble.

SPEAKER_01 38:31

Who isn't really on screen the most of all it's it's a hard one. I'm I would be at a like a 3.5 or 4.

SPEAKER_00 38:43

Yeah, it's kind of like I'd be fine with either of those.

SPEAKER_01 38:45

Other than Greta Garbo, it's probably like a four or four and a half. Yeah, I'm good with four.

SPEAKER_00 38:51

Yeah, I think four feels fair. Four feels deserving of everyone else. And again, in fairness, she might have done exactly what she was supposed to do. It was just a bad call.

SPEAKER_01 39:01

Well, or maybe it wasn't a bad call. That's the thing. Technically, we hate her. It's true. She read the brief. Well, like if you ever watch again, I we're probably gonna end up watching this one best picture. Uh Sunset Boulevard.

SPEAKER_00 39:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:16

Oh well, yeah. She's real hard to watch. Yeah, 100%. Real hard, but she's nailing it. She's absolutely brilliant. Yeah. Yeah. But it's and Greta Garbo's not that good in this. Yeah. I will give her that. But maybe that's just what she's supposed to be playing. And we just don't naturally like that character. It's hard to say. Uh rewatchability.

SPEAKER_02 39:38

This is much easier for me than I think it'd be for Sarah. Um I I actually want to watch this movie again.

SPEAKER_03 39:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:46

And I want to introduce some people to it. Sure. I really do. So for me, it's a pretty good I I won't go higher than like a three and a half.

SPEAKER_00 39:54

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 39:55

But I'd I'd say I'd give it a three and a half for rewatchability because like I almost would go higher than a three and a half.

SPEAKER_00 40:02

I was actually just gonna say you're kind of landing where I was gonna land, so I'm surprised you're not higher.

SPEAKER_01 40:08

Because of all the films we've watched so far, I think this is the one I'm more likely to re-watch.

SPEAKER_00 40:14

And I would agree with that.

SPEAKER_01 40:15

Of all five.

SPEAKER_02 40:16

You know what? You're right.

SPEAKER_00 40:16

I of all of them, this is easily the most rewatchable film.

SPEAKER_02 40:19

I would most like to re-watch. Like I have to I have to give it at least a four, then.

SPEAKER_00 40:22

That's the thing. Like, if anything, I think I'm landing in a three and a half, only because, again, if we go by literally the numeric breakdown we just did, this is a strong film. Yeah, I just think it's slightly not to my taste. And I only think that that's because it would be great to see this with more depth and more character and more just to I want to know more about these people because the story left me excited and unsatisfied because I liked it. So, like, just kind of by definition of that, I feel like it would be unfair of me to drop below a three. So I'm happy with it's like I'm in a three and a half camp.

SPEAKER_01 40:56

You'll have to tune into Grand Hotel 2. Um I mean, it's a it's a it's a it's a strong four for me. I don't know that I'd go any higher than four, but it is a strong four.

SPEAKER_00 41:11

And I'm happy to land at four. I'm happy.

SPEAKER_01 41:13

You're at a four four. Yeah. So we're probably at a four. Uh, which brings the grand total of Grand Hotel to a 16, which is kind of tied for best of the five, uh, with wings. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 41:28

I was gonna say wings would be the other one of the ones that we've seen that I'd be likely to watch.

SPEAKER_02 41:32

I like this movie as much as Wings. That makes perfect sense.

SPEAKER_00 41:35

Yeah, I see that.

SPEAKER_01 41:36

Um, so sorry, Broadway Melody, once again, you are not being joined in your 1.5.

SPEAKER_00 41:43

And you are gonna stay down pretty much anything.

SPEAKER_01 41:46

Although not all the only single-digit rating. That's true.

SPEAKER_00 41:49

But the most deserving, perhaps. You're definitely the most deserving.

SPEAKER_01 41:52

Uh and now finally, we turn to some fun and games. This week, I will be pitting my two co-hosts against each other in a battle of knowledge and let's be honest, a healthy dose of luck. I was gonna say entirely luck. As they struggle to answer the following questions that revolve around films featuring hotels. Oh, great.

