Derek Fowlds, who played Maxim, recalled how one day on set, he told Gina Lollobrigida she had "the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen." She simply looked him up and down and walked off and never spoke to him again. Alec Guinness also disliked Ms. Lollobrigida, and the two rarely, if ever, spoke.
The film allowed Alec Guinness to reprise the role he had played in the London West End theatre production of Hotel Paradiso, which opened at the Winter Garden Theatre, Drury Lane, London. on 2 May 1956. Guinness played alongside Martita Hunt (Angelique), Irene Worth (Marcelle), Frank Pettingell (Cot), Kenneth Williams (Maxime) and Billie Whitelaw (Victoire). Duggie Byng also reprised his part from the stage play.
Director Peter Glenville first adapted the 1894 French play, L'hôtel du libre échange, in 1956, with a stage version, titled Hotel Paradiso, which debuted in London, England, with Sir Alec Guinness and Irene Worth in starring roles. In 1957, Glenville directed another production of the play, starring Bert Lahr and Angela Lansbury, at Henry Miller's Theatre in New York City.
Paradiso, hôtel du libre échange (1966) was said to be the first of a recently negotiated four-picture deal between Peter Glenville and MGM. Glenville went on to direct one more film, Les comédiens (1967), which opened the following year.
Location shooting took place at a privately owned villa in Paris's Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood, and interiors were filmed at Studios de Saint-Maurice in the Saint-Maurice commune. An article noted that Studios de Saint-Maurice was the oldest film studio in Paris "and the only one equipped for back projection."
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