Marrying the wrong sister has become a basic theme in Hollywood films. No, this isn't "Green Dolphin Street," where the actual wrong marriage took place. Rather, this is a silly, pretentious film of a wealthy executive becoming enamored with the youngest daughter of Walter Slezak in Italy. Slezak steals every scene he is in along with Paul Henried, of all people, who turns in a gem of a performance as a Polish count-sculptor who loves the oldest daughter.Slezak is perplexed because he strongly believes in the old European custom that his children marry by who is the oldest, and so on and so forth.Dean immediately concocts a plan to marry his executives to the remaining three. He finally realizes at film's end that he is meant for the eldest daughter.The ending where all four girls march out of church married leaves a confused Slezak as he incorrectly pairs them with their beaus.

Millionaire businessman Dean Martin (as Ray Hunter) buys a ritzy hotel in Rome, where he sings a few songs and attracts beautiful Italian women. The first is lady reporter Eva Bartok (as Maria Martelli), but Mr. Martin arouses her teenage sister Anna Maria Alberghetti (as Nina) much a-more. She proposes and he agrees, but they are told that family tradition dictates young Alberghetti's three older sisters must marry first. So, the plan is to get everyone hitched. "I have to marry four girls," says Martin. His pilot is around to help, but Dewey Martin (as Mike Clark) may want the same girl as his boss...This film opens with a sexy blonde, in bed, inviting us to see, "Dean Martin in Ten Thousand Bedrooms." Later, we later learn the elicited promiscuous thoughts are wrong - the title actually refers to Martin's character being in the hotel business. This was Martin's first film without former partner Jerry Lewis. Everyone expected the funny half of the comic team to do well, and Martin to fail. Of course, Martin had something Jerry did not have - a successful recording career. That, too, seemed in jeopardy with the advent of rock 'n' roll. Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" is heard herein, although not sung by Martin...Surprisingly, Martin did very well in the movies and exceptionally well on television. Not only did he survive Elvis Presley and the early rockers, Martin continued to sell millions of records throughout The Beatles' era. His career was in better shape than anyone thought, especially after this film. In "Ten Thousand Bedrooms", Martin seems awkward. It doesn't make sense, because he had a affable screen presence - maybe it was just the pressure of having to carry a film on his own. No matter, Martin honed his style - act like you just drank a martini and are looking forward to sex and a big plate of spaghetti.**** Ten Thousand Bedrooms (4/3/57) Richard Thorpe ~ Dean Martin, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Dewey Martin, Eva Bartok

Just watched this, Dean Martin's first movie without Jerry Lewis, on YouTube. He plays hotel magnate Ray Hunter who's buying a long popular Italian inn in Rome. While there, he meets the Martelli family of which the head is Papa Vittorio (Walter Slezak) who has four daughters of which the oldest is Maria (Eva Bartok) and the youngest is Nina (Anna Maria Alberghetti). For a while he seems interested in the former but when he meets sculptor Anton (Paul Henreid) and finds out about their relationship he allows himself to be charmed by the latter (who's just turned 18 or 19 depending on whose statement is right). Nina is also pursued by Mike Clark (Dewey Martin) who's a pilot for Hunter. I'll just say that while not much happens for the first 15 or 30 minutes, once the plot I mentioned kicks in, it becomes an intriguing premise to see how it all ends up. And Dean not only warbles some good romantic tunes, with one of them a duet with the also compellingly musically talented Ms. Alberghetti, he also gets a nice comic tune with Jules Munshin as his servant Arthur. Whatever laughs come gradually builds until the climatic scene with Slezak having to deal with all the potential son-in-laws. No great shakes, but as Dean's first film he has to carry on his own, not a bad one to start with. So on that note, Ten Thousand Bedrooms is worth a look. P.S. The gorgeous lady in the opening credits is played by one Monique van Vooren.

Ten Thousand Bedrooms has its place in movie history as Dean Martin's first solo effort without Jerry Lewis. It also nearly sunk his career. Good thing The Young Lions came immediately after this and Dino got deserved rave reviews for that one.To be fair MGM did give him a good supporting cast and apparently spared no expense in filming this on location in Rome. Ever since Roman Holiday, Rome was pretty popular with movie audiences. Three Coins in the Fountain and Seven Hills of Rome did pretty good box office in the 1950s. But this wasn't a Dean Martin role. I think MGM probably dusted off a property they had offered to Cary Grant and gave it to him. There was no real effort to exploit the unique personality that was Dean Martin.Nicholas Brodzky and Sammy Cahn wrote four songs for Dino to sing, none of them especially memorable. As if they were hedging their bets, they gave him a comedy number to do with Jules Munshin who plays his valet. Kind of like the material he used to do with Jerry Lewis at Paramount.According to the definitive biography of Dean Martin by Nick Tosches, Dino turned down the lead in The Pajama Game for this one. Well movie audiences did get to see John Raitt finally do one of his Broadway starring roles for the screen. But Dean would have been perfect opposite Doris Day. Not his best career move.