Grand Hotel / Anna Karenina
- This is a past program
Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
Part of the UCLA Film & Television Archive screening series Then Came Garbo... Learn more at cinema.ucla.edu.
Grand Hotel (1932)
Greta Garbo heads an all-star cast in this sophisticated ensemble drama about the denizens of a luxurious Berlin hotel. Based on Vicki Baum’s stage play and famed — not to mention much-imitated — for its intricate interweaving of multiple characters and storylines, Grand Hotel features Garbo as a depressed ballerina romantically revivified by John Barrymore’s gentleman thief, but the film also notably includes Joan Crawford in a breakthrough role as a gold-digging stenographer, Wallace Beery as an arrogant industrialist and Lionel Barrymore as his beleaguered bookkeeper. A huge critical and popular success, Grand Hotel earned an Academy Award for Best Picture and has since endured as a classic of the early sound era in Hollywood.
DCP, b&w, 115 min. Director: Edmund Goulding. Screenwriter: William A. Drake. With: Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford.
Anna Karenina (1935)
In Anna Karenina, Garbo reprised her role as the tragic heroine she first portrayed in Love (1927), a silent version of Tolstoy’s classic 19th-century Russian novel. The streamlined story, supplemented by meticulous period costumes and decor, traces Anna’s loveless marriage to the hypocritical Karenin (Basil Rathbone) and her ultimately ruinous affair with the charismatic Count Vronsky (Fredric March). Capably directed by Garbo stalwart Clarence Brown, the film was a popular hit and something of a mini-comeback for its elusive star: “Greta Garbo, after several years of miscasting, is back at last in her own particular province of glamour and heartbreak, of tragic lovely ladies and handsome ruthless men” (New York Sun).
35mm, b&w, 95 min. Director: Clarence Brown. Screenwriters: Clemence Dane, Salka Viertel. With: Greta Garbo, Fredric March, Basil Rathbone, Freddie Bartholomew. From the collection of the George Eastman Museum.
ATTENDING THIS PROGRAM?
Ticketing: Admission to Archive screenings at the Hammer is free. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. Box office opens one hour before the event. Questions should be directed to the Archive at programming@cinema.ucla.edu or 310-206-8013.
Member Benefit: Subject to availability, Hammer Members can choose their preferred seats. Members receive priority ticketing until 15 minutes before the program. Learn more about membership.
Parking: Valet parking is available on Lindbrook Drive for $15 cash only. Self-parking is available under the museum. Rates are $8 for the first three hours with museum validation, and $3 for each additional 20 minutes, with a $22 daily maximum. There is an $8 flat rate after 5 p.m. on weekdays, and all day on weekends.
Read our food, bag check, and photo policies.
Read our COVID-19 safety guidelines.
