Hotel Paradiso (1966) User Reviews (16)

Fun to watch.

[Boba_Fett1138 · 7/10 · 5 February 2012]

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

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The Difficulty of Adapting Georges Feydeau

[theowinthrop · 7/10 · 2 April 2007]

Farces are made in the dramas of all countries, but they are usually the most difficult things to push from one state to another. Language is the chief problem, but also there is the issue of what one country considers a farce as opposed to another. Britain's best known farce (that remains in repertoire) is Brandom Thomas's CHARLIE'S AUNT. It's main peg is the two act female impersonation act of the hero, Lord Fancourt Baberley, as the aunt of his college chum, with all the attending complications concerning two elderly suitors, his own romantic pursuit, and the arrival of the actual lady he is pretending to be. While England has sex farces (plenty of them), their best farce plays spoof the conventions. Michael Frayn's comedy NOISES OFF, about third rate actors putting on a fifth rate farce for far too long, is quite typical.

But the French stuck to sexual subjects - particularly the idea of illicit sex and assignations. And the master of this was Georges Feydeau, probably their most revivable dramatist of the "Belle Epoque" (1890 - 1914). When one thinks of a farce as one where people are running from one room to another, just missing each other by seconds, it is Feydeau that most people think about. It's like his signature.

However, like reading any foreign writer, that writer is best read in his or her native tongue. Feydeau is a witty writer, but his farces become mechanical marvels only in English translation. You need a top cast and director to overcome the loss of language.

In 1958-59 Alec Guinness appeared in a London stage production of HOTEL PARADISO, a Feydeau farce. It was quite a success on the West End (an American production at that time also starred Bert Lahr). But the film version was not made until 1966. It is a highly amusing film, but it lacks the verve needed to make it a totally successful farce on film.

The cast is good. Guinness is Benedict Boniface, who is an architect married to his wife Angelique (Peggy Mount). Ms Mount may be named Angelique, but she is no angel - she is bossy. Their neighbors are Henri and Marcelle Cot (Robert Morley and Gina Lolabrigida). He too is an architect, but is frequently consulted on building problems. He has been asked to check a hotel that may have pipe problems, or noises that could be a ghost. Lolabrigida is angry that Morley is again putting his work ahead of their marriage, but he insists he has no choice due to his court appointed duty. But Guinness intends to take advantage of his wife's temporary absence to visit an ailing relative to traipse off with Lolabrigida. In the meantime there are additional problems regarding a visiting attorney (Douglas Byng) and his four daughter, and Morley's nephew (Douglas Fowles - the assistant to Paul Eddington on YES MINISTER) and Guinness's maid (Anne Beach).

All the characters end up at the rather tacky HOTEL PARADISO, which is run by Akim Tamiroff with the assistance (?) of David Battley. Others in the hotel that night are a Turk, a prominent singer and her lover a British Duke, and a writer...actually two writers - the director of the film Peter Glanville plays Feydeau, a neighbor of the Boniface and Cot families, who is watching the antics, and deciding on what his next play is going to be like.

The performances are good, but they tend to be sluggish at too many points. And the translation to English from the French seems to leave out too many verbal jokes. The film as a whole is well mounted, and amusing. But it is minor Guinness, despite his having been successful in the stage production seven years earlier.

Delightful period piece.

[kristoffer-bjorkstrom · 5/10 · 2 January 2006]

I have seen some plays by Feydeau performed by amateurs. Feydeau was a very good writer. He was familiar with the lack of morals in the upper crust society, and he could make people laugh at it. He knew because he belonged there himself. It's recorded that he had one or two mistresses himself!

In this film adaption of one of his more famous plays, the costumes and set designs are very good. The period feeling is impressive. The acting is so-so. Guiness has the best part and does the best acting. Others try hard, but the results feel half-baked. I blame this on the direction, or more likely the lack thereof.

