WEEK-END AT THE WALDORF (MGM, 1945) Warner Archive

In 1932, MGM won a Best Picture Oscar for Grand Hotel, a star-laden/top-heavy melodrama set inside an escapist art deco resort in pre-war Berlin. The picture then, starred Joan Crawford as a social-climbing stenographer who falls for a Baron (John Barrymore) - actually a jewel thief. In it too, Greta Garbo (as an overwrought ballerina), Wallace Beery (a boorish industrialist) and Lionel Barrymore (a fatally stricken pensioner, whom the stenographer rather ruthlessly befriends. Based on a celebrated play by Vicki Baum, Grand Hotel was a stunning success, and, the first movie ever to feature more than one headliner in its cast. Flash ahead to 1945 – MGM, at its picture-making zenith and, in the post-Thalberg era, unaccustomed to such extravagances, partly due to war-time rationing, but also L.B. Mayer’s own rationale - that Metro could still make some very fine entertainments, as profitable, without testing the waters or evolving its ‘in house’ style. There is no getting around the fact that each movie produced by MGM after 1936, the year of Thalberg’s untimely passing, increasingly followed a formula Mayer patented, trademarked and perfected. During the war years, this streamlining of studio product had its undeniable appeal, familiarity in art, as the world’s political climate became increasingly hostile, to provide comfort, hope and sanity in a world seemingly gone mad. So, MGM’s pictures were as beloved as ever, and Metro’s star power the envy of Hollywood – and indeed, the world. Of the top 10 box office draws in the nation, 5 were under contract to the studio in 1945.

And Mayer, eager to illustrate that ‘nothing had changed’ in the interim, and mindful of the colossal success of Grand Hotel, was more than eager to recapture its glory – albeit, this time on American soil and with his stars shining in a more contemporary rendering of the lives and loves to be had behind locked doors inside this lavishly appointed hotel. Americanized and watered down for the post-war generation, director Robert Z. Leonard's Week-end at the Waldorf (1945) does not pack nearly the dramatic wallop of its predecessor. For starters, there is no climactic murder to send the last act into a suspenseful and tragic tail spin. Further distilling the melodrama, the inclusion of Xavier Cugat and Lina Romay performing 'Guadalajara' inside the famed New York landmark’s Starlight Room – actually, a recreation on the MGM back lot. The production number, while lavish and enjoyable, is diverting from the plot, or rather, decorously subservient to the various machinations yet to unfurl between costars, Walter Pigeon, Ginger Rogers, Lana Turner and Van Johnson.  In this reincarnation, Garbo’s distraught ballerina has morphed into no-nonsense American film star, Irene Malvern (Ginger Rogers); a glacial beauty under siege with major responsibilities set upon by her agent, Henry Burton (Leon Ames) and by the more obvious affections lobbed at her heart from war correspondent, Chip Collyer (Walter Pigeon) who is, at first, mistaken by Irene to be the lover/jewel thief of her hired maid, Anna (Rosemary DeCamp).

Collyer is leaving for Europe after his weekend stay at the Waldorf. Hence, his romance with Irene can only be a fleeting diversion at best. In the meantime, newly engaged Cynthia Drew (Phyllis Thaxter) suspects Irene is in love with her fiancée, Dr. Bob Campbell (Warner Anderson) - which she is not. To quell Cynthia's suspicions, Irene informs Cynthia she has married Collyer on the fly, much to his amusement. The ruse turns sour for Irene when Collyer discovers an old law on the books, suggesting the mere inference of having married someone can, in fact, legally declare that person to be a common law spouse. In another part of the hotel, public stenographer, Bunny Smith (Lana Turner) is in search of any man with a healthy-sized wallet to make all her dreams of a Park Ave. apartment come true. One of the hotel's current guests, Martin X. Edley (Edward Arnold) makes just such a proposition to Bunny - having finagled a crooked business deal with the Bey of Aribajan (George Zucco). It seems Edley has promised the Bey a lucrative oil contract without the consent of Mr. Jessup (Samuel S. Hinds), who, having left the hotel for the weekend with an emphatic refusal to partake of Edley’s merger, has also, rather magnanimously given up his suite at the Waldorf to newlywed, Ensign John Rand (Michael Kirby). And although the angle Edley proposes to Bunny is seemingly exactly what she has been looking for, her heart has since hopelessly fallen for returning war hero, Capt. James Hollis (Van Johnson), stricken with shrapnel situated dangerously near his heart and slated for a daring operation from which he may or may not survive.

