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25-648: Baum had previously written the World War I epic Menschen im Hotel , adapted to film as Grand Hotel (1932). Towards the end of World War II , the lives of various desperate people intersect at the Hotel Berlin, a hotbed of Nazis , officers, spies and ordinary Germans trying to weather the inevitable defeat. Martin Richter, a leader of the German underground who has escaped from Dachau concentration camp ,

50-480: A Grand Hotel of shipboard dossiers. These interlocking histories may be damp with sentimentality as well as brine—but the author's skill as a storyteller invests them with enough suspense to last the desperate journey." [REDACTED] Media related to Grand Hotel (novel) at Wikimedia Commons This article about a European novel is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . See guidelines for writing about novels . Further suggestions might be found on

75-459: A man who he thinks looks Jewish. Later, Sarah Baruch comes to her and begs her help in getting medicine for her husband, dying of cancer. The older woman also reveals that her son Max, Tillie's former employer and love, is alive, having been liberated from a labor camp by the Allies. When they take shelter from an air raid in the basement, Sarah is recognized by Hermann Plotke, who orders her to put on

100-705: A scene with her four-time co-star from her career in Germany, S.Z. Sakall, when she says to his character, Carl the waiter, "Will you ask Rick if he will have a drink with us?", to which Carl responds, "Madame, he never drinks with customers. Never. I have never seen it." Later that year, she had another bit part in the World War II romance Reunion in France , and in 1943 she played Frau Reitler in The Strange Death of Adolf Hitler . Her last American movie

125-498: A waiter's uniform and sent to serve dinner to Dorn in her suite. When she becomes suspicious, he is forced to reveal his identity. She offers to assist him in exchange for her own passage out of Germany. Later, however, Tillie snoops in Dorn's suite (not only envious of her extensive wardrobe, but seeking a pair of shoes) and finds a suspicious discarded waiter's jacket, which she reports to Helm. Helm captures Richter by himself, but Richter

150-403: Is able to disarm and overpower him. He throws Helm down the shaft of a disabled elevator. Though the hotel is surrounded, Dorn persuades admirer Major Kauders to escort a seemingly drunk Richter (now in an SS uniform) through the cordon. When Richter sends word where to meet him, however, Dorn betrays him. She is suspected, and her phone call to Von Stetten is overheard. As a result, she is taken to

175-402: Is arranging for the escape of his group to North America, where they hope to secretly rebuild their strength for another grab at power. He invites Koenig to join them (to provide a cover for their activities). Hotel "hostess" (and informant) Tillie Weiler warmly greets Major Kauders, a pilot determined to make the fullest use of a short leave. They quarrel and part when he finds her photograph of

200-459: Is available on DVD of Warner Brothers Archive Collection. Grand Hotel (novel) Grand Hotel (original German Menschen im Hotel, "People in the Hotel") is a 1929 novel by Vicki Baum , which was the basis for the 1932 film Grand Hotel . It should not be confused with Berlin Hotel (original German Hotel Berlin ), published in 1945, which deals with the situation in Germany towards

225-467: Is hiding there, aided by some of the staff. He is hunted by SS-Gruppenführer Joachim Helm, who has his headquarters in the same building. Another hotel guest is Nobel laureate Johannes Koenig, Richter's friend from before the war and in Dachau. General Arnim von Dahnwitz, the last of the leaders of a plot against Hitler still at large, goes to his friend von Stetten to see if his clique can help him, but

250-453: Is told that nothing can be done. He has at best 24 hours to shoot himself and save the Nazi regime the embarrassment of publicly dealing with him. At the hotel, von Dahnwitz encounters Lisa Dorn, his lover and a famous actress. He asks Dorn to marry him and flee with him to Sweden, but she is aware his situation is hopeless and declines. Later, von Dahnwitz commits suicide. Meanwhile, von Stetten

275-647: The Mocambo nightclub in West Hollywood, California , and former maître d' at Berlin's famous Adlon Hotel before the war. Elliott Roosevelt , son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt , married Faye Emerson during filming, on December 3, 1944. According to Robert Osborne , this resulted in Emerson receiving top billing, switching places with King. According to Warner Bros records the film earned $ 1,790,000 domestically and $ 1,050,000 foreign. Variety gave

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300-607: The Nazis came to power in 1933. Berliner was born Gertrude Berliner in Berlin , Germany]. She became a famous cabaret performer in Berlin. In 1925, she appeared in her first movie, a silent film called Krieg im Frieden . Berliner would wait four years before her second movie, but her film career would then take off. In 1929, she appeared in Dich hab ich geliebt , which would become

