although chaucer and boccaccio together with many successor deal with literary interpretation of life in urban setting involve stranger meet in public place and vicki baum be among the first to bring this genre into the twentieth century world of movie and popular fiction . neil simon and others owe much to her concept of romanticized drama take place in a modern hotel setting . unlike some other film buff who write here from time to time and i enjoy compare a movie version to it literary predecessor usually some novel or play . neither be necessarily superior to the other while it just that understand the whole context of a good story lends depth and credibility to character and their motivation . grand hotel be a first not only in the era of talkie and but of bring together an ensemble of character actor who be all star in their own right . garbo and the barrymore and crawford and wallace beery ( compare if you can his performance with that of gert fröbe in the late german version ) may be see a large than life each in his or her own right . it be not enough to judge this film on it own merit from the perspective of the twenty first century . without historical context include knowledge of it origin and the people who make it no true appreciation will be possible . personally and i like baum later film hotel berlin much more . but that may be because i find the book more complex and relevant . de gustibus non est disputandum . or something like that .