Officer Paul Almasy is separated from his unit behind enemy lines and hides in the Hotel Imperial in Lemberg (nowadays Lviv, Ukraine), where chambermaid Anna disguises him as a waiter. The invading Russian troops make the hotel their headquarters. Paul later kills the Russian spy Petroff and Anna arranges the room to depict the death as being a suicide. Later, when the Russians accuse Paul of the killing, Anna provides an alibi by saying that Paul was instead with her in her room and while so doing rips the fine clothing that General Juschkiewitsch has provided her. She later helps Paul elude the Russians and leave the hotel so that he can rejoin his unit. After Austrian troops regain the city, the lovers are reunited and their bravery is recognized.[4]
The film used the same exterior town square set from Negri's film The Spanish Dancer (1923).[3]
Commentary
In a departure from her former vampish roles, and Negri depicted Anna as tense and fidgeting, experiencing the anxiety of war time noncombatents, a woman surrounded by foreign army men in the hotel. She watches carefully and, when she sees the need, takes decisive action to avoid sexual assault and save her lover and, indirectly, her nation.[4]
Preservation
Hotel Imperial is one of Negri's few Paramount films to survive and is preserved in several film archives.[5][3]
^Magill's Survey of Silent Films, Vol. 2. FLE-POT p. 558, edited by Frank N. Magill c.1982 ISBN0-89356-241-6 (3 book set ISBN0-89356-239-4) Retrieved December 11, 2014
