GurlyIamBeach Instant Favorite.

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Holstra Boring, long, and too preachy.

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

JohnHowardReid A Paramount picture, presented by Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky. Copyright and release date: 26 February 1927. New York opening at the Paramount: 1 January 1927. 8 reels. 7,091 feet. 85 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Patriotic chambermaid shelters an Austrian soldier from the Russians by disguising him as the hotel waiter.NOTES: Paramount made an attempt to re-make the film in 1936 with Marlene Dietrich, but the project was abandoned when Dietrich refused to take direction from Henry Hathaway.COMMENT; Those of us who are familiar with Five Graves to Cairo (1943) are in for a stunning surprise in this superb earlier rendition of that tale of the hostile soldier disguised as a waiter in the enemy's headquarters. Instead of the charismatic Erich von Stroheim, we have George Siegmann giving the best performance of his career as the general, and the wonderful Pola Negri easily out-classing Anne Baxter as the chambermaid. I still prefer Franchot Tone to Charles Hall. Although Hall is very able, he displays little personality. Max Davidson, however, is certainly the equal of Akim Tamiroff. I loved his little bits of realistic "business". Stiller's unrelentingly paced direction combines with Glennon's moodily atmospheric photography and Hans Dreier's cavernously seedy sets to create such a grippingly suspenseful environment that the story seems like a whole new experience, fresh and never before traveled. (AVAILABLE on DVD through Grapevine. The music score is not always adept, but visual quality rating: Ten out of ten).

MissSimonetta I admit I am not on the same page as the other folks on here: I do not view Hotel Imperial (1927) as a lost gem from the silent era. It is beautifully directed and shot, with fluid cinematography and mostly competent performances. Negri shines brightest, bringing her naturalistic acting and passion to her performance. It is she who makes this film so memorable.The story is what brings everything down. The story is meant to be good drama, but the lack of subtlety in the villains and lapses of intelligence in most of the characters just drags everything down.A beautifully made but certainly not classic film. Watch for the atmosphere and Negri.

DKosty123 Seeing this film, Pola Negri is a definite feast for my eyes as she fills the screen with a fine performance. I viewed this recently with a live audience and one of our elder viewers was from Eastern Europe. His comments resonate on the qualities in this film."The World War 1 uniforms were very accurate in the film, and it is the first time I have ever seen a film which portrayed the Eastern Europe government in a positive light politically. This film stunned me in the political accuracy of that portrayal." This speaks reams for this film. Not only is Pola Negri super, but a person who lived in Eastern Europe applauds the excellent film making involved.This is one of a very small handful of films made about this front in World War 1. The history is just as important as Pola Negri's performance.

c21jackg A great movie - very entertaining from start to finish - the video release available from Grapevine is lacking only in the fact that the musical accompaniment is below average. However, that does not diminish the fact that Pola truly was a star and her on screen magnetism shines in this World War I themed movie. A must for silent movie fans.