Hotel (1967)

I've read The novel 15 years ago. I've read it again a week ago. Both times I was amazed by the descriptions, the crises, the characters, the internal dialog, the struggle, and the richness of each character. Unfortunately, I've watched the movie only an hour ago, and I wish I didn't. Everything is superficial. I consider squeezing the wonderful novel into two hours, without preserving the spirit of the novel or its characters is a very bad job. I understand that canceling an entire character could happen because of the time. However, canceling key characters, and wasting the time instead with unnecessary scenes, that what I cannot understand. Arthur Hailey made me live and feel the back stage of a hotel... the crises that could happen in hotels and how to handle them efficiently without effecting the atmosphere around the gussets. I've felt nothing when I was watching the movie. Not even one character was written as it should be. The ending is different, the music is annoying. The ingenuity and the patience of Keycase techniques were demolished into nothing. The professionalism of Peter's work, his caring about the hotel, his fear of losing his job, his fear of his past, all that wasn't in the movie. Warrant's feeling of the slow death of his beloved hotel wasn't in the movie. The loving, caring, generous character of Kristine was canceled. Walt's character, The KEY-PIECE of the puzzle was canceled. Then what was left? The screen play writer left and canceled all that for what? For writing scenes with Jazz music? with a Jazz singer? Were that important? What I felt is this: the movie is an ugly metamorphoses of the novel.

From 1967, "Hotel" is based on the book by Arthur Hailey, who wrote the original "Airport" and more importantly, "Zero Hour," the inspiration for "Airplane!" "Hotel" concerns the last day of the elegant St. Gregory Hotel in New Orleans. Some years later, Hailey's work would be credited for several episodes on the TV series "Hotel," also about the St. Gregory, this time in San Francisco.The film boasts a top cast, starring Rod Taylor, Melvyn Douglas, Merle Oberon, Karl Malden, Kevin McCarthy, Richard Conte, Camilla Sparv, Carmen McRae, and Michael Rennie. Each character deals with a life-changing moment: the manager, McDermott (Taylor) and the owner Trent (Douglas) face the end of an era, while McDermott falls for the girlfriend (Sparv) of a man with a chain of hotels who wants the St. Gregory (McCarthy); Karl Malden is a thief working the hotel; Oberon and Rennie fled the scene of an auto accident and Oberon now wants the telltale car removed by Conte. Carmen McRae plays the lounge singer."Hotel" is entertaining and the performances are decent, with the possible exception of Camilla Sparv, who in the '60s was touted as a great beauty and is treated as such in the film. She is pretty boring, and as far as I'm concerned, can't hold a candle to the stunning Oberon. Fifty-six at the time of the film's release, Oberon was one of the first actresses to address aging in films and was quite open about efforts to keep her looks. She was successful. Rennie as her husband is very handsome, though he doesn't have a lot to do.Entertaining.

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.

The late Arthur Hailey was not a great writer, but he was a great storyteller, which made up for it. And that's evident in the films of his books, as well. The original "Airport" is probably the best known, but "Hotel," which later became a hit TV series in the 1980s, is a good, overlooked adaptation as well. One can easily dismiss it as colorful, all-star glitz and gloss, but one is fascinated by it as well.As directed by Richard Quine, written and produced by Wendell Mayes, and costumed by the legendary Edith Head, it has atmosphere to spare, even if most of that atmosphere is courtesy of the Warner back lot. The story is slight and somewhat diffuse, but the atmosphere and cast, especially Rod Taylor, Melvyn Douglas, Kevin McCarthy, Karl Malden (In a role with almost no dialog!), and the ageless Merle Oberon, keep you riveted every step of the way. And, as with "Airport," there's the usual crisis element, in this case an elevator crash sequence that's suspsnsefully staged.One complaint, though: Johnny Keating's music, while nice, is often loud and intrusive. Background music is supposed to be just that, BACKGROUND music. If I wanted to hear the score that badly, I would have bought the soundtrack album.