Hotel (film)
Encyclopedia
Hotel is a 1967 Technicolor
film adaptation
of the novel of the same name written by Arthur Hailey
. The film stars Rod Taylor, Catherine Spaak
, Karl Malden
, Kevin McCarthy
, Michael Rennie
, and Melvyn Douglas
. It is directed by Richard Quine
.
).
The hotel is in financial trouble. Hotel manager Peter McDermott (Rod Taylor) involves himself in the overtures of two different buyers. He also takes a romantic interest in Jeanne Rochefort (Catherine Spaak
), an upper-class French
guest, and deals with a wide range of routine problems, including a faulty elevator.
Jeanne is the traveling companion of one of the buyers, Curtis O'Keefe (Kevin McCarthy
). He intends to renovate and "modernize" the hotel, with conveyor belt
s carrying luggage
automatically around the building like it were some sort of modern airport terminal, and even presenting the customer's bill on a conveyor belt.
Among the guests at the hotel are The Duke and Duchess of Lanbourne (Michael Rennie
and Merle Oberon
), a wealthy couple hiding out after fleeing from a hit-and-run accident in their car. A hotel detective, Dupere (Richard Conte
), attempts to blackmail the Duke and Duchess.
Keycase (Karl Malden
), a professional thief, is working the hotel using a range of techniques and some female accomplices. He blithely talks himself out of one tough spot by grabbing an ordinary-looking attache
case, which belongs to the Duke and Duchess. He gets to a room, calms his pounding heart, and uses one of his key collection to open the case to see what it contains. The case is filled with cash. Counting himself lucky, Keycase heads for the elevator
to leave.
Hotel owner Trent decides to reject the unscrupulous O'Keefe's offer and sell the St. Gregory to the man who will demolish it.
In the elevator, Keycase is joined by the Duke, and other guests. The elevator stops between floors as the emergency brakes begin to fail. McDermott and his assistant manager take the adjacent elevator to the same level and transfer passengers through the roof. The Duke and Keycase are the last two in the failing car. Keycase refuses to leave his briefcase, which contains the stolen money. The Duke is able to wrestle the case away and help Keycase out of the car, but right then the brakes completely fail, sending the Duke to his death.
The Duchess tells police she was responsible for the auto accident, hoping to save her late husband's reputation. She also absolves the blackmailing hotel detective of guilt. McDermott rounds up the remaining guests, including Jeanne, and buys drinks on the house as a final toast to the St. Gregory.
, who plays a lounge singer in the Delta Queen lounge of the hotel. Warren Trent does not have a female secretary in the film. The character of Jeanne Rochefort was created for the film, Dorothy "Dodo" Lash, who was the companion of Curtis O'Keefe in the novel, was merged with the character of Marsha Preyscott, and the character of Albert Wells, who turned out to be a buyer of the St. Gregory, was dropped.
restaurant, Pat O'Briens. However, the other shots are obviously filmed on Warner's back lot, most especially the outside scene between the Duchess and House Detective Dupere (Richard Conte).
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
film adaptation
Film adaptation
Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...
of the novel of the same name written by Arthur Hailey
Arthur Hailey
Arthur Hailey was a British/Canadian novelist.- Biography :Born in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, Hailey served in the Royal Air Force from the start of World War II during 1939 until 1947, when he went to live in Canada. Hailey's last novel, Detective , is a mystery told from the perspective of a...
. The film stars Rod Taylor, Catherine Spaak
Catherine Spaak
-Biography:Spaak was born at Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine . She is the niece of Belgian politician Paul-Henri Spaak.She spent most of her career in Italy, where she became a teenage star...
, Karl Malden
Karl Malden
Karl Malden was an American actor. In a career that spanned more than seven decades, he performed in such classic films as A Streetcar Named Desire, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, On the Waterfront and One-Eyed Jacks...
, Kevin McCarthy
Kevin McCarthy (actor)
Kevin McCarthy was an American stage, film, and television actor, who appeared in over two hundred television and film roles. For his role in the 1951 film version of Death of a Salesman, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and won a Golden Globe Award for New Star of...
, Michael Rennie
Michael Rennie
Michael Rennie was an English film, television, and stage actor, perhaps best known for his starring role as the space visitor Klaatu in the 1951 classic science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still. However, he appeared in over 50 other films since 1936, many with Jean Simmons and other...
