Episode 22: “Grand Hotel” with Scott Eyman
A podcast about the great movies.
We’re back with our latest episode of Guide for the Film Fanatic! In each episode, Jason Bailey and Mike Hull invite a guest from the world of film (including filmmakers, authors, critics, actors, and more) to select one of the 1600+ “must-see movies” collected in Danny Peary’s seminal 1986 book, Guide for the Film Fanatic. Bailey, Hull, and their guests deep dive on each film, discussing its history, themes, style, performances, initial reception, and legacy, taking a fresh look at some of the most beloved titles in cinema history.
Scott Eyman is one of the foremost biographers of classic Hollywood, writing essential books on Chaplin, Cary Grant, John Wayne, John Ford, Henry Fonda and James Stewart, and many more. He joins us to discuss his latest, Joan Crawford: A Woman’s Face, and Crawford’s quintessential performance in Grand Hotel.
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We’re also putting our new episodes up on YouTube! Watch the show on our YouTube channel, @guideforthefilmfanatic, for visual accompaniment and bonus stuff and who knows what else:
Grand Hotel is available for digital rental or purchase, or you can pick it up on Blu-ray, along with three more Crawford Classics, in Warner Archive’s new Joan Crawford Collection. You can watch the trailer here. You can read the New York Times review here, Irene Thirer’s review for the New York Daily News here, Alfred Rushford Greason’s Variety review here, and Pauline Kael’s New Yorker capsule here. And you can hear our discussion of The Unknown from the 1927 episode of A Very Good Year (with guest Dana Stevens) here.
You can buy Scott’s book Joan Crawford: A Woman’s Face here. We also highly recommend Charlie Chaplin vs. America: When Art, Sex, and Politics Collided, Cary Grant: A Brilliant Disguise, Hank & Jim: The Fifty-Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart, John Wayne: The Life and Legend, Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford, and The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution 1926-1930.
If you’d like to check out the YouTube page for Mike’s other podcast, “Black Diplomats,” it’s here. And Jason’s book Gandolfini: Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend is OUT NOW, and you can order it from MZS Press, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, or wherever you get your hardbacks, ebooks, and/or audiobooks. OR you can pre-order the paperback (out April 14, 2026) here.
Last but not least, if you’d like to make a little donation to support us and the show, you can do that at Ko-fi!