Week-End at the Waldorf (1945)

So much average

Just perfect...

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

While I have some criticisms of this film, overall it's a pretty pleasant way in which to spend a couple of hours. But first, the criticisms. First and foremost, I think the story has too many plot lines, and as a result what could have been decent stand-alone films get short-changed. Plot line #1 -- Ginger Rogers, a glamorous actress, gets trapped in a sort-of common law marriage with war correspondent Walter Pidgeon; could have been a good film on its own. Plot line # 2 -- Correspondent Pidgeon gets hooked into a newspaper story with a cub reporter (Keenan Wynn) about fraud in a Middle Eastern oil deal with the crooked Edward Arnold; could have been a good film on its own. Plot line # 3 -- There's a mix-up with just who Ginger Rogers is in love with, and will it affect Phyllis Thaxter's marriage to a doctor; this is one of the subplots which could have most easily been dispensed with. Plot line # 4 -- Van Johnson, an alone soldier who is facing lief-threatening surgery, falls in love with stenographer Lana Turner, who wants to climb to the top by being a "special" aide to Edward Arnold; this could have really been a good romantic film on its own. And then there's Robert Benchley's participation...which was a total waste of time, other than as narrator.My other major criticism is that -- probably because of too many story lines and a rather long run time (over 2 hours) -- the wrap up to all those story lines is way too quick. Very disappointing.On the positive side, as indicated, most of those subplots were good story lines, and the acting is fine. I'd actually give the highest grade here to Van Johnson. Interestingly, some of the film was actually shot at the Waldorf Astoria, though most of it was shot in Hollywood.It's entertaining. Give it a view.

Pleasant reworking of Grand Hotel changes most of what made that film a classic but is entertaining enough on its own. For starters, the tone to this one is far different than Grand Hotel. This is a lighter film with more focus on romance and humor. The setting is changed as well as it is updated to WW2 America. The war figures heavily into several of the story lines. As with Grand Hotel, this is about various characters staying at a plush hotel and how their stories intertwine. The hotel here is the Waldorf-Astoria in New York. Most of the plots have been altered from the original but certain characteristics remain. Ginger Rogers plays a weary actress who falls for equally weary war correspondent Walter Pidgeon, believing him to be a jewel thief. Lana Turner is a stenographer who ponders boss Edward Arnold's "indecent proposal" while falling for bomber pilot Van Johnson. Other actors include Robert Benchley, George Zucco, Keenan Wynn, Samuel S. Hinds, and Leon Ames. Xavier Cugat plays himself and provides a little music. It's all watchable enough and even enjoyable, especially if you aren't nagged by comparisons to Grand Hotel. The cast is nice (except for an overacting Rosemary DeCamp) and the MGM production is classy as you might expect. It won't change your life but I highly doubt you'll regret watching it.

The movie's best part, to me, is seeing the actual army of hotel workers required to keep a high-rise like the Waldorf operating. It's impressive, and sure a lot of free advertising. Anyway, despite the attractive cast, the various light comedy threads fail to gel, making the screen time seem longer than its actual 130 minutes. The movie adds up to bland entertainment, at best. The one sparkling scene is when Johnson's flight captain and Turner's working girl meet, some winsome chemistry there. The screenplay, however, comes across as a rather clumsy patchwork, at best. For example, shady tycoon Edward Arnold is apparently up to no good (and with oil sheiks, no less), but we never find out more. And what's with Thaxter's role. It comes across like a half-digested morsel, maybe serving as a screen test for a younger MGM performer. Nor does Robert Leonard's uninspired direction help. In fact, it seems odd that the studio didn't assign a top- flight director to what would appear a prestige project.The biggest disappointment, however, is with the Pigeon-Rogers romance. Now they're both highly capable, charming actors. The problem again is with the screenplay. Pigeon's impersonation of a jewel thief is, I gather, supposed to be zany and out of character. Instead, it comes across as not just implausible but also downright silly despite the pair's best comedic efforts. However, there is one compensation for Rogers— she gets to model an array of 1945's best high fashion, and lovely she is. Anyway, the script looks to me like a rush job, comparing poorly with Grand Hotel's first-rate screenplay. Unfortunately, this version amounts to a general waste of superior talent, though I must admit coming away with a new appreciation of the boyish Johnson's acting talent. Too bad, some of that didn't better inspire the writers or at least give them more time.

In many ways Weekend At The Waldorf as a remake for Grand Hotel simply doesn't work. It certainly couldn't have worked at all as a melodrama the way the original was. Remember Grand Hotel was set in Weimar Republic Germany, a time that was most negative, the film came out just before Hitler took power in Germany. Many of the elements of Nazism are to be found in the original, a very pessimistic work.1945 however was one of the most optimistic times that America ever saw. When the film was released World War II was won in both theaters, the troops were coming home, the Cold War hadn't yet started. You couldn't make a film like Grand Hotel remade to that time in America without changing the plot to have the audience accept it.So a more optimistic Grand Hotel was done with Weekend At The Waldorf and the parts played by John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Greta Garbo, Wallace Beery, and Joan Crawford were done in this version by Walter Pidgeon, Van Johnson, Ginger Rogers, Edward Arnold, and Lana Turner. Some of those cast names should tell you right away this will be a much lighter film.The bittersweet interlude between John Barrymore and Greta Garbo becomes a romantic comedy between war correspondent Walter Pidgeon and movie star Ginger Rogers. She's stopping at the Waldorf on a tour and ready to start a new film, Pidgeon just back from covering the war is looking for some peace and quiet. But his reporter's instincts are aroused with the presence of crooked industrialist Edward Arnold at the hotel and trying to sneak into Arnold's room, he mistakenly is smuggled into Rogers's room in a serving cart. Arnold is up to no good, he's about to put over a sweet deal with visiting oil sheik George Zucco. He needs a stenographer so the hotel sends up Lana Turner, but she impresses Arnold with more than her ability with shorthand. Turner's a girl whose been done wrong in her life and she's determined to get ahead, no matter what. Even the presence of flier Van Johnson in the hotel who's about to have a delicate operation to remove some shrapnel near his heart, an operation which could kill him and whom she falls for doesn't deter her from making the play for Arnold.That's not as gimmicky as it sounds. President Andrew Jackson carried around a bullet in his cheat because doctors would not risk an operation at first. He did it for about 20 years. So the writers were on solid ground with Johnson's plight. Zucco's casting as an oil rich Arab sheik, borrowed quite liberally from King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabis whom FDR visited on the way back from Yalta was also certainly a harbinger of things to come.Things turn out a whole lot better for the cast members here than in Grand Hotel for the most part. Some other roles of interest are Robert Benchley as gossip columnist and Keenan Wynn as a cub reporter who is from the Lois Lane snoop and scoop journalism school. So is Pidgeon who tells Wynn to get creative in his search for a story. His methods though, not his writing. Weekend At The Waldorf is done with typical MGM gloss and made Louis B. Mayer quite a bundle. It's not a classic like the film it was based on, but it's still a good piece of entertainment. And of course it's quite the commercial for the Waldorf Astoria hotel. It's still there in New York, not having been taken over by any of the hotel chains. At one time, Herbert Hoover, Douglas MacArthur, and Cole Porter maintained permanent residences on its premises. Two out of those three were there when the film was made.They probably would recognize the place now. It's still an elegant place, but old fashioned, reflective of their era. But for us we have Weekend At The Waldorf to remind us.