I fondly recall my first long distance family vacation in sunny Mexico around November 1974. I was truly taken in my the awe and majestic grandeur of the tropical and mountainous seaside coastline. Among st the beauty I entered the luxurious grounds of the Camino Real Hotel. I felt like the character Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz seeing the Emerald City for the first time. Everything about this Hotel was first class from their nightclubs, ocean view rooms facing the turquoise waters of the Pacific ocean and the grand centerpiece the swimming pool with a waterfall at one side and a bar recessed in the pool at the other end with bar stools in the water. If that wasn't enough all the woman there were absolutely gorgeous. With in one hour I was invited to play volleyball with these beauties. At one point the ball rolled away and ended up in the Pacific Ocean. I ran to get the ball and paused for a moment as I knelt down into the salty surf. The girls ask whats wrong? I said I was making history entering the Pacific ocean for the first time. Nothing like a grand hotel to make you forget about your daily drab lifestyle. Arthur Hailey's novel Hotel puts you right inside the main entrance of the St. Gregory's Hotel in the adult playground called the "Big Easy" New Orleans, Louisiana. Our Story centers around the Hotel's manager Ian Peter McDermott (Rod Taylor) who overseas the daily operations of the lavish hotel. McDermott is employed under his out of touch, racial, elderly owner Mr. Trent (Melvyn Douglas). Our first prospective buyer is a Mr. Joe Laswell played by Ken Lynch. Lynch plays the quintessential New York business tycoon along with his tough sounding raspy voice waiting for a fair price from the elderly Mr. Trent. Most of his scene are via the telephone. Buyer number two is the energetic confident Curtis O'Keefe played by (Kevin McCarthy) who has ideas of modernizing the lavish hotel. O'Keefe has his french mistress Jeanne (Catherine Spaak) along side. Jeanne shows an interest in McDermott and an affair begins to blossom between the two. Meanwhile there's a thief running through the hotel stealing, "cash only" from room to room played by Karl Malden. If that wasn't enough, a black couple enter the hotel while McDermott is away with Jeanne enjoying the lunch and his hide-away apartment. Because of the McDermott's absence being detained by O'keefe's mistress, The concierge Bailey played by Roy Roberts takes it upon himself to restrict entrance for the smartly dressed black couple from Phildelphia. Bailey rejects the colored couple claiming the hotel never got their reservation, but is willing to book them in another hotel. Roberts reprises his role of the restrictive hotel clerk in an earlier movie Gentlemen's Agreement snubbing Gregory Peck as being of the Jewish faith. Another story line intertwined with the hotel is the Duke) Michael Renny) and Duchess (Merle Oberon) of Lanbourne who are entertaining at the hotel but earlier were involved in a hit and run accident killing a youth. One of the headlight rims was left on the scene and missing from their exposed Jaguar which currently is parked in the hotel parking garage noticed by house detective Dupere (Richard Conte). Dupere sees dollar signs as he confronts the Royal couple reverting to blackmail. The elegance and charm of the old hotel is magnificently filmed along with the well attired players in our movie. Rod Taylor was well tailored but I felt he could of been a more assertive character. A little stronger than just offering drinks on the house. Melvyn Douglas was very believable as the Trent character which he carried off as the old racial order. Kevin McCarthy's O'Keefe character shows an energy and confidence that holds the audiences attention. A different vehicle for actor Karl Malden's part. Less dialogue and more in the way of the physical timing. Malden the trespasser shows a grace as if you are stealing the items right along with him. At times I felt myself rooting for him instead of going with my conscience. Just a great way to "Check In" for a couple of hours at the Saint Gregory's Hotel where a reservation is not required. You might check in, but your memories of this film will never leave.

