Paradiso, hôtel du libre échange

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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