Hotel Continental

This poor knockoff of Vicki Baum's GRAND HOTEL -- or perhaps the MGM extravaganza produced the same year as this last gasp from Tiffany Productions -- is short of major stars in front of the camera, even though it does contain some notable names such as Theodore von Eltz, J. Farrell MacDonald and Henry Walthall from the silent era and future stalwart Alan Mowbray from the sound era. So it's fun to look at to see what they look like in 1932.

Christy Cabanne, a prolific director whose reputation time has not been kind to, is in there pitching with this one. There are an awful lot of moving shots, including extended takes that look like they were shot with a crab dolly -- something that would not exist for another dozen years.

Shot too cheaply to be done well, it shows that people did try, even when the roof was crashing in on their heads. Tiffany went under this year. Cabanne, who started out directing Raoul Walsh in LIFE OF PANCHO VILLA in 1912 and would continue directing for another sixteen years, always tried to give value for money. It's a pity he so rarely had much to work with.