Hotel Sahara

Hotel Sahara (1951)

She Sings! She Dances! She Romances! She's Engaged in Maneuvers with Three Different Armies! And She's Got Everything!

In World War II, desert hotel proprietors Emad and Yasmin are caught between the warring armies and have to constantly shift their political allegiance to whichever army happens to control the area.

Date of release
1951-07-09
TMDB
5.8 / 10 (8)
Runtime
1h 36m
Genres
Comedy, Romance, War
Director
Ken Annakin

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Filmed in: Pinewood Studios

Hotel Sahara is a 1951 British war comedy film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Yvonne De Carlo, Peter Ustinov and David Tomlinson. It was produced and co-written by George Hambley Brown.

Production

Hotel Sahara was the first film from Tower Films, the new production company of producer George Brown. Ken Annakin called Brown "very active and creative." The film was based on an idea of Brown's. He had a chat in a Fleet Street pub about a hotel in the Western Desert Campaign which kept changing sides, and he arranged for a script to be written.

Brown eventually got De Carlo by writing her and saying that he observed that she had a flair to play comedy. De Carlo was keen for a change of pace. She later wrote that her role "did not entirely break my Hollywood stereotype" but "this time it was satire and that made all the difference." Brown knew Peter Ustinov from their time together in the RAF Film Unit during World War II.

De Carlo arrived in London in December 1950 and filming started in January 1951. It was shot at Pinewood Studios with sets designed by the art director Ralph W. Brinton. There was also some location filming in Egypt. She later said "the production couldn't have run more smoothly and Peter was a delight to work with." During filming, Ustinov met Suzanne Cloutier who became his wife.

Ken Annakin said shooting was "a most precarious operation" because the three leads worked in different ways: Ustinov liked to do only a few rehearsals and one or two takes, De Carlo required "at least seven full rehearsals", while David Tomlinson "had the worst habits of London theatre actors. He loved to upstage and upset other actors' performances." However Annakin said "I revelled in it."

De Carlo sang the songs, "I Love a Man" and "Say Goodbye". It was the first time she had sung on film. The scene of Yasmin Pallas (De Carlo) dancing had to be censored for the US cut of the film.

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