Hotel Reverie is a 1949 British-American film produced by Keyworth Productions. It is the main focus of the synonymous episode Hotel Reverie.
History[]
Original Plot[]
Set during the 1940s in British Egypt, the film focuses on the burgeoning romance between Dr. Alex Palmer (portrayed by Ralph Redwell) and heiress Clara Ryce-Lechere (portrayed by Dorothy Chambers), when the two meet at the Hotel Reverie in Cairo.
Dr. Alex Palmer, a renowned expert in tropical medicine, is visiting Cairo to deliver a lecture and is staying at the eponymous Hotel Reverie. One evening, whilst drinking alone in the lobby, he notices Clara Ryce-Lechere, the tragic British heiress to the industrial "Ryce Empire", who is married but distant from her husband, French businessman Claude Lechere (played by Gilbert Dauphin). He invites her to sit with him, and the two share a drink and begin socialising. Clara remarks that the piano in the lobby is not being played, and that an unplayed piano makes her sad. Palmer gets up and plays her favourite composition Clair de lune, which causes Clara to become emotional and leave the lobby. Unbeknownst to the main characters, Claude Lecher is conspiring to kill his wife so he can inherit her industrial legacy, and by leaving the lobby she does not drink the Black Rose that Palmer ordered for her, which had been poisoned by his henchman Otto.
The abandoned Black Rose cocktail is instead consumed by fellow hotel patron Madame Roban, who succumbs to the poison and the local police are called. Inspector Lavigne and his men arrive to investigate, and are assisted by Dr. Palmer, who signs Roban's death certificate. During their interaction, Palmer also advises Lavigne that his allergies are being caused by the cologne he wears, and the two develop a mutual respect for each other.
Palmer later brings a bottle of champagne to Clara's room, and foils a second assassination attempt by her husband when he traps a poisonous scorpion released in the room under a glass. The two then embrace and kiss. The following day, they go on a full day of driven sightseeing in Cairo, and their romantic attraction develops further.
In the evening, whilst smoking in the hotel garden, Palmer overhears Claude conspiring with Otto again to kill Clara so he can inherit her fortune. Otto has arranged to loosen the railings on the hotels roof observation deck, where Claude intends to take Clara that night ostensibly to show her the views of Cairo. Once on the rooftop, Claude attempts to push Clara off through the broken railings, to make her death look like an accident. However, he is confronted by Palmer. Claude draws a pistol, and he and Palmer fight, with Palmer eventually gaining the upper hand. Inspector Lavigne and his men then burst onto the roof and hold the two at gunpoint, however Lavigne, recognising Palmer as the man who helped him with his allergies earlier in the film, orders his men to arrest Claude instead.
As Claude is take away by the police, Alex Palmer and Clara Ryce-Lechere embrace and kiss, with Palmer remarking "I will be yours, forever more".