, and Melvyn Douglas
Melvyn Douglas
Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg , better known as Melvyn Douglas, was an American actor.Coming to prominence in the 1930s as a suave leading man , Douglas later transitioned into more mature and fatherly roles as in his Academy Award-winning performances in Hud...
. It is directed by Richard Quine
Richard Quine
Richard Quine was an American stage, film, and radio actor and film director.Quine was born in Detroit. He made his Broadway debut in the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II musical Very Warm for May in 1939 and appeared in My Sister Eileen the following year...
.
Plot
The story takes place at the fictional St Gregory Hotel in New Orleans, owned by Warren Trent (Melvyn DouglasMelvyn Douglas
Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg , better known as Melvyn Douglas, was an American actor.Coming to prominence in the 1930s as a suave leading man , Douglas later transitioned into more mature and fatherly roles as in his Academy Award-winning performances in Hud...
).
The hotel is in financial trouble. Hotel manager Peter McDermott (Rod Taylor) involves himself in the overtures of two different buyers. He also takes a romantic interest in Jeanne Rochefort (Catherine Spaak
Catherine Spaak
-Biography:Spaak was born at Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine . She is the niece of Belgian politician Paul-Henri Spaak.She spent most of her career in Italy, where she became a teenage star...
), an upper-class French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
guest, and deals with a wide range of routine problems, including a faulty elevator.
Jeanne is the traveling companion of one of the buyers, Curtis O'Keefe (Kevin McCarthy
Kevin McCarthy (actor)
Kevin McCarthy was an American stage, film, and television actor, who appeared in over two hundred television and film roles. For his role in the 1951 film version of Death of a Salesman, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and won a Golden Globe Award for New Star of...
). He intends to renovate and "modernize" the hotel, with conveyor belt
Conveyor belt
A conveyor belt consists of two or more pulleys, with a continuous loop of material - the conveyor belt - that rotates about them. One or both of the pulleys are powered, moving the belt and the material on the belt forward. The powered pulley is called the drive pulley while the unpowered pulley...
s carrying luggage
Luggage
Baggage is any number of bags, cases and containers which hold a traveller's articles during transit.Luggage is more or less the same concept as "baggage", but is normally used in relation to the personal luggage of a specific person or persons Baggage is any number of bags, cases and containers...
automatically around the building like it were some sort of modern airport terminal, and even presenting the customer's bill on a conveyor belt.
Among the guests at the hotel are The Duke and Duchess of Lanbourne (Michael Rennie
Michael Rennie
Michael Rennie was an English film, television, and stage actor, perhaps best known for his starring role as the space visitor Klaatu in the 1951 classic science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still. However, he appeared in over 50 other films since 1936, many with Jean Simmons and other...
and Merle Oberon
Merle Oberon
Merle Oberon was an Indian-born British actress best known for her screen performances in The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Cowboy and the Lady . She began her film career in British films as Anne Boleyn in The Private Life of Henry VIII . She travelled to the United States to make films for Samuel...
), a wealthy couple hiding out after fleeing from a hit-and-run accident in their car. A hotel detective, Dupere (Richard Conte
Richard Conte
Richard Conte was an American actor. He appeared in numerous films from the 1940s through 1970s, including I'll Cry Tomorrow and The Godfather.-Life and career:...
), attempts to blackmail the Duke and Duchess.
Keycase (Karl Malden
Karl Malden
Karl Malden was an American actor. In a career that spanned more than seven decades, he performed in such classic films as A Streetcar Named Desire, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, On the Waterfront and One-Eyed Jacks...
), a professional thief, is working the hotel using a range of techniques and some female accomplices. He blithely talks himself out of one tough spot by grabbing an ordinary-looking attache
Attaché
Attaché is a French term in diplomacy referring to a person who is assigned to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency...
case, which belongs to the Duke and Duchess. He gets to a room, calms his pounding heart, and uses one of his key collection to open the case to see what it contains. The case is filled with cash. Counting himself lucky, Keycase heads for the elevator
Elevator
An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...
to leave.
Hotel owner Trent decides to reject the unscrupulous O'Keefe's offer and sell the St. Gregory to the man who will demolish it.
