MINOR PLOT SPOILERS This is set in Berlin in a beautiful, luxurious hotel. Among the tenants--there's Greta Garbo as Grusinskaya--she's a fading ballerina who is miserable and "vants to be alone; John Barrymore plays the penniless Baron who falls in love with her; Lionel Barrymore plays a man who's dying of an incurable disease--but wants to go out enjoying himself; Wallace Berry plays a ruthless industrial man and Joan Crawford plays a stenographer he hires. <br /><br />This was obviously a BIG production. The sets are elaborate, everything looks perfect and this was the first film with an all star cast. The script is sharp and the direction moves the story along. Garbo and Crawford are just superb--they're so young and full of life! They play their roles to perfection.<br /><br />But there is one big problem here--the male actors. To put it kindly they're pretty bad. John Barrymore looks like he's a million miles away; his brother Lionel overacts to an embarrassing degree (and gets very annoying) and Berry chews the scenery. They weaken what could have been a great movie. As it stands I can only give it an 8--but it's still well worth seeing. It won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1932.