Fans of classic farce, screwball comedy and periodic portraits will be delighted. A couple of in-jokes related to Feydeau's works can be found which will please literature scholars.

dissing an entire genre?

[Strelnikoff · 21 August 2005]

For anyone to disparage the long history of the farce (as someone did in their review here) just boggles my mind. The farce has a long and rich history.

For that same someone also to slip in a comment about how they dislike the entire country and culture of France, well, that says it all--about them. No need for me to point out (but I will) their location is in Texas. Sheeeesh.

I saw this particular farce (which stars one of the greatest British actors of stage/screen, mind you) many years ago and it left a vivid enough impression, simply as a well-made comedy, that I would have no hesitation about renting it again.

Worrying about whether one is 'understanding the farce' --or resenting the insecurity you may feel if you suspect that you don't understand the format--has nothing to do with it.

Watch films you like--don't watch films that you dislike, and you will never need any further defense than this. Personal taste is yours to command. Don't worry about fitting in with other people, worry about yourself.

Wacky adaptation of a French play

[HotToastyRag · 6/10 · 24 April 2020]

In order to fully appreciate Hotel Paradiso, you're going to have to know it was based off a French play. If you didn't know that going in, you'd probably turn the movie off before the "weekend in the country" began. Now that you know it's based off a French play, you'll be expecting a wacky comedy of errors.

Within a block of houses in a Parisian town in the 1900s, there are quite a few couples having trouble. Gina Lollobrigida is married to Robert Morley, and she's upset that he always leaves her to go to work. Alec Guinness hates his wife, Peggy Mount, and he overhears Gina declaring she'll throw herself at the first man she comes across, just to get back at her husband. Through a series of fast-talking coincidences and awkward planning, Gina and Alec make plans to spend the night at the same hotel that Robert has been hired to inspect. Peggy is also staying at the hotel, to indulge in her secret double-life, and Gina's nephew is enjoying a rendezvous with a lowly maid. A houseguest Alec turned away is also seeking shelter at the hotel, so you can bet it's going to be a very busy evening.

Hotel Paradiso is a like-it-or-lump-it kind of movie. If you like these types of wacky sex comedies, you'll be wiping tears of laughter from your eyes. If you don't, you might not make it all the way through. To each his own, and while it wasn't my favorite comedy of the month, I can understand how much funnier it would have been to watch it unfold in a theater.

Slightly funny bedroom farce with multiple messes , entertainment and diversion

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 10 November 2022]

This is an attractive vaudeville in which playwright Monsieur Feydeau (director Peter Glenville himself) has writer's block, and he needs a new play. But he takes an opportunity to observe the upper class of 1900 Paris , such as timid Monsieur Boniface (Alec Guinness) living with a domineering wife, and attempting to carry on affair with Italian sexpot Marcelle (Gina Lollobrigida) , while silly , innocent husband Henry (Robert Morley) is in charge of other issues . Henri traces architectural anomalies , most ghost sounds are drains, and schemes a night at the Hotel Paradiso, but this hotel is the assignation spot of Marcelle and Boniface to practice their loving appointment , all at this "by the hour" hotel, and consummation of the affair is severely marred by a police raid commanded by a stiff-upper-lip Police Inspector (Leonard Rossiter) .The "inn" comedy of the year !. Georges Feydeau and his play is the "success fou" of the next season !. Make room for a riot!!!

