The Blue Hotel (TV)

The Blue Hotel (TV)

Das blaue Hotel - German title

Modrý hotel - Czechoslovakian title

Blå Hotellet – Swedish title

The Blue Hotel - English title

A 1973 West German, Swedish television production [Süddeutscher Rundfunk (Stuttgart),

SaarländischerRundfunk (Saarbrücken), Sveriges Radio (Stockholm)]

Producer:

Director: Stanislav Barabas

Story: “The Blue Hotel” by Stephen Crane

Teleplay: Stanislav Barabas

Cameraman: Sven Nykvist [color]

Music: Wolfgang Dauner

Running time: 95 minutes

Cast:

The Swede - Per Oscarsson

Patrick Scully - Hans Christian Blech

Johnny Scully - Martin Lüttge

Cowboy - Arthur Brauss

Mr. Blanc - Konrad Georg

Farmer - Kurt Strehlen

Bartender - Tommy Johnson

Calamity Elsa - Anne Marie Machnow

Chris Siringo - Tord Peterson (Tord Pettersson)

Mrs. Scully - Gun Robertsson

Story: The Palace Hotel is located in Fort Romper, Nebraska. It is painted blue and is run by a man named Patrick Scully. Scully waits at the train station, trying to solicit guests for his hotel. He ends up finding three guests to bring back: a quiet Easterner, a paranoid Swede, and a rugged cowboy. He convinces them to come back by being extremely cheerful and nice. When they come back to the hotel, Scully offers them anything they want to make their stay a pleasant one, possibly in hopes of them going out and telling their friends and neighbors. By lunch, everyone is starting to notice the Swede’s paranoid behavior. Rather than engaging in conversation with Scully, he is more interested in the guests. He says he is scared of being in the West because of how dangerous it is. He then starts laughing loudly and making awkward gestures. After lunch they all join in a game of cards, but The Swede can’t seem to stop his paranoid behavior, making the game extremely uncomfortable. As the day progresses, the Swede’s aggression increases. He even hits Scully on his weak shoulder. Still, Scully will not tell him to leave. The Swede then asks everyone to join him in another game of cards. Soon after that though, the Swede gets very angry and accuses Johnnie of cheating, just as the farmer did before. The room turns to chaos as all the men begin arguing except for the Easterner and Scully. Finally, Johnnie tells the Swede to fight him. The Swede agrees. Fed up with the Swede’s rudeness, Scully goes along. After the fight starts, the cowboy immediately starts rooting for Johnnie, telling him to kill the Swede. Johnnie loses though, after the Swede knocks him down twice. The Swede returns to the hotel and checks out. In a bar in town, the Swede sits down at a table with four other men. The men pay no interest when the Swede starts bragging about his fight. This angers the Swede, but he tries to buy the men drinks to try and catch their attention. They are still not interested and politely decline which angers the Swede even more. The Swede turns his attention to a gambler sitting with the men, trying to get him to accept the drink. When the Swede puts his hand on the gambler, the gambler slits his throat. The gambler walks out, telling the bartender to tell the cops that he will be at home.