Week-End at the Waldorf | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Robert Z. Leonard |
Produced by | Arthur Hornblow, Jr. |
Written by |
Samuel and Bella Spewack Guy Bolton |
Based on |
Grand Hotel by Vicki Baum |
Starring |
Ginger Rogers Lana Turner Walter Pidgeon Van Johnson |
Music by | Johnny Green |
Cinematography | Robert H. Planck |
Edited by | Robert Kern |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date
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Running time
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130 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $2,561,000 |
Box office | $6,164,000 |
Week-End at the Waldorf, an American comedy drama film directed by Robert Z. Leonard premiered in Los Angeles on 17 October 1945. The screenplay by Samuel and Bella Spewack is based on Guy Bolton's adaptation of the Vicki Baum novel Grand Hotel, which had been filmed as Grand Hotel in 1932.
The film focuses on various guests staying at New York City's famed Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Among them are lonely screen star Irene Malvern, in town with her maid Anna for a childhood friend's wedding and the premiere of her latest movie; war correspondent Chip Collyer, mistaken for a jewel thief by Irene but playing along to catch her attention; flyer Capt. James Hollis, wounded in World War II and facing perilous surgery in three days; wealthy shyster Martin X. Edley, who is trying to sign the Bey of Aribajan to a shady oil deal; Oliver Webson, a cub reporter for Collier's Weekly hoping to expose Edley; and bride-to-be Cynthia Drew, whose upcoming wedding is endangered by her belief her fiancé Bob is in love with Irene Malvern. Also on the scene are Bunny Smith, the hotel's stenographer/notary public, who hopes to escape her low income roots by marrying Edley, and reporter Randy Morton, who loiters in the lobby hoping to stumble upon a scoop for his newspaper.
In the opening scene, Randy Morton describes a typical Friday afternoon at the Waldorf. A newlywed couple discover there are no rooms available, and are given use of an apartment by a Mr. Jesup, who is going away for the weekend. Edley finds Jesup in the lobby and tries to involve him in a deal with the Bey of Aribajan, a wealthy oil shiek. Jesup refuses, but Edley knows that Jesup will be gone all weekend and has until Monday morning to get the Bey to sign a contract based on Jesup's presumed involvement.