SPEAKER_00 42:15

Okay, interesting. I have seen a fair amount of films featuring hotels.

SPEAKER_01 42:20

Question number one. The MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, first opened in 1973, was named for the film Grand Hotel. In conjunction with its recent opening, a project was hatched to remake the film into a musical, which would be filmed at the new hotel in Las Vegas. The film was eventually scrapped after MGM realized that the director they had hired for the film had been given final cut approval in his contract. After several back and forth negotiations with the director in question, in which he refused to give up final cut for any part of the film, MGM finally gave up and shelved the project. But who was the director in question?

SPEAKER_00 43:02

Oh, okay, so he had the opportunity to do a musical.

SPEAKER_01 43:05

A musical uh remake of the Grand Hotel to be filmed at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. Was that A, Sidney Lumet, B, Martin Scorsese, C, Norman Jewison, or D Mike Nichols?

SPEAKER_02 43:20

Oh man. Cam. You've got three really good red herrings in there. I don't know which one it is, so I have no clue.

SPEAKER_00 43:30

The only one I feel like it's not is Scorsese, which is why I'm like, should I just go with Scorsese? I immediately extend the music. Has the man ever done a musical?

SPEAKER_03 43:39

Yes, he has done a musical.

SPEAKER_00 43:40

Oh my god, wait, if he's done a musical. I'm fully going Scorsese. I'm going with Scorsese.

SPEAKER_01 43:46

And he did it around the same time period. Um, his movies feature heavy amounts of music to begin with. Do I have he's also done a concert video?

SPEAKER_00 43:56

He seems like a guy who would be very particular about final. Cut.

SPEAKER_01 44:00

I think it's musical starred Robert De Niro.

SPEAKER_00 44:02

I'm going to Corsese.

SPEAKER_01 44:04

I'd like De Niro Lumet for this one.

SPEAKER_02 44:08

I'll go with T Lumet.

SPEAKER_01 44:09

Okay, well, unfortunately, you're both in Kurt. Darn it! The answer is in fact Norman Jewison.

SPEAKER_00 44:14

Okay, well, I wasn't that wasn't even my backup.

SPEAKER_01 44:16

The part of this that I love is that MGM decided to make a film and hired a director, gave him Final Cut, and then realized, oh, what a bad idea. We gave you Final Cut. They were actually afraid that he would uh illustrate the seedier sides of Las Vegas rather than focus on their wonderful hotel.

SPEAKER_00 44:34

But who drew up the contract? Wouldn't they have drawn up the contract? Presumably MGM would have drawn. That's what I mean. What in turn got fired for that one?

SPEAKER_01 44:43

Uh question number two true or false? Oh god. In 1978, Stanley Kubrick began working on a film adaptation of Stephen King's novel The Shining. The film takes place in an isolated hotel in cut in the Colorado Rockies. In order to get his actors to have the full feeling of isolation and loneliness, Stanley Kubrick adopted a very cold, hands-off directing style, often refusing to have any interaction with the actors outside of directing them and encouraging all the cast and crew to do the same. He insisted that the three main actors spend days at a time staying in the real rooms at the hotel they were filming in and not socialize with anyone. The experience proved fairly traumatic to first time actor Danny Lloyd, who played Danny in the film, and so much so that he gave up acting and refused to speak to the director after the filming had ended.

SPEAKER_02 45:34

Sounds like a very Kubrickan thing. It does. Oh man, this is tough. This is a coin toss.

SPEAKER_00 45:40

It is. Is this a so this is just a Steve, this is a shining adaptation. Or his this is the shining. Okay, this is the shining.

SPEAKER_02 45:50

I'm gonna say false. Okay. But it just sounds so like something he'd do.

SPEAKER_00 45:56

Uh well then I'll go true. Why not? Because that was a pretty messed up film in place as well.

SPEAKER_01 46:03

I mean it was. But you know. I can tell you, in fact, that was false.

SPEAKER_00 46:07

Yeah, I was it seems like a lot.

