Fun And Games At Hotel Imperial

Radio Record, Volume XIII, Issue 11, 21 August 1939, Page 16

Fun And Games At Hotel Imperial

["Hotel Imperial.’ Paramount. Directed by Robert Flavey. Starring Isa Miranda, Ray Milland. Now showing in New Zealand.]

What We Say

"HOTEL IMPERIAL" may : owe a little to ‘‘Knight Without Armour,’? Ray Mil-

land something to Robert Donat, and Isa Miranda more

than a little to Marlene Dictrich. But ‘‘Knight Without Arm-

our’? has been gone these several years, and it is uncharitable to deduce that Paramount, who made ‘‘Hotel Imperial,’? have followed the Hollywood custom of copying a vogue. ‘*Hotel Imperial’’ is exciting stuff. It is war-time, and the story is set in a town in Galicia which ig captured and recaptured several times by the Austrians and Russians. So frequently that the Hotel Imperial has conveniently interchangeable flags and menus. To the hotel comes Isa Miranda, in search of the reason for her sister’s suicide. To the hotel also comes a dashing young Austrian officer (Ray Milland) fleeing for his life from the Russians (it’s the Russians’ turn to take the town).

When a picturesque Cossack regiment, a charminglyfatuous Russian general, and a devil-may-care spy . also arrive at the Hotel Imperial, the stage is set for action, and action there is-shoot-ings, bombardments, rescues. Isa Miranda is an interesting new star, and the only thing I wish she hadn’t done was sing ‘‘Nitchevo’’? in a husky, hard contralto. Ray Milland is well up to his usual standard, to coin a phrase, and J. Carroll Naish is very good as the part-playing Spy. But a word of genuine commendation for our old friend Reginald Owen, the Russian general. It is a treat to watch him (a) polishing off his vodka before breakfast; (b) being corseted-up for his full-dress uniform; and (e) drinking

toasts and tossing glasses casually over his shoulder. Note how the action is carried on by the photography, which is always dramatic and adventurous. There’s some fine singing by the Don Cossack Choir-

J.G.

M

New York Says

"MORE than ordinary importance attaches to ‘Hotel Imperial,’ as it marks the debut of a noted foreign artist on the American sereen. Isa Miranda was, and probably still is, the ‘auking box-office personality in Italy, and in the domains served by Italian productions. ‘**Hotel Imperial’ is produced on an extensive seale. Settings and backgrounds are faithful replicas of the original loeale "?