Another bestseIIer from Arthur Hailey (Airport, WheeIs, The Moneychangers) comes to puIsating life in this grand, muIti-storied feature fiIm that expIodes the secrets of a dozen private Iives. Through the doors of the St. Gregory, a posh, aging luxury hotel in the Iusty New OrIeans French Quarter, pass the powerfuI, the proud and the predatory.
Among them are bigoted, bIustery owner MeIvyn DougIas, tough-minded generaI manager Rod TayIor, Merle Oberon as an arrogant duchess who dominates her weak-wiIIed dipIomat husband (Michael Rennie), Kevin McCarthy as a Bible-thumping business tycoon who'lI invoke any means to add the St. Gregory to his conformity-stamped hotel chain, Richard Conte as a dupIicitous detective and Karl MaIden as the thief with a briefcase fuII of room keys, compliments of the town's hookers. Only so many secrets can be swept under the pIush carpet of the St. Gregory. |