Warner Home Entertainment will release on Blu-ray Edmund Goulding's Oscar winning film Grand Hotel (1932), starring Greta Garbo, John Barrymore and Joan Crawford. Exact technical specs and supplemental features to be included with this release are unknown at the moment, but the release date set by the studio is January 8th, 2013.
Official synopsis:
Ruined aristocrat John Barrymore. Terminally ill clerk Lionel Barrymore. Ruthless tycoon Wallace Beery. Scheming stenographer Joan Crawford. And disillusioned ballerina Greta Garbo. Teaming them was a masterstroke whose success fostered more star-packed extravaganzas. The radiant film captured the 1931-32 Best Picture Academy Award. What a grand showcase of the allure and style of classic moviemaking!
A digibook version of Grand Hotel would be nice. It's easily one of the most remarkable films of its era. I hope it also arrives with a substantial set of supplements.
With a $13.99 price tag, it's not likely to be a Digi-Book, but it is great news to hear that Warner Brothers is releasing more and more treasures. Grand Hotel really is a great movie, along the lines of Dinner at Eight (1933)... I wonder if Greed (1924) will ever see the Blu light of day... Typing with fingers crossed. :-)
This will be a fascinating release! One of the earliest films to use an "all-star" casting approach, allowing us to see such as Garbo, Crawford, J. AND L. Barrymore, at their finest in the early-1930s. And the only (I believe) film to have been nominated for only ONE Oscar-- "Best Picture." And it won!
Can't wait for the blu-ray! And hoping for vastly improved sound as well.
