Rattigan has taken elements from his Way to the Stars story - an overbearing mother and put-upon daughter who are residents of a hotel - and expanded them into a larger story about hotel guests - most of them long-term. Gladys George and Deborah Kerr are the couple in question, the latter having fallen for 'major' David Niven, whose exploits in 'nudging' women in cinemas also earned him his Oscar. Burt Lancaster and Rita Hayworth are doomed love-hate couple whilst Wendy Hiller is the romantic third (a noble character, also Oscar winner). More marginal characters comprise Felix Aylmer, Cathleen Nesbitt (who we last saw in Family Plot), Rod Taylor, Audrey Dalton, May Hallatt and Priscilla Morgan.
It's a bit stagebound, doesn't have the same energy as other theatrical adaptations like The Man Who Came to Dinner; nevertheless ultimately moving and satisfying drama, lit by the peerless Charles Lang and with a score by David Raksin that reunites him with Hayworth from Laura. First-rate acting, especially from Niven, who doesn't even sound like himself as the film opens.
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