I find Hotel strangely compelling and have watched it countless times on cable TV. In fact, it is playing right now as I write. I remain fascinated by the fact that the hotel thief (Karl Malden) leaves his own room unlocked. Perhaps he knows there's only ever one thief in any hotel. I like the scene when the hotel security and manager describe the thief as wearing a grey suit. They too, all three of them, are wearing grey suits, like just about every other male in the hotel! At least Malden has a hat on (at about two in the morning) to distinguish him from every other male (now how dumb is that?). Plus I can never figure out why Malden, once he has the briefcase stuffed with money from the Duke, doesn't simply check out right away and go retire (to some hotel or another...). I agree with other contributors that the jazz riff in the background, especially signalling the activities of Malden is really annoying and it serves to date the movie too much.
Review of Hotel