SPEAKER_01 46:09

In fact, Danny Lloyd would uh although Danny Lloyd did not really act in anything else, he was in one other thing, and he has a cameo in Doctor's Sleep. Yes, good movie. Uh but in fact, Danny Lloyd would go on to speak very fondly of Kubrick, saying that he was incredibly protective during the filming. He would play ball with him in between. I read the man wrong. He would send him Christmas cards every year and even called him to congratulate him on his high school graduation. He also kept Danny from ever knowing that The Shining was a horror film. And until years later, when he finally saw it himself, Lloyd had thought it had just been a drama.

SPEAKER_00 46:40

That's hilarious. That's insane. Wow, wow. They were like, you cannot be on set this year.

SPEAKER_02 46:46

He must have terrorized Shelly Duval, though. Because she looked genuinely creeped out the whole movie. One would have thought.

SPEAKER_03 46:51

That might just be Shelly Duval.

SPEAKER_01 46:53

And also, Stanley Kerbick does have a reputation.

SPEAKER_03 46:56

Yeah, that's I could totally see him going nuts.

SPEAKER_01 46:58

All right. Question number three. In the Grand Budapest Hotel, a character played by Harvey Keitel slaps another character played by Tony Revol Revolori. For purposes of filming, the slapping was very much real, but how many takes did Wes Anderson need before he was satisfied? Was that A two, B twenty two, C forty two, or D sixty two?

SPEAKER_00 47:23

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 47:24

How many real slaps did Harvey Keitel have to perform?

SPEAKER_00 47:27

Before he was good with it.

SPEAKER_02 47:32

What kind of man is Wes Anderson?

SPEAKER_01 47:35

I think we all know the answer to that question.

SPEAKER_00 47:37

I know, and that's why I'm just like I'm gonna go 22, just because I think he's particular, but a slap is also a slap. There's kind of only so many different ways you can slap a person.

SPEAKER_01 47:52

Yeah, and I feel like before the face starts to clearly show that.

SPEAKER_00 47:55

That's the thing. Like I feel like I feel like it's probably not two, because that's you know, so I'm gonna go second lowest. And 22 even feels like a heck of a leap. But who knows? Maybe he's a lot more of a perfectionist than I thought.

SPEAKER_02 48:08

I'm gonna go with the warp thing and say was 62. 62. Good God.

SPEAKER_01 48:13

I can tell you, you both danced around the answer. Isn't it in fact uh C42? 42. That's still a lot of him slapping another ass. Uh as a special bonus uh point, uh can anyone tell me so the Grand Budapest Hotel started as a short script written by Wes Anderson and his longtime collaborator, who is a member of which famous beer family? Baldwin. Famous beer beer beer brewing family.

SPEAKER_00 48:46

Oh man. Um let's go with let's go let's go Guinness. Okay. Let's go House of Guinness.

SPEAKER_02 48:53

That's pretty cool. Um Anheuser Busch.

SPEAKER_01 48:59

Uh his longtime collaborator was in fact Hugo Guinness.

SPEAKER_00 49:04

Sarah's on the board.

SPEAKER_01 49:07

Uh question number four. In 1960, the film Psycho introduced us to the Bates Motel, not strictly speaking a hotel, but still. Uh Alfred Hitchcock had to film the movie on a very tight budget because at the last minute the studio who was under contract pulled his funding, stating that the book on which the film was based was too repulsive and impossible for films. But which film studio pulled the funding out from Mr. Hitchcock at the last moment? Was that A, Universal, B Paramount, C, MGM or D Columbia?

SPEAKER_02 49:39

So who pulled the funding for the film?

SPEAKER_00 49:41

At the last second.

SPEAKER_02 49:43

Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 49:44

Now I think the story goes he was supposed to make a different film with Audrey Hepburn. Audrey Hepburn ended up being pregnant and pulled out of the film, so he moved to this project, at which point the studio said, We're not giving you a budget for that.

SPEAKER_00 50:00

I'm going to go with Universal.

SPEAKER_02 50:03

Okay. Okay, and the other choices are called.

