Ten Thousand Bedrooms (1957)

Synopsis
Dean Martin's first solo film after his split with Jerry Lewis was very nearly his last. Dino plays Ray Hunter, a Conrad Hiltonesque playboy hotelier at large in Rome. Taking charge of his latest acquisition -- a huge hotel with the titular 10,000 bedrooms -- Hunter finds himself being pursued by the daughters of wealthy Vittori Martelli (Walter Slezak). For a while, it looks as though the youngest daughter Nina (Anna Maria Alberghetti) has the inside track, but big-hearted Ray, realizing that Nina would be happier with a boy her own age, settles for older sister Maria (Eva Bartok). The poor box-office take for this old-fashioned musical comedy seemed at the time to foretell the end of Dean Martin's film career, but he was rescued by his well-received appearance in The Young Lions. The funniest aspect of Ten Thousand Bedrooms was its promotional trailer, narrated by Teddi Thurman, then famous as the sultry weather girl on the weekend radio series Monitor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide