Produced by Irving Thalberg, Grand Hotel is one of the greatest films to emerge from MGM studios in the '30s. Based on Vicki Baum's novel, the film is about the lavish Grand Hotel in Berlin, a place where "nothing ever happens." However, this episodic film proves that statement to be false, as it follows a number of stars--including Greta Garbo as a ballerina, Lionel Barrymore as a man on his deathbed, John Barrymore as a jewel thief, Wallace Beery as a businessman, and Joan Crawford as a stenographer--over the course of one day, capturing their lives as they become intertwined. Grand Hotel won an Academy Award for Best Picture.