325-555: The Star of David badge required of all Jews. This is too much for Tillie, who reveals to all that Plotke used to work in the Bauers' department store, until he was caught stealing. Max gave him another chance, only to have Plotke appropriate the business when the Nazis came to power. Plotke orders her arrest, but is himself taken into custody for stealing from the government. Richter is given

350-565: The Nazi Party and Nazi laws from the life of the German people—Germany must never again disturb the peace of the world." This appears to be a paraphrase of the statement made after the February 1945 Yalta Conference . Film critic Michael Atkinson observes: "for most of the world in early 1945 the concentration camps were still just a rumor, but here characters talk in ominous terms about Dachau and Birkenau, whose gas chambers were claimed in

375-600: The Nazi Party came to power in 1933 and went to France. In 1939, she immigrated to the United States. However, in Hollywood Berliner was not able to continue her promising movie career, receiving only bit roles in four movies. Her first role in an American film did not come until 1942, in Casablanca . She portrayed a woman playing baccarat with a Dutch banker (played by Torben Meyer ). She appears in

400-416: The article's talk page . This article about a 1920s novel is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . See guidelines for writing about novels . Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page . Trude Berliner Trude Berliner (28 February 1903 – 26 February 1977) was a German actress. She was one of many Jewish actors and actresses who were forced to flee Europe when

425-428: The centerpiece of Hotel Berlin might belong to Lorre, who has an enormous, seven-minute scene in which his booze-sodden man of science debates with Dantine's idealistic rebel about the usefulness of fighting, and the hopelessness of being German, in the face of so much malice and death and suffering...” Observing that a “good cast makes it generally interesting”, Leonard Maltin gives the picture 2.5 out of 4 stars. It

450-514: The end of World War I . The film Grand Hotel was remade as Week-End at the Waldorf (1945). Baum first adapted the novel herself later in 1929 for an eponymous play, and it was adapted again in 1930 in the United States by William A. Drake and in 1931 in Britain by Edward Knoblock as Grand Hotel . Much later, it became a successful 1989 musical which is still regularly revived around

475-597: The film its highest praise, succinctly describing it as “socko.” On the other hand, New York Times critic Bosley Crowther chastised the picture's creators for presenting sympathetic German characters, in both his March 3, 1945, review of the film and in a March 11, 1945, article headlined “EIN VOLK IN FILM”, in which he takes the makers of Lifeboat , The Seventh Cross , Tomorrow the World and this film to task for “giving our very real enemies...a sizeable break.” Writing for TCM, film critic Michael Atkinson talks about

500-550: The film's departure from Hollywood's rigidly anti-German approach at the time. “(Baum) apparently felt no need for broad-brush stereotypes, and neither does Hotel Berlin – remarkably, here we have one of the very few Hollywood films made and set during WWII in which every single character, sympathetic, villainous or caught somewhere in the middle, is German... making its case that the German people in general (should be) regarded as victims as well... Hotel Berlin gives extraordinary depth and empathy to every German on its docket.. Still,

525-510: The first German talkie released in the United States. Berliner appeared in a number of well known movies in Germany during the 1930s, including Masken , The Invisible Front , Großstadtnacht  [ de ] and Kaiserwalzer . Es war einmal ein Musikus (1933) was her last movie in Germany; it also featured S.Z. Sakall , in the fourth German movie that the two appeared in together. Being Jewish, she left Germany when Hitler and

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550-412: The picture to kill "6,000 people in 24 hours!", in a movie that hit theaters one month before Auschwitz and Dachau were liberated and exposed to the world." According to a press release, Andrea King and Faye Emerson were coached in their German accents by Trude Berliner , a refugee who had been imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp. Technical advisor Roger Neury was identified as the maître d'hotel at

575-476: The spring of 1945. The film ends with a statement over the signatures of Winston Churchill , Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin : "Our purpose is not to destroy the German people—but we are determined to disband all German armed forces-break up the German General Staff—eliminate all German industry used for military production--bring all war criminals to just and swift punishment—wipe out

600-469: The underground headquarters as a prisoner. Despite her desperate attempts to justify herself, Richter shoots her. The picture was in production between November 15, 1944 and January 15, 1945. According to TCM and AFI , the end date is uncertain. Warner Bros. rushed the release of the picture to coincide with the Russian and Allied drives on Berlin. The story was updated to include late war events during

625-418: The world. A very successful English translation, by Basil Creighton, was published in 1930 by Geoffrey Bles , London. In later times, "Grand Hotel" came to be the unofficial name for a subgenre of novels. Thus, The New York Times review of Paul Gallico 's 1969 book The Poseidon Adventure , about a group of passengers attempting to escape from a capsized ocean liner , noted that "Mr. Gallico collects

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