Hotel Paradiso (1966)

Would-be Romeo Benedict Boniface (Alec Guinness) talks luscious neighbor, Marcelle Cot (Gina Lollobrigida), into having a tryst with him to get revenge with her husband. Henry Cot goes away many nights on business - really. The infidelity of Benedict and Marcelle is never consummated, so to speak. The events that follow at the Hotel Paradisio see to that.Robert Morley plays Henri Cot and Peggy Mount plays Angelique Boniface, as the innocent spouses of the two would-be adulterers. But others add to the frolicking fun in this farce. Ann Beach is particularly good as Victoire, the maid to the Bonifaces, and Duggie Byng is very good as Monsieur Martin. The movie isn't filled with clever dialog, nor does it have much slapstick. Mostly, the humor comes from the plot that has people running into one another unexpectedly. Guinness is the funniest as the choreographer of hide and seek, dodge and dart. It's a funny film of cat and mouse, hide and seek, and peekaboo. Unfortunately, these seem to come in spurts so there isn't a sense of running humor to the film. This is a light farce that has some very funny moments in the hotel and later. Several of the characters have been released after being taken to jail in a police raid of the hotel. The film is filled with innuendo, and has a couple of risqué scenes of overweight women in a floor show and in hotel rooms. "Hotel Paradisio" should be a safe film for mature teens. The ending is a hoot and accounts for the character of Georges Feydeau (played by Peter Glenville) whom the miscreants seem to bump into so frequently. Glenville directed the film. The real Feydeau wrote the 1894 play that is the basis for this movie.

It's definitely true that this type of comedy probably still works out better in the theaters, with a live audience but still, this farce works out as an enjoyable and fun one.Thing that I liked about this movie was that it was being perfectly silly. It really wasn't afraid to truly go over-the-top at times, with its characters and situations. Some of the comedy makes absolutely no sense in the context of the story but that actually made it all the more hilarious to watch. Yes, this truly is a movie that made me laugh a couple of times and therefore I can also do nothing else but to consider this movie a good and a successful one, at what it was trying to achieve.You could definitely still complain about the story itself though. Of course its being quite simplistic but what is all the worst is that you are supposed to root for a man and woman who are cheating on their wife and husband. It felt a bit weird to me, no matter how obnoxious and uptight the wife and husband of the two were.But still, this obviously isn't a movie you should take very seriously or think too much about. You should simply enjoy it for what is is and you should definitely be able to do so, thanks to its great comical situations and actors involved.The acting is definitely really stagy-like but this obvious suits the genre and you will start to feel accustomed to it, after a few minutes in already. And Alec Guinness, Gina Lollobrigida, Robert Morley and all of the others really succeed in making their characters work out as greatly comical ones, who get themselves more and more into trouble, no matter how hard they try to get out of it.This is very typical for a farce of course. It begins with a simple situation and setup but slowly and steadily things start to go from bad to worse for the characters, when more and more different characters show up, in the hotel Paradiso. The comedy even turns really slapstick at times which was definitely silly but still fun to watch at the same time.It all made me laugh, so this movie definitely served its purpose well enough for me, though I can still recognize it as a not very great movie. 7/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

I just finished watching this off of TCM Middle East, and boy do I feel good! This started out slow paced like most Guinness comedies do, but it was all worth the wait. It all came together extremely nicely and I thought it was almost perfect. The extra charms are of the 1900 era settings provided, truly an age of enlightened innocence with all the modern conveniences coming into play. Gina is just sooo hot and really funny, and Alec is flawless in his role, plus there is an Akim Tamiroff role who I really dig (Alphaville among other great character roles). I honestly laughed out loud with delight the way it all came together especially the time Morley tried to barge in the room with his wife and neighbor on the other side desperately holding the door back. Yeah it's heavy on slapstick but hey, I never hear people hating Chaplin for that! Very entertaining, especially if you like a nice setup to a great joke. I'm feeling very good now, thanks all involved in this film!

While viewing an amply proportioned la Belle Epoc French "strip tease" artieste who performs over her audience's heads while on a trapeze, Mme. Cote notes that, according to the programme: "I says here 'she is the mother of three children and her husband is a professor at the Sorbonne.'"Such delightfully histerical lines are just the beginning of the fun.I first saw this during my college days when I was a projectionist at the local movie house in Rexburg, Idaho. I dispaired of ever seeing it again. When I finally found it on VHS I was in (not on) ecstasy.