Hotel Berlin (1945)

Watch this back-to-back with the earlier Vicki Baum-based film to see her take on Berlin before and during World War 2.Similar mix of characters--the diva, the doomed aristocrat, the "loose" party girl, etc.-- through the dark side of the looking glass.Bonus: Excellent facsimile of the old Hotel Adlon, right down the perimeter wall built to protect it during the war.

Peter Lorre, as a War-traumatized Professor, makes this slightly-soapy “Grand Hotel” retread worth watching for almost any viewer. Still and all, it’s well-made, and gives an interesting late-WWII slant to Vicki Baum’s original novel. This version is from a work of hers, also.

Have been waiting for this to be released on DVD. A great movie of the last stages of WW2.It is a shame these movies manufactured on demand don't last as long as the ordinary manufactured DVD'S.Recently I played a movie from my collection (manufactured on demand) and it just would not play.

The film and the cast where great set in the last days of world war 2 Germany some odd happens are going on in A Berlin Hotel plots at every turn people with secrets which make A great movie but most of all they didn't colorize it.

An average film, augmented by a stellar cast from the 1940s Warner Bros stock company. Faye Emerson is beautiful and effective as the young lady caught up with the disintegrating Third Reich seeking refuge in Hotel Berlin.

World War 11 films that depict "Patriots and Quislings", the stoic, furtive, passive and violent civilian resistance to Nazi and Japanese occupation and exploitation were extremely popular with wartime audiences. Films like "Joan of Paris" (1941), "This Land is Our Land" (1942), "Hangmen Also Die" (1942), "North Star" (1943), "Edge of Darkness" (1943), "The Moon is Down" (1943) - see my 2/3/14 review, "China" (1943), "Dragon Seed" (1944), "The Seventh Cross" (1944) - see my 3/2/13 review, "To Have and Have Not" (1944) and "The Cross of the Lorraine" [1944) - see my 10/13/11 review are all excellent examples of well-crafted films of this type."Hotel Berlin" is perhaps the most implausible example of this genre AND YET despite being released into the theaters before V-E day it's screen play makes some surprisingly, perceptive predictions that in the post 1945 world become all to true !! It is based on the 1932 MGM classic "Grand Hotel" format with the story updated to war torn Berlin in 1945 with a motley group of villains, thieves, scoundrels, opportunists, heroes and cowards all clawing and scratching to survive the carnage and defeat of Nazi Germany.The basic plot line is simple - Martin Richter (Helmut Dantine) is a Anti- Nazi leader on the run and the resistance cell in the hotel will try to hide him there until they figure a way to smuggle him out. The numerous subplots and personal travails of the hotel residents and staff will interface in one way or another with Richter's desperate bid for freedom. Dantine was the Warner Brothers resident "in house Nazi" who usually portrayed a self assured officer with eyes blazing and here he gets a rare sympathetic role and is excellent as the fugitive resistance leader.Residing in the material splendor and moral squalor of the “Hotel Berlin” includes the sterio-typical arrogant, impossibly well-groomed General Arnim von Dahnitz (Raymond Massey) sporting a monocle and sword (?), the last man still free from the 1944 plot to kill Hitler, Tilly Walker (Faye Emerson) is the hotel’s resident hostess and call girl and desperate for a new pair of shoes, Peter Lorre [Professor Konig) is a spiritually broken, drunken and self-loathing cynic, Gauleiter Plotke (Alan Hale) a stupid and terrified brute, von Stettin (Henry Daniell) a sardonic diplomat and von Dahnitz’s friend, Commissioner Helm (George Corlouis) a cold Gestapo functionary with perhaps the best line in the film, Lisa Dorn (Andrea King) a diva actress and the mistress of von Dahnitz, a cool, beautiful opportunist and presiding over the entire insanity of this "stew pot" - the hotel head porter "Kleiber" (Steve Geray) harried from all sides, nerves frayed who eventually will get a most unwelcome surprise !!It seems that a sizable portion of the Warner Brothers {WB} stock company of supporting actors and actresses were drafted for this film and their performances are uniformly excellent - in particular Massey, Daniell and especially Andrea King who beautifully realizes her role as the cultivated, civilized Lisa who is ready to make any deal “to sell her soul" {and anyone else's} to survive by lies, deception and betrayal .Also in a key role is Kurt Kreuger {Major Kauber} in his usual role as a handsome, blonde arrogant, heel clicking pilot who blows into the hotel on leave expecting service with a capital "S" and who will become the unknowing catalyst on whether Martin will survive or perish. Kreuger's portrayal here is similar to his role as the fanatical Nazi pilot he played in the 1943 WB , H.Bogart war film "Sahara" {excellent} where he has a classic confrontation with a downtrodden Italian soldier portrayed by J. Carrol Nash and winds up getting deservedly drowned in the desert !The screenwriters various characters give voice to the following accurate predictions post 1945 - {1} the Nazi's planning to flee to South America {knowing they will be given asylum there} to keep the flame of Nazism alive, {2} the Western Allies beginning to mistrust each other and fight among themselves, {3} lists of war criminals were being complied by the Allies for War Crimes Trials, {4} Hitler, Himmler, Goering and other prominent Nazi's will take ALL OF THE BLAME as being solely responsible for the 3rd Reich's crimes and "Ordinary Germans" being completely blameless because the Nazi's and ONLY the Nazi's could be responsible all of Germany's atrocities and war crimes - a very shrewd prediction !! One prediction they got very very wrong was that history would not remember or even take note of the failed 1944 bomb plot to assassinate Hitler - history did and does remember and honor those brave men with the 2008 Tom Cruise movie "Valkyrie" being a vivid testament to their heroism. I really liked this film a lot - it has a great ensemble cast, a well written screenplay and is nicely acted with doses of irony, sarcasm, grit and suspense. I give it 5 stars - Highly Recommended.

Another pleasant surprise with some fine acting by most of the cast. I always thought of Faye Emerson as more of a B movie actress but she certainly rose to the occasion in this tale.