bkoganbing Hotel is a film concerning a few days at the end of the life of one of those old fashioned hotels, the St. Gregory's in New Orleans. It's owner Melvyn Douglas is facing some financial problems and he's hired Rod Taylor as manager whose made some improvements and the place is beginning to turn around. But way too slowly to keep Douglas's creditors off his back. The story on which Hotel is based is from an Arthur Hailey novel who wrote Airport and inspired that series of films. The film bears some resemblance to Airport to be sure, but I also think it bears comparison to the Humphrey Bogart classic Deadline, USA about a newspaper going out of business with Bogart in the Taylor role and Ethel Barrymore in the one that Melvyn Douglas has here.Douglas and Taylor are not going down without a fight. What they don't want to do is sell out to Conrad Hilton like hotel magnate Kevin McCarthy who will turn the place antiseptic and it will lose its traditional charm. It's a problem with hotels, so many of even the finest rated old ones are being purchased by chains, a problem back then to be sure. So few independents are even operating today.McCarthy does have a secret weapon in the charming and voluptuous Catherine Spaak and her assignment is Taylor.There are a couple of other subplots working here. Titled couple Michael Rennie and Merle Oberon are involved in a hit and run accident after they've both had too much and they face a blackmailing house detective in Richard Conte. And the police are after a very clever thief who works the New Orleans hotels in Karl Malden. All these stories do connect as you will see.Director Richard Quine directed this film with an eye for style and elegance which the fictional St. Gregory is famous for. The cast is seasoned one of good professionals who give some professional performances. Hotel is a film of class and I think you'll like it.

Chase_Witherspoon Very mild account of major New Orleans hotel facing closure and its last days as the owner (Douglas) and general manager (Taylor) attempt to secure its future without compromising its integrity and traditions. A number of story lines intertwine amid the closure backdrop, with Rennie & Oberon as the Duke and Duchess of Landbourne entangled in a police matter, Malden as the hotel's resident kleptomaniac and McCarthy as a potential investor keen to save the grand hotel but with a litany of changes in mind of which Douglas disapproves.Taylor does a good job as the efficient right hand man, not tempted by McCarthy's graft offer to persuade Douglas to sell, taking Spaak instead as a consolation prize. Malden was a bit too hammy for my liking and the film never quite fulfilled its promise, although I thought Taylor and McCarthy in particular were very engaging. "Hotel" has a pseudo disaster film texture with its diverse characters coming in and out of focus against a common backdrop; it even indulges the genre with a reasonably tense elevator malfunction and a feverish rescue while the lift hangs by a thread.The decorative touches, lounge music and brassy sets are all fashionable reminders of the mid-to-late sixties and the film itself is old-fashioned in its tone and sentiment, perhaps too dated for younger viewers today. I'd categorise this as a somewhat bittersweet tale, a window into the late sixties social culture, suitable with tea and biscuits moreso than beer and pizza.

ecarle I love this movie, a smooth 1967 throwback to the "Grand Hotel" tradition of interweaving stories, stylishly directed by Richard Quine ("Bell, Book, and Candle.") Johnny Keating's lush score shifts easily from sad melancholy (for the grand lost past of this grand hotel) to sexy jazz (in accord with the film's New Orleans setting.) Three main stories interact: the business battle to takeover the hotel; cover-up and blackmail attendant to a hit-and-run by a regal guest; the comedy relief antics of hotel thief Keycase Milne as he tries to make a big score. It all comes together in an elevator cliffhanger. Favorite bits: the surrogate father-son relationship between hotel owner Melvyn Douglas and his ace manager Rod Taylor; the antics of Karl Malden as Keycase (in one of Malden's personal favorite roles); and the tough intelligence of the three-way battle to take over the hotel. The characters are smart, witty, and gracious (even the villains), the mood slightly mournful for the good old days. I hated checking out of "Hotel."

Pat-54 I was attracted to this movie because of the all-star cast and it takes place in my favorite city, New Orleans, Louisiana. Sadly, only three scenes were actually filmed in the "Crescent City," the rest are PAINFULLY evident that they were filmed on the Warner Brothers Studio backlot. As for the movie itself, it's very dated and not very good. The background music is so distracting that it drove me mad! Blaring away whenever dialog is not being spoken. Proves that silence, at times, is indeed golden.