Hollis finagles an opportunity to have the hotel’s current ‘house’ orchestra, helmed by Xavier Cugat, perform a composition written by one of his war buddies, who did not make it out of the war alive. Next, Hollis asks Bunny to type up his Last Will and Testement. But he also invites her to dinner atop the Starlight Roof to hear his friend's song performed. Meanwhile, Chip is approached by cub reporter, Oliver Webson (Keenan Wynn) hoping for a little advice on the Edley story. Instead, Chip suggests talking to the Bey of Aribajan and demonstrates how to sneak into the Bey's apartment by hiding under a maid's cart. Alas, he becomes trapped when the maid returns and enters Irene Malvern's suite instead to avoid being seen by Edley. Earlier, Irene’s maid, Anna, confessed being involved with a man who intends to steal the star’s jewels. Anna insisted this fellow is a good man in a difficult situation. So, Irene, having exposed Chip’s hiding spot, now erroneously assumes he is the jewel thief. Nevertheless, she takes pity on him. And although Chip allows Irene to believe the worst about him, merely to get nearer to her now, she quickly unearths his true identity. Meanwhile, heiress, Cynthia’s pending marriage to Bob Campbell is nearly derailed when she suspects Bob is in love with Irene. To cast off the scent of impropriety, Irene introduces Chip to Cynthia as her husband. Relieved, Cynthia spreads the good word, and in no time, columnist, Randy Morton (Robert Benchley) has run with the scoop in the local papers, much to Irene’s chagrin.

Edley informs Bunny, if his deal with the Bey goes through, he will be moving to New York and wants to hire her as his private secretary – with fringe benefits. Edley requires Bunny to attend a working dinner with the Bey at the Starlight Roof. As she cannot refuse, but has no time to tell Hollis the reasons behind her rejection of his own dinner proposal, Bunny sends a note to Hollis’ table instead. Believing Bunny has thrown him over for Edley, Hollis is disappointed until she reveals the truth to him. Meanwhile, Chip has a maid let him into Irene’s room while she is away with her agent at her movie premiere, thus ensuring rumors about their secret marriage stick. Although initially incensed by his chutzpah, Irene forgives Chip. On Monday, Webson’s story breaks about Edley’s fraudulent oil deal and Edley rushes to the Bey's apartment to attempt an explanation, only to discover the Bey, who has thus far used an interpreter in their business meetings, speaks perfect English nad has already been in contact with Jessup, who has exposed the truth of Edley’s spurious intensions to him. Preparing for his trip to Washington, for the experimental surgery that may or may not save his life, Hollis and Bunny are reunited, she, having forsaken ‘the good life’ for one in which, the simple pleasures and real love might suffice. Finally, Chip telephones Irene from the airport in time to explain he has fallen madly in love with her. As his plane passes over the Waldorf, Irene emerges from the rooftop balcony to wave goodbye to him.

Week-end At the Waldorf is an effortlessly appealing entertainment. In true MGM style, none of the weightier plot entanglements in Sam and Bella Spewack’s screenplay are allowed to intrude upon the plush glamour of this puff pastry. The picture’s comfortable star performances, indulge in the obliviousness of this exercise. These are stars doing what stars of their generation did best – entertain us with their well-honed skills. The Spewacks herein have cleverly managed to keep the ensemble always engaged and interacting, with narrative paths that continually crisscross until the final fade to black.  Producer, Arthur Hornblower Jr. spent money like water on this one, his reputation as a studio rain-maker reassured when Week-end at the Waldorf sent cash registers ringing around the world. To be sure, the sets and location work succeed in creating a credible facsimile of uber-high style where such highborn and lowbrow interests can intermingle. Sumptuousness is king. And the performances, while hardly of the same caliber as those offered up in Grand Hotel, are plausible, slicky packaged, and mostly sincere. No one could confuse Thalberg’s all-star opus with this post-war regurgitation, but Week-end at the Waldorf offers a lot of sparkle and stardust to mask its more primitive shortcomings. Frankly, this goes an awfully long way and the results are well worth the time and moneys spent on recreating (if never recapturing) the magic and former glory of the original movie.  So, check in to check out Week-end at the Waldorf – another of MGM’s uber-lush and lovely screen spectacles, made only a scant few years before the effervescence in such exercises would all go, quite simply, to hell – never again to be revived.

Despite no obvious restoration work performed on this deep catalog title, the Warner Archive DVD release of Week-end at The Waldorf looks better than expected. The B&W image, while containing minor fluctuations, overall reveals a subtly nuanced gray scale that, at times, looks rather marvelous.  Given the amount of money spent to bring the picture to the screen, I can only imagine how much better this would look on Blu-ray. For now, the DVD is adequate – with rich textures, solid blacks, and very clean whites. Shortcomings include intermittent age-related artifacts and film grain that is clumpy at best. A few reels reveal considerable print damage and there is even some minor click and pop in the 1.0 Dolby Digital mono audio. Hints of edge enhancement are everywhere but do not terribly distract.  The only extra is a badly worn theatrical trailer. Bottom line: recommended as light, disposable, but pleasurable escapism of the highest order. I would relish a Blu-ray release from the Warner Archive of this excellent pastiche to MGM’s bygone gala days as the preeminent production house of such mass-marketed glossy entertainments.  Good stuff here, worth seeing again…and again…and again.

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

3.5

VIDEO/AUDIO

3.5

EXTRAS

0