Part Grand Hotel and part disaster flick, Hotel features a large cast of characters who all are staying in a hotel and awaiting (albeit unknowingly) an accident involving the elevator. The main plot is whether or not hotel owner Melvyn Douglas is going to sell in order to save himself from financial ruin. Manager Rod Taylor is juggling negotiations of three different bidders, and also has to be all things to all guests, since he's a fixture there and the regular patrons expect good service.
As in all disaster flicks, there are a host of colorful characters who are given a brief introduction to make the audience care. Merle Oberon and Michael Rennie are wealthy and powerful, but they're hiding from taking responsibility of a recent car accident. Richard Conte, the house detective, finds out and blackmails them. There's a love triangle between Rod, Catherine Spaak, and Kevin McCarthy, as well as the typical "Helen Hayes" comic relief part played by Karl Malden. He sneaks into rooms and steals things. On the more serious side, Davis Roberts and Annazette Chase, are denied accommodations because Melvyn is racist and wants a whites-only hotel.
I'm probably making this sound very exciting and dramatic, but it's not very good. It definitely feels like a tv-movie, or a low-budget attempt to cash in on all the disaster movies of the 1970s (which, ironically, this film predated by a few years). You can try it out, but if you're not compelled to finish it, you can pop in The Towering Inferno instead and no one will blame you.
As in all disaster flicks, there are a host of colorful characters who are given a brief introduction to make the audience care. Merle Oberon and Michael Rennie are wealthy and powerful, but they're hiding from taking responsibility of a recent car accident. Richard Conte, the house detective, finds out and blackmails them. There's a love triangle between Rod, Catherine Spaak, and Kevin McCarthy, as well as the typical "Helen Hayes" comic relief part played by Karl Malden. He sneaks into rooms and steals things. On the more serious side, Davis Roberts and Annazette Chase, are denied accommodations because Melvyn is racist and wants a whites-only hotel.
I'm probably making this sound very exciting and dramatic, but it's not very good. It definitely feels like a tv-movie, or a low-budget attempt to cash in on all the disaster movies of the 1970s (which, ironically, this film predated by a few years). You can try it out, but if you're not compelled to finish it, you can pop in The Towering Inferno instead and no one will blame you.