Skittish cinema version of Feydeau's farce , based on the play "L'Hôtel du Libre Echange" by Maurice Desvallières and Georges Feydeau , stars Alec Guinness trying a love affaire with the next-door gorgeous skipping through the kind of role he was already performing with practised ease and rather better dialogue in the early fifties. Its origin is the stage adptation by director Peter Glenville himself , it fact ¨Feydeau's Hotel Paradiso¨ was one of his most long running commercial productions which ran on Broadway and in London starring Alec Guinness, Douglas Byng and Martita Hunt and in Broadway Byng's role was taken by Bert Lahr. It is an amusing and disconcerting mess among one wife, two husbands, a nephew, and a perky maid along with her lover , and all of them seen under Feydeau's eye. The funny scenes take a while to get going , but when it does , the ins and cuts of the different roles through hotel bedrooms are fun enough . Guinnes fans won't be disappointed , although isn't a top-rate production , but he's better in other comedy films as The captain's paradise , Man in the white suit , Horse's mouth, Lavender Hill Mob , or Ladykillers . Being finely accompanied by a sympathetic Gina Lollobrigida as the beautiful, but ignored wife , Robert Morley as her neglectful hubby , Peggy Mount , Dario Moreno , Robertson Hare , David Battley and watch out for scene-stealing Akim Tamiroff as a hotel manager and Leonard Rossiter as a police inspector.

The motion picture was professionally directed by Peter Glenville, though is has some flaws , gaps and being extremely theatrical. Peter was a talented actor , distinguished stage director, and filmmaker. In 1949 he took Rattigan's The Browning Version to Broadway and later went on to direct the writer's Separate Tables, which starred Eric Portman and Margaret Leighton. Later stage productions included The Prisoner with Alec Guinness and Romeo and Juliet with Olivia de Havilland. Peter directed some nice and successful films such as : The Comedians , Summer and smoke Me and the colonel , The prisoner and his big hit was the hitorial picture : Becket with Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole. Rating Hotel Paradiso (1966) : 5.5/10 . Acceptable and passable. The flick will appeal to Alec Guinness and Gina Lollobrigida fans.

A little farce in the hotel and neighborhood

[SimonJack · 7/10 · 10 April 2017]

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.

Fun and energetic!

[Bri22 · 8/10 · 14 May 1999]

Watch this movie to see Alec Guinness at his comedic best! The plot is somewhat contrived and does have its weak spots, but the stars really shine here. Guinness is at the top of his form here - his sly, sotto voce comments to the audience, his expressive face, and his manic capering show why he should be remembered for his comedy roles as well as his more serious roles. Robert Morley plays the role he's played a hundred times: a stuffed shirt of a character who bulldozes his way through the movie (but in a good way). Gina is lovely to look at, of course, and her excitable character is sympathetic enough. The last two-thirds of the movie are almost non-stop grins as the various characters encounter and "near-miss" each other in the Hotel Paradiso.

A Great Comic Romp

[verbusen · 9/10 · 3 October 2005]

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!

Superior filming of superior stage farce

[eschetic · 8/10 · 11 January 2005]

Georges Feydeau was the master of French farce. In 1957, British director Peter Glenville brought his London adaptation of one of Feydeau's best to Broadway's intimate Henry Miller's Theatre for 108 successful performances with an all star cast that included the great Bert Lahr and Angela Lansbury.

Nine years later, the same Peter Glenville brought his superb adaptation to the screen for MGM with Alec Guinness in the Bert Lahr role and Gina Lollorigida bringing her all too seldom seen comic timing (check out her wonderful 1961 boulevard comedy "Come September" with Rock Hudson and Walter Slezak) to the Angela Lansbury role. Even Broadway cast member Douglas Byng (as Martin, a barrister) was along for the fun.

Of COURSE the plotting is "strained" - that is virtually the definition of farce - but the laughs flow without reservation.

Americans don't often get to see good European style farce which relies on situations, intellect and language as much as physical comedy. When we DO get a great farce like "Arsenic and Old Lace" or Noises Off", it is usually devoid of all sexual content - as if sex (not dirt, but good clean sex with all the ironies and insecurities attendant) weren't among the greatest sources of farcical situations.

Glenville gives us Feydeau at his most elegant - which is to say unashamedly sexual (with would-be adulterous spouses, potential lovers and innocents in a waltz of slamming doors and crowded corridors at the titular hotel), at the same time keeping the proceedings intrinsically moral and (for those foolish enough to care) absolutely clean.

