Hotel Berlin is an American drama film made by Warner Bros. in late 1944 to early 1945 starring Faye Emerson, Helmut Dantine, Raymond Massey and Andrea King.
Towards the end of World War II, the lives of various desperate people intersect at the Hotel Berlin, a hotbed of Nazis, officers, spies and ordinary Germans trying to weather the inevitable defeat.
Meanwhile, von Stetten is arranging for the escape of his group to North America, where they hope to secretly rebuild their strength for another grab at power.
Hotel "hostess" (and informant) Tillie Weiler warmly greets Major Kauders, a pilot determined to make the fullest use of a short leave.
When they take shelter from an air raid in the basement, Sarah is recognized by Hermann Plotke, who orders her to put on the Star of David badge required of all Jews.
Later, however, Tillie snoops in Dorn's suite (not only envious of her extensive wardrobe, but seeking a pair of shoes) and finds a suspicious discarded waiter's jacket, which she reports to Helm.
Though the hotel is surrounded, Dorn persuades admirer Major Kauders to escort a seemingly drunk Richter (now in an SS uniform) through the cordon.
[4][5] Film critic Michael Atkinson observes: "for most of the world in early 1945 the concentration camps were still just a rumor, but here characters talk in ominous terms about Dachau and Birkenau, whose gas chambers were claimed in the picture to kill "6,000 people in 24 hours!
"[6] According to a press release, Andrea King and Faye Emerson were coached in their German accents by Trude Berliner, a refugee who had been imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp.
Still, the centerpiece of Hotel Berlin might belong to Lorre, who has an enormous, seven-minute scene in which his booze-sodden man of science debates with Dantine's idealistic rebel about the usefulness of fighting, and the hopelessness of being German, in the face of so much malice and death and suffering...”[6] Observing that a “good cast makes it generally interesting”, Leonard Maltin gives the picture 2.5 out of 4 stars.