Hotel Imperial

Hotel Imperial is a 1939 American dramatic film directed by Robert Florey. It stars Isa Miranda and Ray Milland. Cast Isa Miranda as Anna Warschawska Ray Milland as Lieutenant Nemassy Reginald Owen as General Videnko Gene Lockhart as Elias J. Carrol Naish as Kuprin Curt Bois as Anton Henry Victor as Sultanov Albert Dekker as Sergeant Ernő Verebes as Ivan Robert Middlemass as General Von Schwartzberg Michel Werboff as Russian Sergeant Spencer Charters as Visoff Betty Compson as Soubrette Bodil Rosing as Ratty Old Woman Wolfgang Zilzer as Limping Tenor Production Lajos Bíró's play Hotel Imperial was adapted into a silent film in 1927. Paramount Pictures started production on an adaption of the play in the 1930s under the title Invitation to Happiness, to please its lead actor Marlene Dietrich. Lewis Milestone was meant to direct the film, but production on Anything Goes took too long resulting in Henry Hathaway being selected. Fritz Lang and Richard Boleslawski were considered for the directorial role. The script was written by Arnold Belgard and Franz Schulz. Melchior Lengyel and John Van Druten also worked on the script. Dietrich refused to perform unless the script was changed due to its negative depiction of her role. The film's producer, Benjamin Glazer, left after four days of shooting in protest of Dietrich's control over the film and was replaced by Ernst Lubitsch. The script was edited by Hathaway and Grover Jones and retitled the film to I Loved a Soldier. Lubitsch was removed from his position at Paramount during production causing further disagreements between Dietrich and Hathaway, who stated that she became "a monster of her own making", before she left the film.