tomsview Buried in the late 1960's this film would have to have been seen as a throwback even then. Compared to films such as "Easy Rider", "Woodstock" and "The Graduate" this one seemed less than cool.However I like the unselfconscious way it revelled in its rather familiar characters and situations, and I think Rod Taylor gave a perfect performance.The esteemed St Gregory Hotel in New Orleans is about to go bust. Its old-fashioned elegance is dying out along with its traditional clientele; takeovers are in the air. Owner Warren Trent (Melvyn Douglas) leaves the running of the hotel to his young Protégé Peter McDermott (Rod Taylor). But saving the old hotel isn't easy when he's faced with devious guests, a thief, a crooked house detective, and a buyer with an axe to grind as well as Warren Trent's outmoded social attitudes.Rod Taylor is suave, upright and self-confident as the hotel manager. His character projects worldliness despite the fact that he seems to have spent his entire life either inside the St Gregory or in his hideaway apartment in the French quarter – where he has a rather sedate affair (by late 60's standards) with enigmatic Jeanne Rochefort (Catherine Spaak), the mistress of hotel magnate Curtis O'Keefe (Kevin McCarthy) who is bidding for the hotel.I love other aspects of the film including the pan up of the beautifully rendered main title artwork, which sets the elegant hotel in New Orleans more so than the skimpy location photography. Johhny Keating's score captures the feeling of the passing glamour of the old St. Gregory although he couldn't help a touch of Mickey Mousing for Karl Malden's hammy performance as the key thief.Only a couple of sequences were shot on location; the rest of the exteriors were shot on an artificial looking backlot. The film could have used some long shots of New Orleans although dropping a convincing looking St Gregory into a wide shot of the city was a tricky job before CGI.However the interiors are sumptuous and the film really is a slick production. The presence of Melvyn Douglas, Merle Oberon and Michael Rennie give it extra clout.Unlike Arthur Hailey's novel, the movie stayed in my memory. It has no pretensions at classic status but it gets you in, and Rod Taylor adds a genuine touch of class – he was good in "The Birds", but he's better here.

bkoganbing Hotel is a film concerning a few days at the end of the life of one of those old fashioned hotels, the St. Gregory's in New Orleans. It's owner Melvyn Douglas is facing some financial problems and he's hired Rod Taylor as manager whose made some improvements and the place is beginning to turn around. But way too slowly to keep Douglas's creditors off his back. The story on which Hotel is based is from an Arthur Hailey novel who wrote Airport and inspired that series of films. The film bears some resemblance to Airport to be sure, but I also think it bears comparison to the Humphrey Bogart classic Deadline, USA about a newspaper going out of business with Bogart in the Taylor role and Ethel Barrymore in the one that Melvyn Douglas has here.Douglas and Taylor are not going down without a fight. What they don't want to do is sell out to Conrad Hilton like hotel magnate Kevin McCarthy who will turn the place antiseptic and it will lose its traditional charm. It's a problem with hotels, so many of even the finest rated old ones are being purchased by chains, a problem back then to be sure. So few independents are even operating today.McCarthy does have a secret weapon in the charming and voluptuous Catherine Spaak and her assignment is Taylor.There are a couple of other subplots working here. Titled couple Michael Rennie and Merle Oberon are involved in a hit and run accident after they've both had too much and they face a blackmailing house detective in Richard Conte. And the police are after a very clever thief who works the New Orleans hotels in Karl Malden. All these stories do connect as you will see.Director Richard Quine directed this film with an eye for style and elegance which the fictional St. Gregory is famous for. The cast is seasoned one of good professionals who give some professional performances. Hotel is a film of class and I think you'll like it.

williwaw Warner Bros cast Rod Taylor, a perfect leading man, in this film directed by Richard Quine who made those great Kim Novak films at Columbia -Strangers When We Meet, Pal Joey, Notorious Landlady-when Hotel features two legendary stars Melvyn Douglas and Merle Oberon, both given wonderfully rich parts to play. Also cast Richard Conte and Michael Rennie. This is a film where the action on the set was likely to be even better than when the cameras rolled. Kevin McCarthy is properly tough minded. Lovely Catherine Spaak has the nominal female lead. Merle Oberon one of the cinema's great all time beauties steals the movie. The real show stopper is Ms. Oberon then 60 but looking 35 and gorgeous to behold, and I recall Merle Oberon wore her own fantastic jewel collection in Hotel. While Oberon's peers like Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Ann Sothern, and Olivia De Havilland were starring in horror films to stay in the public eye, Merle Oberon who in her legendary career worked with Brando, Cooper, Wyler, Laughton, et al stayed above the fray and lived the live of a real Movie Queen.

Poseidon-3 This slick drama based on Arthur Hailey's novel has similarities to the later "Airport" in that various plot threads eventually converge at the climax. This film's climax isn't even a fraction as exciting as the bomb in "Airport", but the film has loads of style and a fair amount of interest to keep viewers watching. Taylor plays the general manager of the New Orleans hotel The St. Gregory (switched to San Francisco in the long-running TV series based on the novel.) His feats include fending off a takeover by McCarthy, trying to thwart sneaky thief Malden, appeasing crusty owner Douglas, figuring out what's going on with Rennie and Oberon, searching for house detective Conte and cavorting with Spaak. He's an appealing man, though, believe it or not with all this to do, he still seems a tad bland. McCarthy grabs a bit more attention in his role. His Method training for some reason led him to believe that his character should undress and play with his belly and twiddle his own chest hair during business meetings! The self-appointed sex symbol of the film, he finds 3 or 4 different ways throughout of having his shirt unbuttoned! Malden's role is nearly pantomime with little opportunity to speak. He skulks around the hotel with a sh*t-eating grin on his face while the world's most annoying music plays the same riff over and OVER and O-V-E-R! Douglas is a believable curmudgeon, stubbornly holding on to his ways. Rennie has almost nothing to do, his character being completely underdeveloped. Oberon, however, is a vision. Her still-lovely face is framed in all sorts of elaborate hairstyles and Edith Head hats. Each time she appears, she's in another jaw-dropping Head concoction. Unfortunately, many of her scenes are chopped down to the bare bones and she's hardly given time to register before it's on to the next episode. She manages to give a performance despite nearly all the attention going to her clothes. Conte appears in some of her best scenes as a detective trying to extort her secret. Spaak gives new meaning to the term "decorative". Her character barely does anything but lie around in a series of trendy outfits and ornate hairdo's whispering lines in a French accent in which wrong syllables are emphasized. Even at 22, she's filmed in a soft focus that would make Lucille Ball in "Mame" jealous. The film has beautiful sets and is plush look to it. Despite this, there's really nothing special about it which explains why it's become overshadowed to almost the point of anonymity.