Movie Review – Hotel Splendide (1932)
Principal Cast : Jerry Verno, Anthony Holles, Edgar Norfolk, Philip Morant, Sybil Grove, Vera Sherborne, Paddy Browne, Michael Powell.
Synopsis: Jerry Mason inherits a seaside hotel but discovers that a gang of robbers have buried their loot on the site where the hotel now stands.
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My first watch of this quaint little low-budget 1932 mystery thriller was really quite ho-hum. As a film, Hotel Splendide runs the gamut of funny, silly, insipid and often jarringly contrived. Digging deeper into the film’s backstory and understanding it was made to fulfil a British Government mandate for “quotas” of films made within the country, and the slipshod way the production seems to have been constructed, my appraisal of the film, while remaining pointedly indifferent to the cast’s try-hard Agatha Christie aesthetic, is relatively positive given the talent behind the camera. A production act in 1927 known as the Cinematograph Films Act was devised by the British film industry as a way to mandate the production of more UK-made films to be shown in UK theatres, to combat stagnation and mirror the then-successful Hollywood structure where studios controlled not just production but distribution and exhibition across the country, essentially as a way to kickstart the fledgling format. It kinda worked, but a lot of the films produced under this quota system were often – like Hotel Splendide – slight affairs usually run as second films in a double bill, as a way to extend patronage and session times.
The story takes place primarily in the titular low-rent seaside British hotel, run by recent heir Jerry mason (Jerry Verno), who takes on ownership thanks to an uncle’s recent passing. The “Hotel Splendide” is a pretty shoddy and money-losing affair, however the recent news that a box containing valuable stolen pearls has been buried somewhere onsite, with the criminals responsible turning up to scout the place out and retrieve them. With the help of perky hotel receptionist Joyce Dacre (Vera Sherborne), Jerry and the various hotel residents find themselves mixed up in a potentially deadly criminal heist right under their noses.
One part sly Danny Kaye, another part droll Kenneth Williams, Jerry Verno’s leading performance in Hotel Splendide is a fascinating display of mugging for the camera whilst trying desperately to avoid not being seen by it. With a comedy style that can only be described as “off camera”, Verno’s inability to maintain eye contact with either the ensemble cast with which he’s working or with the audience as a whole, is distracting as he seems to be trying to act rather than actually acting. His buy-eyed and off-kilter performance could be disarming and bafflingly silly at times, a man warring between wanton farce and delicious mystery thanks to Ralph Smart’s patter-patter screenplay. His on-screen sparring partner is the doting and dutiful hotel concierge Ms Dacre, played by a straight-laced Vera Sherborne with all the pluck and vigour she can muster.
The variety of ensemble characters populating the film are almost entirely forgettable yet intrinsically archetypal to a mystery thriller like this. Most of them are all somewhat freaky or eccentric, adding plenty of “whodunnit” to the red herrings within the plot, as contrived as it is for a film running barely an hour. Briskly paced, the film moves without pause, skipping between insufficient comedy and darker criminal elements almost to the point of discombobulation, and the stuttering editing – perhaps a product of the productions cheapness overall – ruins momentum often. Action sequences, such as climactic fight between Jerry and one of the criminals seeking the prize, and a third-act character reveal that had me whooping with glee, are brief interludes of genuine panache from director Michael Powell, a filmmaker better known for later efforts like The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus. Otherwise, the film vacillates between silly and stupid, and not in a good way, leaving nothing on the table while simultaneously delivering very little to remember.
Hotel Splendide is a curiosity indeed; while I could never recommend it as a worthwhile endeavour, the fact it exists through some kind of Governmental effort to rejuvenate the British film industry is enough for me to consider it at least watchable. The writing is pretty dire, and the performances, while certainly of-the-period, are roundly over the top and melodramatic to a fault, turning this inelegant little low-budget quickie into a forgettably enigmatic, formula-driven subgenre piece of fluff. Designed to be enjoyed in the moment and then promptly never thought of again, Hotel Splendide almost manages to entertain even if it all feels a touch to amateur theatre-ish. For film historians only.
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