''Small Hotel'' is a 1957 British

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by David MacDonald and stars

Gordon Harker William Gordon Harker (7 August 1885 – 2 March 1967) was an English stage and film actor. Harker was one of the sons of Sarah Elizabeth Harker, née Hall, (1856–1927), and Joseph Harker (1855–1927), a much admired set painter for the ...

Marie Lohr Marie may refer to: People Name * Marie (given name) * Marie (Japanese given name) * Marie (murder victim), girl who was killed in Florida after being pushed in front of a moving vehicle in 1973 * Marie (died 1759), an enslaved Cree person in T ...

, John Loder, and

Janet Munro Janet Munro (born Janet Neilson Horsburgh; 28 September 1934 – 6 December 1972) was a British actress. She won a Golden Globe Award for her performance in the film ''Darby O'Gill and the Little People'' (1959) and received a BAFTA Film Awar ...

. It is based on the play of the same name by Rex Frost.

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

.....Albert *

.....Mrs. Samson-Fox * John Loder.....Mr. Finch *

Irene Handl Irene Handl (27 December 1901 – 29 November 1987) was a British author and character actress who appeared in more than 100 British films. Life Irene Handl was born in Maida Vale, London, the younger of two daughters of an Austria-born father ...

.....Mrs. Gammon *

.....Effie Rigler * Billie Whitelaw.....Caroline Mallet *

Ruth Trouncer Isabel Ruth Trouncer (born 9 September 1930) is a British stage, film and television actress. During the late 1950s she had a recurring role on the television series ''The Larkins''. She is the daughter of the actor Cecil Trouncer. Selected fil ...

.....Sheila * Francis Matthews.....Alan Pryor * Frederick Schiller.....Foreigner peaking in German and then in English*

Derek Blomfield Derek Blomfield (31 August 1920 – 23 July 1964) was a British actor who appeared in a number of stage, film and television productions between 1935 and his death in 1964. Career He trained at LAMDA and made his first stage appearance a ...

.....Roland * Dorothy Bromiley.....Rosemary

Critical reception

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'' gave the film two out of five stars and called it an "Average comedy"; in the '' Radio Times'', David McGillivray also 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" whereas ''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." It was one of 15 films selected by Steve Chibnall and Brian McFarlane in ''The British 'B' Film'', their survey of British B films, as among the most meritorious of the B films made in Britain between

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and 1970. They especially praised the performances of Lohr, Handl and Harker.Steve Chibnall & Brian McFarlane, ''The British 'B' Film'', Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2009, pp. 272–73.

References

External links

* * 1957 films 1957 comedy films British comedy films Films shot at Associated British Studios Films directed by David MacDonald (director) British films based on plays British black-and-white films 1950s English-language films 1950s British films {{1950s-UK-comedy-film-stub