In the elevator, Keycase is joined by the Duke, and other guests. The elevator stops between floors as the emergency brakes begin to fail. McDermott and his assistant manager take the adjacent elevator to the same level and transfer passengers through the roof. The Duke and Keycase are the last two in the failing car. Keycase refuses to leave his briefcase, which contains the stolen money. The Duke is able to wrestle the case away and help Keycase out of the car, but right then the brakes completely fail, sending the Duke to his death.
The Duchess tells police she was responsible for the auto accident, hoping to save her late husband's reputation. She also absolves the blackmailing hotel detective of guilt. McDermott rounds up the remaining guests, including Jeanne, and buys drinks on the house as a final toast to the St. Gregory.
Cast
- Rod Taylor as McDermott
- Melvyn DouglasMelvyn DouglasMelvyn Edouard Hesselberg , better known as Melvyn Douglas, was an American actor.Coming to prominence in the 1930s as a suave leading man , Douglas later transitioned into more mature and fatherly roles as in his Academy Award-winning performances in Hud...
as Trent - Merle OberonMerle OberonMerle Oberon was an Indian-born British actress best known for her screen performances in The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Cowboy and the Lady . She began her film career in British films as Anne Boleyn in The Private Life of Henry VIII . She travelled to the United States to make films for Samuel...
as the Duchess - Michael RennieMichael RennieMichael Rennie was an English film, television, and stage actor, perhaps best known for his starring role as the space visitor Klaatu in the 1951 classic science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still. However, he appeared in over 50 other films since 1936, many with Jean Simmons and other...
as the Duke - Kevin McCarthyKevin McCarthy-Politicians:*Kevin McCarthy , United States Representative from California's 22nd congressional district*Kevin McCarthy , member of the Iowa House of Representatives...
as O'Keefe - Richard ConteRichard ConteRichard Conte was an American actor. He appeared in numerous films from the 1940s through 1970s, including I'll Cry Tomorrow and The Godfather.-Life and career:...
as Dupere - Catherine SpaakCatherine Spaak-Biography:Spaak was born at Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine . She is the niece of Belgian politician Paul-Henri Spaak.She spent most of her career in Italy, where she became a teenage star...
as Jeanne
Differences from the novel
In the Arthur Hailey novel, the hotel is saved from sale and demolition at the last moment. In the film, Trent tells Pete he is going to sell it to the developers to be demolished and there is a bittersweet ending at the hotel lounge they celebrate the demise of the St. Gregory. Additionally, the Christine Francis character is delegated to Carmen McRaeCarmen McRae
Carmen Mercedes McRae was an American jazz singer, composer, pianist, and actress. Considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century, it was her behind-the-beat phrasing and her ironic interpretations of song lyrics that made her memorable...
, who plays a lounge singer in the Delta Queen lounge of the hotel. Warren Trent does not have a female secretary in the film. The character of Jeanne Rochefort was created for the film, Dorothy "Dodo" Lash, who was the companion of Curtis O'Keefe in the novel, was merged with the character of Marsha Preyscott, and the character of Albert Wells, who turned out to be a buyer of the St. Gregory, was dropped.
Location filming
Two notable shots are actually filmed in New Orleans: the opening shot of the New Orleans International Airport main terminal building; and an open air shot of Peter McDermott and Jeanne at a French QuarterFrench Quarter
The French Quarter, also known as Vieux Carré, is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. When New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city was originally centered on the French Quarter, or the Vieux Carré as it was known then...
restaurant, Pat O'Briens. However, the other shots are obviously filmed on Warner's back lot, most especially the outside scene between the Duchess and House Detective Dupere (Richard Conte).
See also
- Hotel (novel)Hotel (novel)Hotel is a 1965 novel by Arthur Hailey. It is the story of an independent New Orleans hotel, the St. Gregory, and its management's struggle to regain profitability and avoid being assimilated into the O'Keefe chain of hotels. The St. Gregory is supposedly based on the Roosevelt Hotel, although the...
- Hotel (TV series)Hotel (TV series)Hotel is an American prime time drama series which aired on ABC from September 21, 1983 to May 5, 1988 in the timeslot following Dynasty....
- 1967 in film1967 in filmThe year 1967 in film involved some significant events. It is widely considered as one of the most ground-breaking years in film.-Events:* December 26 - The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour airs on British television....
- List of American films of 1967