Propaganda plays a key role in modern warfare, so between 1939 and 1945 the British cinema made an important contribution towards our war effort. Although "Hotel Reserve" is set during the pre-war period, it can nevertheless be regarded as a propaganda film as it is a spy thriller in which the Nazis are the villains and the good guys, apart from the French intelligence services, are Austrian and German anti-Nazi émigrés.
In the summer of 1938 Peter Vadassy, a young Austrian medical student studying in France, is on holiday at the Hotel Reserve in the south of France. Being a keen photographer, he takes a number of photographs and then takes the negatives to the local pharmacy to have them developed. When he tries to collect the prints, however, he is arrested by French intelligence. It turns out that some of the photographs are of the French naval base at Toulon. Michel Beguin, the intelligence officer who interrogates Peter, realises that he is not a spy, but nevertheless sends him back to the hotel with instructions to find the real culprit, under threat of expulsion from France. This would mean Peter's having to abandon his medical studies and, as he is opposed to the Nazi regime, has no desire to return to Austria. (Contrary to what is argued in the "goofs" section, the year must be 1938, not 1937).
As others have pointed out, the plot of "Hotel Reserve"- an innocent man caught up in international espionage- could be that of an Alfred Hitchcock film. It was one he used in, among others, the two versions of "The Man who Knew Too Much" and "North by North-West". (James Mason, who appears as Peter here, also appeared in "North by North-West", his only collaboration with Hitchcock, although in that case as the film's villain rather than its hero). By 1944, however, Hitch had left Britain for Hollywood, so was not available. The film was both directed and produced by a trio: Lance Comfort, Mutz Greenbaum (aka Max Greene) and Victor Hanbury.
It is interesting to speculate what the film might have looked like had Hitchcock directed it. There would probably have been a more prominent leading role for Peter's love-interest Mary, who would doubtless have been played by a blonde. Hitch would also probably have maintained a greater level of suspense throughout; in the film as it exists the tension tends to slacken in the middle, although there is a very tense (and very Hitchcockian) final scene involving a rooftop cliff-hanger. This is a decent, but not outstanding, spy thriller, and mason made many better films in his long and distinguished career, but in 1944 it was doubtless appreciated. 6/10.