SPEAKER_01 50:05

Universal Paramount, MGM Columbia. I'll say um Columbia. Okay, well, I can tell you it was filmed on the Universal Lot.

SPEAKER_00 50:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 50:17

But that's because he had to remove himself from the Paramount lot, which was Paramount company that had pulled their funding from May.

SPEAKER_00 50:25

Although friggin' Paramount.

SPEAKER_01 50:26

Paramount, I think, actually ended up with the rights to the film at a certain point. But uh question number five. The film California Suite features the stories of groups of people staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Okay. But which of the following is not a true story from the filming of California Suite, which is very similar to the Grand Hotel. Okay. Uh A. The actress played by Maggie Smith was staying at the hotel for the Academy Awards, for which she had been nominated for Best Actress. She and her husband, played by Michael Cain, attended the ceremony in the film. The footage of them walking the red carpet at the Oscars was filmed at the very real Academy Awards ceremony in 1978. B. The director Herbert Ross was apparently very difficult and disliked by his actors, with Maggie Smith claiming that Ross had one point reduced her co-star Walter Mathouts to tears during the filming. C. In the film, Maggie Smith's character said she would want David Niven to accept the award for her because he is so charming and witty. In the play on which the film is adapted, the character actually suggests Michael Caine, but the name had to be changed when Michael Cain signed on to star in the film version. Or D. Despite the Beverly Hills Hotel being something of a main character in the film, the production itself was denied permission from the hotel to film there because they had a very strict no-filming policy to protect the privacy and feelings of its famous guests. Therefore, much of the film was actually shot at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, location of the very first Academy Awards ceremony.

SPEAKER_02 52:01

So which of those is not true?

SPEAKER_01 52:02

Which of those is not true?

SPEAKER_00 52:03

Not true. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 52:06

Um three of them are very much true.

SPEAKER_00 52:12

We are tell us the flickering light of magic.

SPEAKER_01 52:15

Um I'm going to go for those of you listening to a non-visual tele podcast, there is a light that's flickering above us.

SPEAKER_00 52:22

I'm going to go with um D is not true, that they could not get the rights to film at the actual hotel. I think everything else is true.

SPEAKER_01 52:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 52:31

I'm going to say that nobody makes Walter Mathall cry.

SPEAKER_00 52:34

See, I bet someone made him cry.

SPEAKER_01 52:36

Well, I can reveal to you that the film was indeed filmed at the Beverly Hills Hotel, so that is the one that is not true. Although the Beverly Hills Hotel now does have a policy of non-filming to protect its guests.

SPEAKER_02 52:53

He made Walter Mathell cry.

SPEAKER_00 52:59

He's got the face of a mackerel and the heart of the bigger.

SPEAKER_01 53:01

I believe Michael King came out at one point and said Herbert Ross has literally no sense of humor. Oh wow. Um and Maggie Smith did not care for him either. And with that, we've reached the end of another episode of Cinema Social Quiz. Let's just sort of try to get it. No, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 53:21

We have to bask in this for a moment. I'd like to thank my co-host, Glenn, for his inadequacies and giving me the opportunity to have a lot of.

SPEAKER_01 53:29

Well, we thank him for that every week.

SPEAKER_00 53:31

Giving me the chance to step into the limelight for however brief a time.

SPEAKER_01 53:37

For not being here. She is usually the luckiest. Are you done now?

SPEAKER_00 53:43

That's it. That's all I had. I'm just channeling, channeling the film.

SPEAKER_01 53:50

You're a real Greta Garbo type, inasmuch as we wish you would all go away. And with that, we've reached the end of another episode of Cinema Social Club. I'd like to thank you all for listening and remind you that if you'd like to get in touch, you can do so at cinema socialpod at gmail.com. That's cinemasocialpod at gmail.com. Make sure you tune in next week when we will be answering some of your probing questions, and we will be reviewing the next S Oscar Best Picture Winner, an epic drama which tells the story of British life from the end of the Victorian era through the interwar period, 1933's cavalcade. But until then, and on behalf of my co-host, it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.