This movie has a stellar cast and lavish hotel for a setting. Rod Taylor, as Peter McDermott, hotel manager, and Melvyn Douglas as Mr. Warren Trent, hotel owner, are the most interesting characters in the movie. New money hotel tycoon, played by Kevin McCarthy as Curtis O'Keefe, tries to take over a venerable hotel called the St. Gregory. Into this environment, we find a key thief, Karl Malden, swindler, Richard Conte, and a corrupt aristocratic couple, Michael Rennie and Merle Oberon. The opening credits are creatively designed but lead to false expectations as to the quality of the production. Edith Head, the legendary costume designer, once again makes her mark with her stunning wardrobes on female actors, Catherine Spaak and Merle Oberon. Carmen McRae appears as a night club singer and the street scenes and jazz music are very fitting for New Orleans. McCarthy is badly miscast and seems worlds away from his patented roles in b-movies of the 1950's. Douglas, in his limited role, represents the old money world of a hospitality industry that no longer exists: elegant on the outside but full of vice and inefficiency. Trent dislikes O'Keefe and his profits-first mentality, that would see his hotel stripped of its beauty and tradition. As hotel manager, Taylor is able to keep the St. Gregory from sliding into bankruptcy by smart public relations and his personal rapport with the staff. Taylor is the rugged, well- groomed guy, a smart operator with a heart, a role that suits him to a tee. He also keeps Douglas in line, almost like a dutiful son to an elderly father. The movie has a certain style, impressive setting and cast but there is no coherence in the meandering storyline with several subplots.

I've read The novel 15 years ago. I've read it again a week ago. Both times I was amazed by the descriptions, the crises, the characters, the internal dialog, the struggle, and the richness of each character. Unfortunately, I've watched the movie only an hour ago, and I wish I didn't. Everything is superficial. I consider squeezing the wonderful novel into two hours, without preserving the spirit of the novel or its characters is a very bad job. I understand that canceling an entire character could happen because of the time. However, canceling key characters, and wasting the time instead with unnecessary scenes, that what I cannot understand. Arthur Hailey made me live and feel the back stage of a hotel... the crises that could happen in hotels and how to handle them efficiently without effecting the atmosphere around the gussets. I've felt nothing when I was watching the movie. Not even one character was written as it should be. The ending is different, the music is annoying. The ingenuity and the patience of Keycase techniques were demolished into nothing. The professionalism of Peter's work, his caring about the hotel, his fear of losing his job, his fear of his past, all that wasn't in the movie. Warrant's feeling of the slow death of his beloved hotel wasn't in the movie. The loving, caring, generous character of Kristine was canceled. Walt's character, The KEY-PIECE of the puzzle was canceled. Then what was left? The screen play writer left and canceled all that for what? For writing scenes with Jazz music? with a Jazz singer? Were that important? What I felt is this: the movie is an ugly metamorphoses of the novel.

From 1967, "Hotel" is based on the book by Arthur Hailey, who wrote the original "Airport" and more importantly, "Zero Hour," the inspiration for "Airplane!" "Hotel" concerns the last day of the elegant St. Gregory Hotel in New Orleans. Some years later, Hailey's work would be credited for several episodes on the TV series "Hotel," also about the St. Gregory, this time in San Francisco.The film boasts a top cast, starring Rod Taylor, Melvyn Douglas, Merle Oberon, Karl Malden, Kevin McCarthy, Richard Conte, Camilla Sparv, Carmen McRae, and Michael Rennie. Each character deals with a life-changing moment: the manager, McDermott (Taylor) and the owner Trent (Douglas) face the end of an era, while McDermott falls for the girlfriend (Sparv) of a man with a chain of hotels who wants the St. Gregory (McCarthy); Karl Malden is a thief working the hotel; Oberon and Rennie fled the scene of an auto accident and Oberon now wants the telltale car removed by Conte. Carmen McRae plays the lounge singer."Hotel" is entertaining and the performances are decent, with the possible exception of Camilla Sparv, who in the '60s was touted as a great beauty and is treated as such in the film. She is pretty boring, and as far as I'm concerned, can't hold a candle to the stunning Oberon. Fifty-six at the time of the film's release, Oberon was one of the first actresses to address aging in films and was quite open about efforts to keep her looks. She was successful. Rennie as her husband is very handsome, though he doesn't have a lot to do.Entertaining.