Maps of Movies
Grand Hotel (1932)
Where Grand Hotel says it takes place, and where it was really shot.
The most famous hotel in Berlin was never in Berlin: the whole film was built on a Hollywood studio lot.
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Scenes and places
The lobby where nothing ever happens (1932)
Doctor Otternschlag, a war veteran who lives in the hotel, watches the guests come and go and says nothing ever happens. The lobby is where every storyline will cross.
Set in Grand Hotel lobby, Berlin — The lobby of the fictional Grand Hotel in Berlin, watched by a permanent resident.
A lobby built as a full 360-degree front desk, so the camera can watch the hotel from all around.
Filmed at MGM studio sets, Culver City (now Sony Pictures Studios) (Sony Pictures Studios, Culver City, United States) — The lobby was built as a set at the MGM studio; the film is not shot in Germany. Google Maps · Apple Maps
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Grusinskaya's room (1932)
The baron slips into the ballerina's room to steal her jewels and is trapped when she comes back early from the theatre. He overhears her darkest thoughts, steps out, and the two fall in love.
Set in Grusinskaya's room, Grand Hotel — The ballerina's hotel room, where a jewel thief hides.
A guest room in a fictional Berlin hotel.
Filmed at MGM studio sets, Culver City (now Sony Pictures Studios) (Sony Pictures Studios, Culver City, United States) — Room interiors were built as sets at the MGM studio; which stage is not stated in the sources. Google Maps · Apple Maps
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The card game (1932)
The baron, desperate for money, plays cards with Kringelein, a dying accountant who wins big and then gets drunk. When the wallet drops, the baron has to choose between his debts and a friend.
Set in Card table, Grand Hotel — A card game in the hotel between a card-playing baron and a dying accountant.
A card game in the hotel, one stakes everything, the other is spending his last weeks.
Filmed at MGM studio sets, Culver City (now Sony Pictures Studios) (Sony Pictures Studios, Culver City, United States) — The card room is a studio set; the exact set location is an inference, the sources only say the film was an MGM studio picture. Google Maps · Apple Maps
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The rooms that open onto each other (1932)
Preysing, an industrialist chasing a merger, asks his stenographer Flaemmchen to travel to England with him. Then, in her room next to his, he sees a shadow moving through his things.
Set in Preysing's and Flaemmchen's rooms, Grand Hotel — Two hotel rooms joined by a connecting door.
Two rooms of the hotel joined by a door.
Filmed at MGM studio sets, Culver City (now Sony Pictures Studios) (Sony Pictures Studios, Culver City, United States) — The rooms are studio sets; the sources give the set only as the MGM studio. Google Maps · Apple Maps
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Out through the door (1932)
Kringelein offers to look after Flaemmchen as the two walk out of the hotel. Doctor Otternschlag repeats his line from the opening.
Set in Hotel entrance, Grand Hotel — The hotel's main entrance, where a guest leaves.
The front door of the hotel, back where the film began.
Filmed at MGM studio sets, Culver City (now Sony Pictures Studios) (Sony Pictures Studios, Culver City, United States) — The entrance is a studio set; the sources do not name the stage. Google Maps · Apple Maps
How to get there:
Characters
- Baron Felix von Gaigern — A penniless baron who survives as a card player and occasional jewel thief.
- Grusinskaya — An aging Russian ballerina whose career is on the wane.
- Otto Kringelein — A dying accountant spending his last weeks in luxury.
- General Director Preysing — An industrialist in Berlin to close an important deal.
- Flaemmchen — A young stenographer who wants to be an actress.
- Doctor Otternschlag — A disfigured WWI veteran and permanent hotel resident.
Questions answered on the map
- Where was the Berlin Grand Hotel of the 1932 film really filmed?