Hotel Paradiso

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.

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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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.

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.

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.