Truly Dreadful Film

Good idea lost in the noise

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

"Hotel Continental" is a movie that starts off horribly. Fortunately, if you can possibly wade past the first 10 minutes or so, the film is pretty enjoyable...though a bit clichéd and stupid. As I mentioned above, the film begins badly. It almost comes off like the cocktail party skit on "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in". Again and again, the camera pans on folks and they spout a line or two of supposedly funny or clever dialog and then the camera goes on to the next. It really didn't have much to do with the rest of the film.As for the REAL plot, the ultra-famous hotel is about to close forever. So, the owners are staging a huge party. Among the guests is a guy fresh out of prison. He is an embezzler and has apparently hidden the money somewhere in the hotel. Unfortunately, the nice woman he meets isn't so nice--and she was planted there by other crooks who want the money. Their relationship, while interesting, really makes no sense. Overall, a silly but enjoyable film that is like a super-low budget version of "Grand Hotel"....if it was written by an nice idiot.

Extraordinary thing - whenever these early 1930s "just another day, nothing ever happens at the ..... Hotel" type of movies were released they all paid homage to MGM's "Grand Hotel" but this movie was released 6 months before so cannot be accused of riding on the more prestigious film's coat tails. Quite prophetic, the story of a stately hotel's last hurrah was made by Tiffany in the studio's last year of production. It's star was the beautiful Peggy Shannon who, unfortunately, was soon to find out that alcohol and stardom didn't mix!!Even in 1932, Alfred Newman's "Street Scene" concerto was beginning to show up in variations in any film that had a New York locale. Why they are tearing down the Hotel Continental next day is a big mystery but that evening the hotel foyer is simply teeming with guests - they are still open for business, whether for good time gals (I'm sure I saw Minna Gombel giving orders) or crooked card games.The main story concerns A.R. Cooper (Theodore von Eltz), a former jewel thief whose arrest at the Hotel Continental a few years before is now part of the Hotel's folklore. He is now out of prison and eager to retrieve the hidden jewels and start afresh. Along the way he stops a potential suicide, Ruth Carlton (Peggy Shannon, looking like a million dollars) and she falls in easily with his plan to find some stolen happiness (shades of "Stolen Heaven"(1931)). But what's this!!! She is a crook herself who has quickly phoned her gang to say she has hooked him line and sinker - all very far fetched considering minutes after the call she is starting to have second thoughts. Well the movie is only an hour in length!!Bert Roach does his usual "happy drunk" routine and introduces Henry B. Walthall to a bunch of shallow party goers. He was a somebody back in the Hotel's heyday but is now down on his luck and returns that night for a last hurrah. Ruth's feelings for Cooper change again when she sees him in the arms of another woman (Mary Carlisle in a fleeting glimpse) - of course it's a mistake, he is just trying to stop two timer husband's (Alan Mowbray) wife (Ethel Clayton) from finding out what a rat her husband really is!! Too late, Ruth changes her mind again, because now she has put the wheels in motion to assure there will be no happy ending for Cooper - or will there be??Very hard to believe that someone from MGM didn't see this film and rework the John Barrymore/Greta Garbo storyline. Anyway, just a very entertaining film.

The "Hotel Continental" has seen 50 years of romance, intrigue, and tragedy. But, in one day, the bustling building is going be demolished, "until the last brick is carted away." Its "last night" attracts many nostalgic patrons to the "Continental", but most importantly (for the sake of this motion picture), it attracts embezzler Theodore von Eltz (as James Bennett). The suave Mr. Von Eltz has just finished a stint in prison, and needs to collect a stash of money before the hotel closes. Von Eltz checks in as "A. R. Cooper", and maneuvers his way into the suite where he stashed the money. Along the way, he falls in love with suicidal Peggy Shannon (as Ruth Carleton). Von Eltz doesn't know it, but the duplicitous Ms. Shannon has ulterior motives! You will need to check your brain at the door of the "Hotel Continental", if you want to fully enjoy the movie. There is NO WAY this building is ready to be torn down. Every fixture remains in place - probably, even the soap and towels haven't been removed. The place is, also, doing rather brisk business. Mostly, director Christy Cabanne follows the Von Eltz/Shannon storyline, with drunken Irishman Bert Roach (as Charlie Layton) providing comic relief. Mr. Cabanne was a D.W. Griffith "Biograph" veteran, as was Henry B. Walthall, who has a small role (as Tommy Winthrop). "Tiffany Productions" got this film out in time to get some box office overflow from MGM's impending "Grand Hotel".**** Hotel Continental (1932) Christy Cabanne ~ Theodore von Eltz, Peggy Shannon, Bert Roach, Henry B. Walthall

This poor knockoff of Vicki Baum's GRAND HOTEL -- or perhaps the MGM extravaganza produced the same year as this last gasp from Tiffany Productions -- is short of major stars in front of the camera, even though it does contain some notable names such as Theodore von Eltz, J. Farrell MacDonald and Henry Walthall from the silent era and future stalwart Alan Mowbray from the sound era. So it's fun to look at to see what they look like in 1932.Christy Cabanne, a prolific director whose reputation time has not been kind to, is in there pitching with this one. There are an awful lot of moving shots, including extended takes that look like they were shot with a crab dolly -- something that would not exist for another dozen years.Shot too cheaply to be done well, it shows that people did try, even when the roof was crashing in on their heads. Tiffany went under this year. Cabanne, who started out directing Raoul Walsh in LIFE OF PANCHO VILLA in 1912 and would continue directing for another sixteen years, always tried to give value for money. It's a pity he so rarely had much to work with.