''Ten Thousand Bedrooms'' is a 1957 American

romantic comedy film Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

directed by

Richard Thorpe Richard Thorpe (born Rollo Smolt Thorpe; February 24, 1896 – May 1, 1991) was an American film director best known for his long career at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Biography Born Rollo Smolt Thorpe in Hutchinson, Kansas, Richard Thorpe began his en ...

and starring

Dean Martin Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool". M ...

Anna Maria Alberghetti Anna Maria Alberghetti (; born May 15, 1936) is an Italian-American actress and soprano. Biography Born May 15, 1936, in Pesaro, Marche, in central Italy, she starred on Broadway and won a Tony Award in 1962 as Best Actress (Musical) for ' ...

, and

Eva Bartok Éva Márta Szőke Ivanovics (18 June 19271 August 1998), known professionally as Eva Bartok, was a Hungarian-British actress. She began acting in films in 1950 and her last credited appearance was in 1966. She acted in more than 40 American, ...

. Martin's first film in the wake of the dissolution of his partnership with

Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. As his contributions to comedy and charity made him a global figure in popular culture, pop culture ...

in the team of

Martin and Lewis Martin and Lewis were an American comedy duo, comprising singer Dean Martin and comedian Jerry Lewis. They met in 1945 and debuted at Atlantic City's 500 Club on July 25, 1946; the team lasted ten years to the day. Before they teamed up, Martin w ...

, it was filmed in

Metrocolor Metrocolor is the trade name used by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) for films processed at their laboratory. Virtually all of these films were shot on Kodak's Eastmancolor film. Although MGM used Kodak film products, MGM did not use all of Kodak's proc ...

and

CinemaScope CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its creation in 1953 by ...

Plot

Millionaire hotel mogul Ray Hunter flies to Rome to buy another property, the Regent. He is picked up at the airport by lovely Maria Martelli, who works for the hotel's owner, the Countess Alzani. Ray is reproached by the Countess for the impersonal way he buys up hotels this way, piling up "ten thousand bedrooms" and replacing employees without a second thought. He sincerely promises not to do so with the staff of the Regent. During the drive back into central Rome, Maria mocks Ray about his buying of numerous hotels. Instead of rebuking her, Ray appreciates her frankness, causing Maria to apologize and volunteer to be his translator that afternoon during staff introductions. When Maria stops briefly at her home to change, Ray meets the Martelli family, including Papà Vittorio and his other daughters. Maria's youngest sister, 18-year-old Nina, takes an almost immediate liking to Ray. Maria's current romantic interest is Anton, a poor Polish count who fancies himself a sculptor. Nina, meanwhile, tries to catch Ray's eye, while his private pilot Mike is trying to catch hers. Nina sees the sights with Ray and wants to marry him, so she asks her father for permission. Papa Martelli forbids it, saying in this family all of the eldest daughters must be married before the youngest can. Ray tries to speed up that process. He sends for two eligible bachelors from America on the pretense of business. They are quickly introduced to two other sisters of Maria and Nina. But when he makes the mistake of buying Anton's artwork in order to make the poor count feel worthy of proposing to Maria, it backfires. Maria is furious and Ray apologizes with a kiss. Suddenly realizing he is involved with the wrong sister, Ray is in a fix. At a party, Papa Martelli is rushed into saying Ray is engaged to daughter Nina, which upsets Mike so much that he decides to leave. Ray hurriedly urges Mike to stay and fight for the girl he loves. It takes some doing, but everything finally works out. Ray finds a job for Anton that involves him traveling to Bombay for a long period of time. Meanwhile, he persuades Maria that he's sincere, and next thing you know, Papa Martelli is planning four weddings.

Cast

Production

Laslo Vadnay wrote the original story “10,000 Bedrooms,” which

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

purchased in 1955 and then subsequently assigned him and Dwight Taylor the task of developing it into a screenplay. The movie was filmed between mid-August and mid-September 1956 in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, Italy and then between September 27 and late-October 1956 at M-G-M’s

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

Culver City Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most ...

, California.

Supervisors

* Musical director: George E. Stoll * Directing assistant: Robert Saunders * Montage: John Sweeney Jr. * Artist director:

Randall Duell Randall Duell (July 14, 1903 – November 28, 1992) was an American architect and motion picture art director. He designed Magic Mountain theme park in Santa Clarita, California, the original Universal Studio Tours in California, Six Fla ...

and William A. Horning

Musical numbers

The film featured the following musical numbers: #"

Guaglione "Guaglione" is a Neapolitan song with music by Giuseppe Fanciulli and words by Nicola "Nisa" Salerno. This original version of the song was the winning song at the IV Festival di Napoli which was broadcast on radio in 1956. ''Guaglione'' () is N ...

", music by Giuseppe Fanciulli, lyrics by

Nicola Salerno Nicola Salerno, also known as Nisa (11 March 1910 – 22 May 1969) was an Italian lyricist. He formed a famous songwriting duo with Renato Carosone. Career Nicola Salerno was born in Naples, Italy. His first hit was "Eulalia Torricelli" of ...

. #"Money Is a Problem", music by

Nicholas Brodszky Nicholas "Slug" Brodszky (russian: Николай Бродский; April 20, 1905December 24, 1958) was a composer of popular songs for the theatre and for films. Brodszky was born in Odessa, Russian Empire, into a Jewish family, who moved to ...

, lyrics by

Sammy Cahn Samuel Cohen (June 18, 1913 – January 15, 1993), known professionally as Sammy Cahn, was an American lyricist, songwriter, and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premier ...

. Performed by Dean Martin and Jules Munshin. #"No One but You", music by Nicholas Brodszky, lyrics by Jack Lawrence. #"Only Trust Your Heart", music by Nicholas Brodszky, lyrics by Sammy Cahn. Performed by Dean Martin and Anna Marie Alberghetti. #"

Rock Around the Clock "Rock Around the Clock" is a rock and roll song in the 12-bar blues format written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers (the latter being under the pseudonym "Jimmy De Knight") in 1952. The best-known and most successful rendition was record ...

", music and lyrics by

Max C. Freedman Max Charles Freedman ( Friedman; January 8, 1893 – October 8, 1962) was an American songwriter and lyricist, best remembered for co-writing the song " Rock Around the Clock" . Background Freedman was born in Philadelphia, and became a radi ...

and Jimmy De Knight #"Ten Thousand Bedrooms", music by Nicholas Brodszky, lyrics by Sammy Cahn. #"You I Love", music by Nicholas Brodszky, lyrics by Sammy Cahn.

Reception

According to MGM records the film earned $955,000 in the US and Canada and $750,000 elsewhere, resulting in a loss of $1,196,000.

References

External links

* * * * *
The Color Creator; New Contributor to the Fine Art of Films
Comment by the critic Bosley Crowther on the film's color palette. {{Richard Thorpe 1957 films American romantic comedy films 1957 romantic comedy films 1950s English-language films Films directed by Richard Thorpe Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films CinemaScope films Films produced by Joe Pasternak Films with screenplays by William Ludwig 1950s American films