Hotel (DVD)

Another bestseller from Arthur Hailey (Airport, Wheels, The Moneychangers) comes to pulsating life in this grand, multi-storied feature film that explodes the secrets of a dozen private lives. Through the doors of the St. Gregory, a posh, aging luxury hotel in the lusty New Orleans French Quarter, pass the powerful, the proud and the predatory. Among them are bigoted, blustery owner Melvyn Douglas, tough-minded general manager Rod Taylor, Merle Oberon as an arrogant Duchess who dominates her weak-willed diplomat husband (Michael Rennie), Kevin McCarthy as a Bible-thumping business tycoon who'll invoke any means to add the St. Gregory to his conformity-stamped hotel chain, Richard Conte as a duplicitous detective and Karl Malden as the thief with a briefcase full of room keys, compliments of the town's hookers. Only so many secrets can be swept under the plush carpet of the St. Gregory.

Starring: Rod Taylor, Catherine Spaak, Karl Malden, Melvyn Douglas, Richard Conte, Merle Oberon, Roy Roberts, Al Checco, Sheila Bromley, Harry Hickox, William Lanteau, Michael Rennie, Kevin McCarthy, Carmen McRae, Alfred Ryder, Ken Lynch, Clinton Sundberg, Tol Avery, Davis Roberts, Jack Donner, Lester Dorr, Dee Carroll, Judy Norton

Director: Wendell Mayes