HOTEL RESERVE

UK, 1944, 89 minutes, Black and white.
James Mason, Lucie Mannheim, Raymond Lovell, Julien Mitchell, Martin Miller, Herbert Lom, Frederick Valk, Valentine Dyall.
Directed by Victor Hanbury.

Hotel Reserve is a World War Two spy thriller based on the Eric Ambler novel 'Epitaph for a Spy'. RKO invested in this British production and starred James Mason as a spy suspect. The villain, of course, is Herbert Lom. Patricia Medina appears as his wife. The film is quite contrived, even using obvious sets for the Riviera hotel and locations. However, in its minor way it is an enjoyable war espionage story.

1. Enjoyable espionage? The work of Eric Ambler? The period and the propaganda?

2. Black and white photography, studio sets?

3. The title, the focus, the range of suspects? Musical score?

4. Peter Vedassi as the focus? James Mason in the central role? His Austrian background, studies, his photography? His coming to the hotel? Interaction with the guests? Photographing the lizards? Set-up by the police? The arrest and interrogation? His being sent back to the hotel? His list of suspects? Following the leads, calling the police? His relationship with the girl? His discovery of the villain? The chase, the rendezvous, his climbing to the roof, the confrontation? His getting his passport? Happy ending? Typical hero of this kind of film?

5. Herbert Lom as the villain? Sinister appearance and presence? His wife? At the holiday reserve? Photography, installations, his cover? The escape? The drive? His betraying the group? Going to the roof, his death?

6. The heroine - at the hotel, charming, the Irish lilt? her support of Peter? The range of other guests? The proprietor and suspicions, the suspected agent and his actually dying? The various personalities of the guests? Serious and comic?

7. The background of espionage in Europe prior to World War Two? Propaganda values?