Small Hotel
1957 British film by David MacDonald
- October 1957 (1957-10) (UK)
Running time
Small Hotel is a 1957 British 'B' [2] comedy film directed by David MacDonald and starring Gordon Harker, Marie Lohr, John Loder, and Janet Munro.[3] It was written by Wilfred Eades based on the 1955 play of the same name by Rex Frost.[4]
Premise
Albert, a crafty old waiter in a country hotel known as The Jolly Fiddler, teaches the younger staff how to maximise their tips and get rid of surplus food in the kitchen.
He suddenly finds he must work new tricks on management after being told he is too old for the job and will be replaced by a hard-nosed young waitress, named Miss Mallet.
Cast
- Gordon Harker as Albert
- Marie Lohr as Mrs. Samson-Fox
- John Loder as Mr. Finch
- Irene Handl as Mrs. Gammon
- Janet Munro as Effie Rigler
- Billie Whitelaw as Caroline Mallet
- Ruth Trouncer as Sheila
- Francis Matthews as Alan Pryor
- Frederick Schiller as foreigner [speaking in German and then in English]
- Derek Blomfield as Roland
- Dorothy Bromiley as Rosemary
Critical reception
TV Guide gave the film two out of five stars and called it an "Average comedy."[5]
In the Radio Times, David McGillivray rated the film two out of five stars, calling it "no great shakes as comedy, but interesting as a vehicle built around a much-loved British star at the end of his career."[6]
Britmovie noted, "Twenty years after appearing on stage in this lively Rex Frost play, in his penultimate film Gordon Harker reprises the role of a belligerent hotel waiter having to use all his wit and cunning to save his job. This low-budget film features Harker in typically jovial form, dominating comic proceedings with typical polished expertise, and with a less assured cast this thin comedy wouldn’t be worthwhile. There are early roles for Billie Whitelaw and Janet Munro, and the doughty Irene Handl is cast as the hotel’s spirited cook."[7]
It was one of 15 films selected by Steve Chibnall and Brian McFarlane in The British 'B' Film, as among the most meritorious of the B films made in Britain between World War II and 1970. They especially praised the performances of Lohr, Handl and Harker.[2]
References
- ^ "SMALL HOTEL - British Board of Film Classification".
- ^ a b Steve Chibnall & Brian McFarlane, The British 'B' Film, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2009, pp. 272–73.
- ^ "Small Hotel (1957)". BFI. Archived from the original on 25 January 2021.
- ^ Opening credits: Small Hotel
- ^ "Small Hotel".
- ^ "Small Hotel - Film from RadioTimes".
- ^ "Small Hotel 1957 - Britmovie - Home of British Films".
External links
- Small Hotel at IMDb
- Small Hotel at AllMovie
- Small Hotel then-and-now location photographs at ReelStreets
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Films directed by David MacDonald
- Double Alibi (1937)
- The Last Curtain (1937)
- It's Never Too Late to Mend (1937)
- Death Croons the Blues (1937)
- Riding High (1937)
- Make It Three (1938)
- A Spot of Bother (1938)
- Meet Mr. Penny (1938)
- This Man Is News (1938)
- Dead Men Tell No Tales (1938)
- This Man in Paris (1939)
- The Midas Touch (1940)
- Spies of the Air (1940)
- Law and Disorder (1940)
- This England (1940)
- Men of the Lightship (1940)
- Desert Victory (1943)
- The Brothers (1947)
- Snowbound (1948)
- Good-Time Girl (1948)
- The Bad Lord Byron (1949)
- Christopher Columbus (1949)
- Diamond City (1949)
- Cairo Road (1950)
- The Adventurers (1951)
- The Lost Hours (1952)
- Tread Softly (1952)
- Operation Malaya (1953)
- Devil Girl from Mars (1954)
- One Just Man (1954)
- The Yellow Robe (1954)
- Three Cornered Fate (1955)
- Final Column (1955)
- Triple Blackmail (1955)
- Man in Demand (1955)
- Alias John Preston (1955)
- Small Hotel (1957)
- The Moonraker (1958)
- A Lady Mislaid (1958)
- Petticoat Pirates (1961)
- The Golden Rabbit (1962)
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