Small Hotel

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Small Hotel
"Small Hotel" (1957).jpg
Directed by David MacDonald
Written byWilfred Eades
Based onthe play Small Hotel by Rex Frost
Produced byRobert Hall
Starring Gordon Harker
Marie Lohr
Janet Munro
Cinematography Norman Warwick
Edited bySeymour Logie
Music by Louis Levy
Production
company
A Welwyn Films Ltd. Production
Distributed by Associated British-Pathé (UK)
Release date
  • October 1957 (1957-10)(UK)
Running time
58 min [1]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

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]

Contents

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

Production

Gordon Harker starred in Rex Frost's play originally called The Jolly Fiddler which debuted in Liverpool 1954. Frost had once been a waiter and he and his wife had managed a small hotel. [5] Variety called it "a pleasant vehicle for the thesping talents of Gordon Harker." [6]

The play was produced again in 1955 under the title Small Hotel, eventually travelling to London in October where it ran until January and then had a long life in amateur companies. The Guardian called it "a gentle, pensive comedy". [7] Variety, reviewing it again, called it "modest, but amusing." [8] [9] Peggy Ramsay, who was the agent for the play, attributed most of its success to Gordon Harker. [10]

The film was shot at Elstree Studios.

Critical reception

TV Guide gave the film two out of five stars and called it an "Average comedy." [11]

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." [12]

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." [13]

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]

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References

  1. ↑ "SMALL HOTEL - British Board of Film Classification".
  2. 1 2 Steve Chibnall & Brian McFarlane, The British 'B' Film, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2009, pp. 272–73.
  3. ↑ "Small Hotel (1957)". BFI. Archived from the original on 25 January 2021.
  4. ↑ Opening credits: Small Hotel
  5. ↑ "Theatre notes". The Daily Telegraph. 30 August 1954. p. 8.
  6. ↑ "The Jolly Fiddler". Variety. 1 December 1954. p. 70.
  7. ↑ "Manchester Opera House". The Guardian. 27 September 1955. p. 5.
  8. ↑ "Small Hotel given chance". Variety. 19 October 1955. p. 75.
  9. ↑ "Small Hotel review". Variety. 26 October 1955. p. 59.
  10. ↑ Chambers, Colin (1998). Peggy. p. 47-48.
  11. ↑ "Small Hotel".
  12. ↑ "Small Hotel - Film from RadioTimes".
  13. ↑ "Small Hotel 1957 - Britmovie - Home of British Films".


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