The Belle Epoche settings fairly sing with civilized delight, and the brilliant farceurs like Robert Morley and Derek Fowlds (later known for his third lead in the brilliantly observed "Yes, Minister" and "Yes, Prime Minister" TV series) join the leads in a collective tour de farce.

Watch for Glenville himself in the unbilled role of Feydeau, observing and "writing" the proceedings, but by all means watch. This is all a stage to film transfer should be. You'll have a lovely time and feel the better for it.

A delightful farce with a perfect cast, and a fine script, ably directed

[johnfadrian · 10/10 · 9 December 2003]

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.

Great fun!

[gnamel · 9/10 · 7 February 2002]

I never knew that Gina Lollobrigida and Alec Guinness had such knack for comedy. What a treat to see them in such a caper. This is a fast paced film with complex twists, interesting screenplay, endless surprises, good acting, and just great fun for the whole family. This is how comedies should be.

You can't dislike Feydeau

[bucksix · 9/10 · 24 November 2017]

I have been a fan of Feydeau farces for a long time. I have read many and seen quite a few produced. How I missed this movie for so long is a complete mystery to me. Whether she can act or not, Gina L is a pure delight. I thought she was exactly right in this role. This is the one of the few times I have seen Alec Guinness as this type of character. But he is always on top of it, whether as a ladies man or as a priest. This movie is a little slow getting off the ground, but stay with it. After the various characters are introduced it is pure Feydeau the rest of the way. As in his other works there is a lot of assignation planned, but no consummation. I would like to give a 10 rating but even though this is a fun romp, it it not quite excellent. Too bad I can't vote 9.5

Very, um, French

[Ripshin · 6 August 2005]

Yes, Fellow User, most of us are quite aware of the definition of "farce." The French are certainly known for their "farces," ahem, but they have never appealed to me - neither France, nor farce.

Certainly, the film displays great production values, and fine acting, but unless you truly love the genre, the interest level grinds to a complete halt by mid-point. Why it supposedly requires great intellect to comprehend the "farce," I'll never know. Add Tootie and Blair, and you have "The Facts of Life Goes to Paris." I'll take good, solid repartee between Hepburn and Tracy any old day. Silliness simply does not suffice.

fun screwball

[SnoopyStyle · 8/10 · 11 September 2022]

Parisian playwright Monsieur Feydeau has writer's block and observes his neighbors in Hotel Paradiso. Benedict Boniface (Alec Guinness) suffers under his domineering wife and is trying to have an affair with Marcelle who has clueless building-obsessed husband Henri Cotte. It's a cast of wacky characters with their chaotic relationships.

This is a fun screwball comedy led by the great Alec Guinness. I like all these wacky character. It's chaos but it's fun chaos. If I had a change, I would put the characters into a Keystone cop chase to end the movie. Benedict should definitely be chased by his wife. This is adapted from a French play. I don't know if it's been significantly altered although it does feel more British than French. That's probably due to the British actors.

bedroom farce with guinness, morley

[ksf-2 · 8/10 · 29 May 2023]

A period piece, kind of. Marcelle and henri cot (lollobrigida and morley) are a bickering couple. So she comes up with a plan to make henri jealous by having an affair with the neighbor boniface (guinness). But mrs. Boniface has plans of her own. And when their old friend martin comes for a nice, long, visit, everyone must figure out new plans. A bedroom farce. Starts rather slow, but it's well written. And who doesn't enjoy a bedroom farce? The no-tell motel they go to is falling apart. And haunted. One really funny scene where guinness throws out a broken chair, slams the door, saying "Out, Out, and Stay out!".... which is kind of from shakespeare. And he re-creates that same scene again ten years later in "murder by death", a hilarious film in 1976. It's really good! It's probably funnier if you've seen the more serious works of guinness and morley. Directed by peter glenville, who had also done becket and the comedians, both huge films. But also very serious films. This must have been a fun break, in between those other two heavier works.