Hotel Imperial

Hotel Imperial is a 1939 American dramatic film directed by Robert Florey. The plot follows a 1917 play by the Hungarian writer Lajos Bíró: in the waning days of World War I, on the Russian-Austrian frontier, a young woman looking to avenge the suicide of her sister poses as a chambermaid in the Hotel Imperial. A Hungarian silent film was released in 1918, and an American version starring Pola Negri in 1927. The history of this production began in 1936, with Marlene Dietrich and Charles Boyer in the lead roles, but Dietrich clashed repeatedly with director Henry Hathaway. Filming resumed with Margaret Sullavan, who broke her arm, necessitating yet another cast change. Four years after the release of this version, Five Graves to Cairo (1943) moved the setting ahead to World War II and featured Franchot Tone and Ann Baxter. Milland had a near-fatal accident on the set. One scene called for him to lead a cavalry charge through a small village. Milland insisted upon doing this scene himself, but as he was making a scripted jump on the horse, his saddle came loose, sending him flying straight into a pile of broken masonry. Knocked unconscious for 24 hours, he was laid up in the hospital for weeks with multiple fractures and lacerations.