MartinHafer I read through the review of [email protected] and they were absolutely right. This film, while watchable, could have been a lot better in the hands of a master director. They suggested that Hitchcock could have done a much better job, as essentially the same sort of material had been done better earlier with THE 39 STEPS or THE LADY VANISHES. There just isn't that much suspense in HOTEL RESERVE--even though it is meant to be a suspense film. It's a shame, too, as the film has a few very good actors (James Mason and especially the terrific performance by a sinister Herbert Lom).The film begins with an interesting plot idea. It's 1938 (just before WWII) and James Mason takes his film to be developed and he's arrested when he goes to pick it up later. It seems that in addition to his photos of lizards (!), the first few photos on the roll of film were of secret naval installation! Mason must have accidentally had his camera switched with a resident at the hotel where he resides. It's obvious to anyone with half a brain he is not a spy--after all, what spy would take their film to be developed at a local shop?! Here's an odd twist. They decide to let Mason go BUT insist that he goes back to the hotel and try to look around to find out whose camera got switched with his. I assume the police in France can legally search without a warrant but maybe they can't and it's a great way to get around this. Whatever the case, Mason tries to eliminate the guests one by one from being suspects until he is able to uncover the Nazi spy. However, in the conclusion which looks like it's right from THE 39 STEPS, the ending just sort of fizzles and Mason and France are spared--at least until June 1940.Overall, a decent time-passer but not all that much more. Too bad, as I usually like British movies from this time period and this one should have been better.

blanche-2 James Mason is a guest at the "Hotel Reserve," and runs into some problems in this 1944 film. He plays a young man, Vadassy, whose camera is used to photograph a military installation, which is the crime of espionage. Since the camera number on his declarations form doesn't match the camera's, the officials know the camera was switched. They want Vadassay to find the spy in the hotel. The suspects are a honeymooning couple (Herbert Lom and Patricia Medina), a man using an alias (Frederick Valk), an attractive young woman (Mary Skelton), a major (Anthony Shaw), an older couple, several others.I liked this film a little better than some others on the board, though it does not have the suspense or urgency of a Hitchcock film. It does have an overpowering score, one of the most dramatic I've ever heard by Lennox Berkeley, interesting photography by Mutz Greenbaum (who was one of the directors as Max Greene), and it's based on a story by Eric Ambler, a fine suspense writer. What it also had going for it was a very European setting and sensibility, very fitting for the plot.James Mason is very young and handsome here, and Herbert Lom is nearly unrecognizable, he's so young. Mason is very good but the depth of his abilities was as yet untapped. The rest of the cast is good.Yes, Hitchcock would have gone to town on this one. Still, "Hotel Reserve" has its good points in storyline and visuals. And that music - intrusive but good.

Neil Doyle JAMES MASON finds himself in a very Alfred Hitchcock situation in HOTEL RESERVE, that of an innocent man suspected of being a spy and having to prove his innocence by cooperating with the authorities to nab the real espionage agent. Sound familiar? Hitchcock used the same sort of innocent man frame-up in many films, most notably NORTH BY NORTHWEST.But what's missing here, as others have commented, is that Hitch's expert touch is missing from the direction. The plot even has an exciting ending where hero and villain are atop a tall building and we know which one is going to meet his demise--but it's rather well done, except that Hitchcock would have thrown in some added touches for an even tighter bit of suspense.Mason is very good in the leading role as the man caught in what appears to be a trap, while staying at the Hotel Reserve, where he must survey all the other guests to determine which one may have gotten their hands on his camera by mistake. The plot never becomes too overburdened with subplots (as some of these thrillers do), so it's all told in a brief hour and nineteen minutes.HERBERT LOM is effectively cast as the hot-headed villain, with PATRICIA MEDINA not having much to do as his docile wife, and LUCIE MANNHEIM makes almost no impression at all as Mason's love interest, providing little more than a pretty face and a blank stare.The improbable entrapment of the killer by police is a minor quibble, as is his method of temporary escape--but other than that, it's an acceptable spy thriller.Summing up: Taut and tense with occasional bits of humor, it establishes why James Mason became a favorite with British and American audiences.

reve-2 A young James Mason does a fine job in this film. The story is set a few years before the start of WW II. Mason is a guest at a quiet resort hotel in France. His camera is accidentally used by a German spy who has an identical one. When Mason takes a roll of film to be developed, the roll contains several pictures of top secret French aircraft and facilities. The police question Mason and are able to determine that he is innocent in the matter. But, they use the charges against him as leverage to get him to assist them in finding out which of the other hotel guests is the spy. How he succeeds makes for a most interesting and tension filled story.