Savoy Hotel 217

1936 German film

Hans Albers
Brigitte Horney
Alexander Engel

CinematographyFritz Arno WagnerEdited byEduard von BorsodyMusic byWalter Gronostay

Production
company

UFA

Distributed byUFA

Release date

7 April 1936 (1936-04-07)

Running time

92 minutesCountryGermanyLanguageGerman

Savoy Hotel 217 (German: Savoy-Hotel 217) is a 1936 German mystery drama film directed by Gustav Ucicky and starring Hans Albers, Brigitte Horney and Alexander Engel.^[1] It was shot at the Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam.^[2] The film's sets were designed by the art directors Robert Herlth and Walter Röhrig. The costumes were by Herbert Ploberger. It premiered at Berlin's UFA-Palast am Zoo.

Synopsis

In Tsarist Russia before the First World War, a couple arrive at a luxury hotel where the husband is murdered. A number of people fall under suspicion, including the head waiter. He undertakes an investigation to find the real culprit.

Cast

Hans Albers as Andrei Antonovitch Wolodkin
Brigitte Horney as Nastasja Andrejevna Daschenko
Alexander Engel as Fedor Fedorovich Daschenko
René Deltgen as Sergei Gavrilovitch Schuvalov
Gusti Huber as Darja Sergejewna Plagina
Käthe Dorsch as Anna Fedorovna Orlowa
Jakob Tiedtke as Leonid Alexandrovitch Schapkin
Aribert Wäscher as Pavel Pavlovitch
Hans Leibelt as Untersuchungsrichter
Paul Westermeier as Schlittenkutscher
Carl Auen as Kriminalbeamter
Fritz Berghof as Aribor
Hellmuth Bergmann as Wachmann
Paul Bildt as Bettler
Horst Birr as Wanja - Hotelangestellter
Günther Brackmann as Page
Walter Brückner as Zuschauer im Varieté
Viktor Carter as Junger Uniformierter
Jac Diehl as Zuschauer im Varieté
Michael Distler as Russe
Erich Dunskus as Aufseher
Max Harry Ernst as Hotelangestellter
Karl Etlinger as Igor Andrej - Tubaspieler
Erich Fiedler as Etagenkellner
Paul Ludwig Frey as Untersuchungsrichter
Lothar Glathe as Zuschauer im Varieté
Ralph-Willy Grunert as Hotelangestellter
Albert Hugelmann as Insasse im Nachtasyl
Margot Höpfner as Tänzerin
Herbert Hübner as Julio Simkowitsch - Personalchef
Carl Iban as Insasse im Nachtasyl
Babette Jenssen as Zimmermädchen
Josef Karma as Insasse im Nachtasyl
Jens Keith as Tänzer
Harald Maresch
Hans Meyer-Hanno as Insasse im Nachtasyl
Werner Pledath as Michael Trofinawitsch - Etagenkellner
Tine Schneider as Zuschauerin im Varieté
S.O. Schoening as Russischer Budenbesitzer
Rudolf Schündler as Geschäftsführer des 'Savoy'
Friedrich Teitge as Drehorgelspieler
Tommy Thomas as Hotelpage
Walter von Allwoerden as Schreiber des Untersuchungsrichters
Else Ward as Russin bei Osterfeierlichkeit
Raimund Warta as Hotelangestellter
Eduard Wenck as Iwan Iwanowitsch - Hotelportier
Ewald Wenck as Schlittenkutscher

Reception

Writing for The Spectator in 1936, Graham Greene gave the film a positive review, characterizing it as an "agreeably [...] slow, good-humoured murder-story". Praising Engel's acting as particularly vivid, Greene summarized the film, claiming: "melodramatic passions are given a pleasantly realistic setting by a very competent director and a first-class cameraman".^[3]

References

^ Bock & Bergfelder p.217
^ Klaus p.176
^ Greene, Graham (9 October 1036). "The Texas Rangers/Savoy Hotel 217/The King Steps Out". The Spectator. (reprinted in: Taylor, John Russell, ed. (1980). The Pleasure Dome. pp. 107-108. ISBN 0192812866.)

Bibliography

Bock, Hans-Michael & Bergfelder, Tim. The Concise CineGraph. Encyclopedia of German Cinema. Berghahn Books, 2009.
Klaus, Ulrich J. Deutsche Tonfilme: Jahrgang 1936. Klaus-Archiv, 1988.