Hotel Imperial is a 1927 American silent

Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

 film directed by Mauritz Stiller

Mauritz Stiller

Mauritz Stiller was a Finnish-Swedish actor, screenwriter and silent film director, who was mostly active in Sweden.-Life:...

, set in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and starring Pola Negri

Pola Negri

Pola Negri was a Polish stage and film actress who achieved worldwide fame for her tragedienne and femme fatale roles from the 1910s through the 1940s during the Golden Era of Hollywood film. She was the first European film star to be invited to Hollywood, and became a great American star. She...

 as a hotel chambermaid. It is based on the 1917 Hungarian play of the same name by Lajos Bíró

Lajos Biró

Lajos Bíró was a Hungarian novelist, playwright, and screenwriter who wrote many films from the early 1920s through the late 1940s. He was born in Nagyvárad, Austria-Hungary and eventually moved to the United Kingdom where he worked as a scenario chief for London Film Productions run by...

.

Cast

• Pola Negri as Anna Sedlak
• James Hall
  James Hall (actor)
  James Hall was an American film actor. Born James E. Brown in Dallas, Texas, Hall began his film career during the silent film era. He made his sound film debut in the 1929 film The Canary Murder Case, opposite William Powell and Louise Brooks. In 1930, Hall co-starred in Howard Hughes' epic film...
  
   as Lieutenant Paul Almasy
• George Siegmann
  George Siegmann
  George Siegmann was an American actor in the silent film era. His more notable roles include Silas Lynch in Griffith's Birth of A Nation , the guard in the 1927 film The Cat and the Canary, Porthos in The Three Musketeers , Bill Sikes in Oliver Twist , and Dr...
  
   as General Juschkiewitsch
• Max Davidson
  Max Davidson
  Max Davidson was a German film actor known for his comedic Jewish persona during the silent film era. With a career spanning over thirty years, Davidson appeared in over 180 films.-Career:...
  
   as Elias Butterman
• Michael Vavitch as Tabakowitsch
• Otto Fries
  Otto Fries
  Otto Fries was an American film actor. He appeared in 129 films between 1920 and 1938.-Career:Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Fries became a dapper-looking supporting comic with a varied background in medicine shows and vaudeville. He easily transitioned to film in the early 1910s...
  
   as Anton Klinak
• Nicholas Soussanin as Baron Fredrikson
• Golden Wadhams as Major General Sultanov

Other films based on the Bíró play

A Hungarian silent film was released in 1918. In 1936, a trouble-plagued Hollywood production began, with Marlene Dietrich

Marlene Dietrich

Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...

 and Charles Boyer

Charles Boyer

Charles Boyer was a French actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found success in movies during the 1930s. His memorable performances were among the era's most highly praised romantic dramas,...

 in the lead roles, but Dietrich clashed repeatedly with director Henry Hathaway

Henry Hathaway

Henry Hathaway was an American film director and producer. He is best known as a director of Westerns, especially starring John Wayne.-Background:...

. Eventually, she dropped out. Filming later resumed with Margaret Sullavan

Margaret Sullavan

Margaret Brooke Sullavan was an American stage and film actress. Sullavan started her career on the stage in 1929. In 1933 she caught the attention of movie director John M. Stahl and had her debut on the screen that same year in Only Yesterday...

, but she broke her arm, necessitating yet another cast change. Hotel Imperial was finally released in 1939 with Isa Miranda

Isa Miranda

Isa Miranda was an Italian actress with an international film career.A native of Bergamo, Isa Miranda worked as a typist whilst attending the drama academy in Milan and training as a stage actress. She went on to play bit parts in Italian films in Rome...

 and Ray Milland

Ray Milland

Ray Milland was a Welsh actor and director. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985, and he is best remembered for his Academy Award–winning portrayal of an alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend , a sophisticated leading man opposite a corrupt John Wayne in Reap the Wild Wind , the murder-plotting...

. Five Graves to Cairo

Five Graves to Cairo

Five Graves to Cairo is a 1943 World War II film by Billy Wilder, starring Franchot Tone and Anne Baxter. It is one of a number of films based on Lajos Biró's play Színmü négy felvonásban, including Hotel Imperial .-Plot:...

(1943) moved the setting ahead to World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and featured Franchot Tone

Franchot Tone

Franchot Tone was an American stage, film, and television actor, star of Mutiny on the Bounty and many other films through the 1960s...

 and Ann Baxter.