Hotel Paradiso

Hotel Paradiso is a British comedy set in Paris around the turn of the twentieth century. Benedict Boniface, kept firmly in check by his forceful wife Angelique, has his eye on Marcelle Cotte, a young neighbour whose architect husband Henri largely ignores her. Benedict and Marcelle arrange a secret meeting at the Hotel Paradiso, a establishment known for letting rooms by the hour. What neither of them knows is that Henri's work has led him to the same building, where he is investigating odd noises and structural peculiarities he believes have a rational explanation. The arrival of Henri, along with other guests and an unexpected police raid, throws the planned rendezvous into disarray.

The playwright Georges Feydeau observes these goings-on as material for a new comedy, since he is short of ideas for his next play. The film was directed by Peter Glenville, who also wrote the screenplay with Jean-Claude Carrière and Maurice Desvallières, and produced it himself. It followed Glenville's Becket, released two years earlier, as the second of the two films he directed.

Alec Guinness plays Benedict Boniface, with Gina Lollobrigida as Marcelle Cotte and Robert Morley as Henri Cotte. Peggy Mount appears as Angelique Boniface, alongside Ann Beach and Douglas Byng. Made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios, the film runs 98 minutes. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.1 from 958 votes, and on TMDB a rating of 6 from 14 votes, indicating a modest audience response.