'Spies in the Savoy Hotel' stars Alfred Abel, who is extremely well-known for his role in one film (as the master-builder of 'Metropolis') but who is otherwise quite obscure ... so it's interesting to see him in any other movie, especially one (like this) which is so radically different from 'Metropolis'.
Abel plays an English(!) diplomat in Berlin, who gets involved in a hush-hush mission which requires him to visit a local cabaret. Here, he gets involved with a femme-fatale spy (Olga Tschechowa), a starry-eyed chanteuse (Margot Walter) and some low comedians.
The so-called 'plot' of this movie is wildly implausible ... not a fatal offence in a comedy, providing the humour quotient makes up for the implausibility. Alas, this movie isn't quite funny enough to pull it off. Alfred Abel is a very bad choice for the lead role: he's meant to be a reliable straight man in the centre of the insanity all round him, but Abel is merely stolid and dull. Many of the cabaret turns are at least mildly entertaining, but I couldn't help noticing that the plot merely stops dead while a musical number or a comedy turn trundles by. Many films (such as the excellent 'Let George Do It') have skilfully maintained a suspenseful plot line in the middle of musical-comedy sequences. 'Spies in the Savoy Hotel' fails to do so.
The success of Christopher Isherwood's memoirs in various forms ('I Am a Camera', 'Cabaret') has probably made quite a few modern viewers eager for a glimpse of the *real* Berlin cabaret scene in the days just before the Third Reich. The (apparently authentic) cabaret sequences in this movie are quite tame, with none of the Isherwood depravity shown in 'Cabaret'. This may be partly down to the fact that the cabaret in this movie is in the nightclub of a posh hotel, rather than an independent establishment.
Walter Slezak (surprisingly slim here) is good in a supporting role, as is Karel Stepanek. I'll rate this movie 6 points out of 10. Skip this movie and rent 'Cabaret' instead.
