tavm Review of Ten Thousand Bedrooms

Ten Thousand Bedrooms (1957)

Dean Martin is not so bad in his first film without Jerry Lewis-Ten Thousand Bedrooms

[6/10 · 31 August 2011]

Just watched this, Dean Martin's first movie without Jerry Lewis, on YouTube. He plays hotel magnate Ray Hunter who's buying a long popular Italian inn in Rome. While there, he meets the Martelli family of which the head is Papa Vittorio (Walter Slezak) who has four daughters of which the oldest is Maria (Eva Bartok) and the youngest is Nina (Anna Maria Alberghetti). For a while he seems interested in the former but when he meets sculptor Anton (Paul Henreid) and finds out about their relationship he allows himself to be charmed by the latter (who's just turned 18 or 19 depending on whose statement is right). Nina is also pursued by Mike Clark (Dewey Martin) who's a pilot for Hunter. I'll just say that while not much happens for the first 15 or 30 minutes, once the plot I mentioned kicks in, it becomes an intriguing premise to see how it all ends up. And Dean not only warbles some good romantic tunes, with one of them a duet with the also compellingly musically talented Ms. Alberghetti, he also gets a nice comic tune with Jules Munshin as his servant Arthur. Whatever laughs come gradually builds until the climatic scene with Slezak having to deal with all the potential son-in-laws. No great shakes, but as Dean's first film he has to carry on his own, not a bad one to start with. So on that note, Ten Thousand Bedrooms is worth a look. P.S. The gorgeous lady in the opening credits is played by one Monique van Vooren.