This is a lovely film about the redeeming qualities of love even when it is challenged by societies' taboos and uptightness. Set in the most peculiar location, the Beauregard Hotel, lonely souls, both resident and transient converge and desperately try to find companionship, though social politics amongst the group of about ten or so make it nearly impossible for them to do so. It is based off of two one-act plays by Sir Terence Rattigan giving it a structure that is at once its hindrance and its savior. The real prize in this film is the fantastic performances; every single one of the cast is stellar, and with a film based on the dining room table style of drama performances are almost as important as their words.
The first story is one of a rekindled romance between a failed politician played by Burt Lancaster, and his ex-wife played by the aging, but still beautiful Rita Hayworth. Lancaster is John Malcolm, an alcoholic who has lived in the hotel for a number of years. His antics are appreciated by the young folk--of which there are few--but the stuffy old ladies, Mrs. Railton-Bell and Lady Matheson (played deliciously by Gladys Cooper and Cathleen Nesbitt) are less than pleased. Mrs. Railton-Bell who is Queen Bee will stand for none of his nonsense and shameless drinking. But Pat Cooper, the owner of the hotel (Wendy Hiller), a firm woman with sharp eyes and disdain for mud loves him and is secretly engaged to be married to him.
What a mess when John's ex, the lovely, traveled, rich supermodel of yesterday comes to surprise him. The love triangle, one side practically unheard of until the end is rich, complex, and heartbreaking. Unfortunately I felt as though I loved all of the characters so a choice being made by John was very hard to watch. Hiller is absolutely wonderful as the silent watchdog of the hotel. How it must hurt her to help a woman so far beyond her in luxury and beauty, knowing full well the woman's motive for entering her hotel. Originally the supermodel is the enemy, but the thing about the Beauregard Hotel is that everyone there is a lonely spirit, and in the end my heart was melted.
The second story--which goes on simultaneously even though it was written several years apart from the other --is far more interesting, and much more complex. I do not believe that its characters were given enough time on screen to fully explore the situations or their involvements with the other people they interact with, and that is sad because the performances were so genuine and the material so intriguing. It is roughly about two misfits: the quiet, mousy Sibyl, a young woman who has been domineered into submission by her mother, Queen Bee. She finds friendship, and possibly more, with Major Angus Pollock, a retired soldier of WWII who regales her with stories of his time spent in Sandhurst and his campaigns in North Africa. But he never seems to get the story quite right.
A scandal in the paper threatens to destroy their friendship, brought to light by Queen Bee, whose stuffy, old age morals conflict with the way in which society is moving. She keeps the hotel under her thumb, but her Draconian measures can only last for so long. Sibyl is such an unfortunate character, but whose longing to see and explore and experience life gives hope to the audience, and we know that things can't possibly turn out all bad for her. She is the most unusual female lead, as opposed to Rita Hayworth's Ann Shankland, a very typical heroine of the 50's Hollywood glamour period. Sibyl's timidness, however, is what makes her so endearing, and the power play between her and her mother is absolutely fascinating.
There are so many good things about this film that it feels a shame to mention the bad. It is short--only an hour and half long, and the content suffers for it. There are too many characters and it takes such a long time to introduce all of them and what their relationships are to one another, not to mention the hierarchy of the hotel, that by the time the audience gets to sink its teeth into the content the film is over. Another ten or fifteen minutes at least would have been appreciated. Also, some of this precious time is wasted on characters that have absolutely no importance at all, except maybe brief stints of comic relief. Further, a point that this film hints at is the writer's distaste for an old-school way of dealing with topics like sex. Perhaps "hints" is the wrong word. It possibly "thumps" that point across the heads of the audience. Sometimes it works very powerfully, but other times it is simply irksome.
I think that this film would have been wonderful if it had simply focused more on the second story. The first is a quite traditional love story involving betrayal and love that never died, but the second is like Marty, it is a film with genuine, if unusual characters who try and make something out of nothing, which we have all attempted at some point or another. Lies and deceit are forgiven when motives come forth, and I think that that plot was something very special.
3/4
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