Product Details

• Actors: Rod Taylor, Catherine Spaak, Karl Malden, Melvyn Douglas, Merle Oberon
• Directors: Richard Quine
• Writers: Wendell Mayes, Arthur Hailey
• Producers: Wendell Mayes
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: March 26, 1996
• Run Time: 124 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300270904
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #174,348 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Screen adaptation of Arthur Hailey's dramatic novel involving multiple characters and storylines simultaneously unfolding and intertwining inside a luxury hotel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hotel...Two Hours of Distilled Style, March 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Hotel [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the score to this movie described as "dreadful"! I turned on this movie shortly after it started, and probably would have turned it off if the wonderful score hadn't grabbed my attention. The music and the Technicolor beauty drew me in, and the complexly woven plot kept me watching intently, rather than just listening to the music! And the end was great; I thought it was triumphant; very uplifting! If you want to watch two hours of distilled style, a portrait of a bygone era when men still wore suits and hats, when style and luxury hadn't lost out to cheap plastic imitations, get this movie!

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hotel - Where women are "ladies" and men are "gentlemen", September 12, 2003

By 

"seagoddess0411" (Minneapolis, Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hotel [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I love this movie! It's a wonderful escape back to an era when hospitality was in and everyone not only knew how, but were expected to "dress" (it makes me want to buy white gloves and hats just to do lunch).

Catherine Spaak and Merle Oberon are luminous in Edith Head gowns, although Catherine's posture is noticably askew (her mother should've reminded her to sit up straight). Rod Taylor's performance is marvelous, but somewhat restrained for his typical style. However, no one does a love scene with more tenderness than Rod, so it's small wonder Spaak would dump McCarthy's character for Taylor's regardless of money!

Melvyn Douglas is at his best as the curmudgeon hotelier (stroke and all), Kevin McCarthy is the takeover louse you love to hate and Karl Malden almost steals the entire movie as the hotel thief who just can't make a killing. There are also delightful performances by bit players throughout the movie; McCarthy's "oily" sychophantic male secretary and the hotel staff, especially the errant bell captain who's on the take.

The background music is sometimes annoyingly loud (the editors should have caught that!), but Carmen MacRae's all too brief appearances as the hotel saloon singer make up for any soundtrack problems. Carmen could "turn a lyric" as well as Ella!

With all of the sub-plots, you just can't wait to see what happens next and of course, what's not to love about a mostly happy ending.

My only complaint is the common mistake of mispronouncing New Orleans. If you've spent any time there, you already know it's pronounced New "Or-luhnz" not New "Or-leeeens". LOL

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars where's the DVD for this GEM of a movie?, August 16, 2008

By 

S. D. liddell-jones "kid in the fourth row" (renton, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hotel [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I'm moving and giving up my VHS plyer, having got most of my favorite flicks on discs. But I won't give it up if it means never seeing "Hotel" again. It sets such a mood; puts you right into the hotel and the era.
Almost everything about it is perfect, and what isn't, is campy.(like the decor of the hotel lobby) Rod Taylor is one of the sexiest men ever to hit the screen, i agree that while C. Spaak is gorgeous and classy,and a good actress; her spine is not straight, she looks kind of deformed about the shoulder area, and i guess no effort was made to hide it, but she's still lovely. I love the score, it has just the right haunting quality, and each character has his own theme. Larger-than-life, as always, Kevin McCarthy nearly steals the show, as the heavy. And that heartbreaking moment when Merle Oberon tries to pretend that her husband had died still loving her.I cry every time. And the icing on the cake; the ever wonderful Michael Rennie, who always makes "the earth stand still" for me! I could go on raving, but why NO DVD????!!!! This is a classic; let's get with it!!!! LJ