This remake of Grand Hotel makes a valiant effort to make it lighter. The basic story is still the same, but with comedic music and less of a dark cloud hanging over every scene, the studio tries to make the audience use let Kleenexes. In fact, there's even a reference to the earlier film., after Ginger Rogers says, "That's straight out of Grand Hotel!" Walter Pidgeon confirms, "That's right. I'm the baron, you're the ballerina, and we're off to see the wizard."
Instead of the Grand Hotel in Budapest, it's the Waldorf Astoria in New York. Ginger Rogers is an actress (not a ballerina like Greta Garbo), who mistakes witty reporter Walter Pidgeon (not a fake baron like John Barrymore) for a cat burglar in her room. Lana Turner is a secretary who whistles down the hallway (not hardened and street-smart like Joan Crawford) employed by both the hotel and slimy businessman Edward Arnold (not nearly as creepy as Wallace Beery). Van Johnson is a wounded soldier about to get an operation that may or may not save his life (but he's young, attractive, and confident unlike the sickly Lionel Barrymore). Lana notarizes his Last Will, and they hit it off; he asks her out like he does it every day of the week. And if it isn't different enough, instead of Jean Hersholt worrying about his pregnant wife, Robert Benchley is worried about his pregnant puppy.
If you know the original, the remake just doesn't work. It's supposed to be a tearjerker. People checking in, people checking out, with tragedies in everyday life. But Van Johnson could pick up any girl he wants to, especially wearing a uniform during wartime. Where is the tragedy in his "last chance at love"?
