Product Details

• Actors: Ginger Rogers, Lana Turner, Walter Pidgeon, Van Johnson, Edward Arnold
• Directors: Robert Z. Leonard
• Writers: Bella Spewack, Guy Bolton, Sam Spewack, Vicki Baum
• Producers: Robert Z. Leonard, Arthur Hornblow Jr.
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Warner)
• VHS Release Date: September 1, 1998
• Run Time: 130 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302759994
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #20,096 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outshines the Original!, April 17, 2005

By	Bobby Underwood "starlighthotel" (Bakersfield, California United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

When MGM decided to remake its own "Grand Hotel" it pulled out all the stops. Vicky Baum's story of several people crossing paths is set at the lavish Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. MGM provided a glossy sheen and top stars like Ginger Rogers, Van Johnson and Lana Turner. The result is a more accessible movie than the original Garbo and Barrymore film, and Rober Z. Leonard takes the great cast through their paces quite nicely.

Ginger Rogers is the busy but lonely movie star Irene Malvern who, through a chain of circumstances believes war correspondent Chip Collier (Walter Pigeon) is her secretary's boyfriend and has come to steal her jewels. When Collier can't convince her otherwise he plays along to have some fun, creating an amusing circumstance in which they end up pretending to be married! There is charm and a lot of fun to their play romance which slowly blossoms into a very real romance. Both Rogers and Pigeon look like they're having great fun and work well together.

The second story involves a young and lovely Lana Turner as Bunny, the hotel stenographer who wants a penthouse kind of life. By chance she takes dictation from a doctor about an operation planned after the weekend on Captain James Hollis to remove shrap metal fragments from around his heart. Van Johnson has one of his best roles as the young Hollis, who may not survive without a reason to live. When he comes to Bunny to dictate his will, it is quite moving. Having lost his only friend overseas, and with no family remaining, he decides to leave his medals to his landlady, for her kindness. Johnson nearly breaks your heart here, and Bunny's too, who suddenly begins to falter in her determination to have Park Avenue.

The third connecting story involves a big businessman named Edly (Edward Arnold) attempting a shady oil deal with Sheiks that may not be good for the country. Colliers' bumbling protege Oliver (Keenan Wynn) seeks his help to get the story. Edly, of course, has his eye on Bunny and wants her to be his confidential secretary, which will give her the kind of life she's been after. Only now there is Captain Hollis. All these stories crisscross and at the beautiful Waldorf Astoria.

This is a very enjoyable film that will have you smiling a lot and laughing quite a bit. The rest of the time it tugs at your heart. Xavier Cugat has a nice turn as the Waldorf's bandleader and is involved in Hollis' story in a way I won't spoil for you. This is great entertainment from the glory days of MGM. This film has a luster that extends beyond what the eyes see and is a great film to add to your classic film collection.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great dialogue, lots o' fun, April 13, 2001

By	E. Lambeth (Paso Robles, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It gets the highest review possible for being a movie that did exactly what it set out to do: Entertain me with great dialogue, mixed in with clever subplots intertwining each other.

I've never seen its original, "Grand Hotel". Since the original got a Best Picture award, you know where I'm going next.

Still, if you haven't seen Grand Hotel or Weekend at the Waldorf, I'll recommend watching this one first. This way, if Grand Hotel turns out being better, then you'll enjoy both movies.

Everybody in this movie gave great performances, and I was laughing throughout a lot of the movie.

It's definitely one of those movies that you'll wanna watch over and over.

Interesting note: If you've ever watched 30 Seconds Over Tokyo, you'll probably find it amusing that the main husband/wife characters in 30 Seconds over Tokyo are in this movie.

Anyways, go rent it, then come back here and buy it.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great classic film!, September 14, 2001

By	Rosella Ann Myles (Wheeling, West Virginia United States) - See all my reviews

This film is really great and very entertaining. Many
famous film stars are in it. I'd give it more stars if I could.