Because the Stanislavsky method of playing bridge has no rules, it promotes marital harmony for those who stick with it.Because the Stanislavsky method of playing bridge has no rules, it promotes marital harmony for those who stick with it.Because the Stanislavsky method of playing bridge has no rules, it promotes marital harmony for those who stick with it.
Wally Albright
- Boy Bridge Player
- (uncredited)
William Bailey
- Van Dorn's Bridge Partner
- (uncredited)
Reginald Barlow
- Theodore
- (uncredited)
Maurice Black
- Paul
- (uncredited)
Harry C. Bradley
- Bridge Match Referee
- (uncredited)
Jack Byron
- Lola's Contest Escort
- (uncredited)
Walter Byron
- Barney Starr
- (uncredited)
Joseph Cawthorn
- Alex Alexandrovitch
- (uncredited)
Jimmy Conlin
- Oscar Smelt
- (uncredited)
George Cooper
- Josh
- (uncredited)
Gino Corrado
- Barber
- (uncredited)
- Directors
- William Dieterle
- Alfred E. Green(uncredited)
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe film uses the actual cover of the November 8, 1932 (no. 2572) edition of Life magazine. At the time, the publication was a humor magazine, like Punch in the UK, with limited circulation.
- GoofsIn the newspaper article about Peter beating Van Dorn, the second paragraph of the story is unrelated gibberish.
- Quotes
Marcia Stanislavsky: How have you been?
Philip 'Speed' McCann: Okay. I've been working pretty hard. I just finished writing a book called Sex and What Causes It. It's for Bernard McGovern. I got five grand out of it.
Marcia Stanislavsky: Five grand!
Philip 'Speed' McCann: For only two weeks work. How have you been?
Marcia Stanislavsky: Oh, boy.
- Crazy creditsOpening credits begin with bridge being played in the background. Then, closeups of cards are shown with a picture of one of the actor/actress, his/her name, and the role s/he plays in the movie; director credited also on a playing card.
Featured review
The "Horsefeathers" of contract bridge films
This may be the only full-length Hollywood film about contract bridge so I suppose you could as well call it the "War and Peace" or the "Abbott and Costello Go to Mars" of contract bridge films. The point is that it has as much connection with how bridge is played as its contemporary "Horsefeathers" has with how football is played. In case you missed it, Harpo Marx scores the winning touchdown in "Horsefeathers" while driving a horse-drawn garbage truck.
However, "Horsefeathers" did make some salient points about universities where football has priority over education and the administration pays professional "students" to play who never see the inside of a classroom. Of course that was back in the 1930s. Today's universities are ...
Never mind. Getting back to bridge, in 1931-32 the game enjoyed its fifteen minutes of fame with "The Bridge Battle of the Century" between Ely Culbertson and Sidney Lenz, with the winner getting to sell more books about his bidding system. The fifteen minutes were somewhat literal in this case as NBC radio broadcast a fifteen-minute summary of each day's action, which was also reported on the front pages of the nation's newspapers.
So just as "Horsefeathers" was more accurate about the milieu in which football was played than about how the game was played, "Grand Slam" has its fun with the idea of crowds gathered around radios and electronic news tickers for the latest results of a bridge match. It's also fairly accurate in depicting the whining, gloating and backbiting endemic among serious bridge players, of which I am one.
Aside from that, it's a lightweight romantic comedy of average quality. Nothing really "pre-code" about it. If you play bridge at all you may get a kick out of the ridiculousness of the few scenes where they're supposedly playing the game. If not, I hope this description of the film's circumstances will increase your enjoyment of it.
However, "Horsefeathers" did make some salient points about universities where football has priority over education and the administration pays professional "students" to play who never see the inside of a classroom. Of course that was back in the 1930s. Today's universities are ...
Never mind. Getting back to bridge, in 1931-32 the game enjoyed its fifteen minutes of fame with "The Bridge Battle of the Century" between Ely Culbertson and Sidney Lenz, with the winner getting to sell more books about his bidding system. The fifteen minutes were somewhat literal in this case as NBC radio broadcast a fifteen-minute summary of each day's action, which was also reported on the front pages of the nation's newspapers.
So just as "Horsefeathers" was more accurate about the milieu in which football was played than about how the game was played, "Grand Slam" has its fun with the idea of crowds gathered around radios and electronic news tickers for the latest results of a bridge match. It's also fairly accurate in depicting the whining, gloating and backbiting endemic among serious bridge players, of which I am one.
Aside from that, it's a lightweight romantic comedy of average quality. Nothing really "pre-code" about it. If you play bridge at all you may get a kick out of the ridiculousness of the few scenes where they're supposedly playing the game. If not, I hope this description of the film's circumstances will increase your enjoyment of it.
helpful•10
- RickeyMooney
- Jan 28, 2021
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- La gran jugada
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $164,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 7 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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