Tuesday 18 August 2015

GRAND HOTEL 4 (FIRST HALF OF S3, FRENCH REGION 2 DVD)

Spain in the early 20th century. The idyllic luxury of the prestigious Grand Hotel, located just outside the (fictional) town of Cantaloa, conceals secrets, lies, intrigue, and danger. 

The first half of the third and final series of Grand Hotel (Gran Hotel, 2011-2013), the acclaimed Spanish mystery drama, will be available tomorrow in France on DVD from Koba Films as "Grand Hôtel - Saison 4".  

Produced by Bambu Producciones, the company of Ramón Campos and Teresa Fernández-Valdés, for channel Antena 3, Gran Hotel was sold to more than 60 territories, including France (groupe M6), the UK (Sky Arts) and the United States. Series three of Grand Hotel initially consisted of 14 X 70-minute episodes. However, when Antena 3 reduced by half the second series to preserve ratings the channel added 8 of its 16 episodes (already filmed) to the third (1). Everybody at the Grand Hotel is in shock after the tragedy, starting with Doña Teresa Alarcón (Adriana Ozores). Wounded, Julio Olmedo (Yon González) is looking for his lover Alicia (Amaia Salamanca). But the wife of Don Diego Murquia (Pedro Alonso) has vanished. Lawyer Maite Ribelles (Megan Montaner), the best friend of Doña Alicia, arrives at the establishment.

Maite joins Julio, Inspector Horacio Ayala (Pep Anton Muñoz) and Agent Hernando (Antonio Reyes) in their search. Diego believes his wife left him and he's annoyed by Maite's presence. In the shadows, someone behind the recent events and the disappearance of Alicia will stop at nothing for revenge. Known internationally as "the Spanish Downton Abbey", Gran Hotel was in fact born from the passion of its creators Ramón Campos and Gema R. Neira (Gran Reserva) for mystery stories and the work of Agatha Christie (2).  Following a spectacular cliffhanger worthy of the U.S. supersoaps of the 1980s, this "Grand Hôtel - Saison 4" DVD set by Koba Films contains Episodes 1 to 7 of the third series.  

Doña Sofia (Luz Valdenebro) is left for dead in a cold room. Javier Alarcón  (Eloy Azorin) falls in love with nurse Laura Montenegro (Marta Hazas), who's not quite what she seems. Inspector Ayala is suspicious about Diego, whose self-assurance cracks as his past resurfaces. Hernando is a pioneer in K-9 policing... sort of. Alicia reappears but is she a pawn between the hands of an invisible adversary of her husband? Doña Ángela (Concha Velasco) and her son Andrés (Llorenç González) are fed up of Belén (Marta Larralde) to the point the young man goes to extreme measures. Jesús Manzano Cisneros (Lluis Homar) becomes the new maitre d'hotel. Teresa remains dangerous and Don Alfredo (Fele Martinez) meets the King of Spain.

The amateur sleuth trio Julio, Alicia and Maite helps Ayala and Hernando, the Spanish Poirot and Hastings, to find the answer to this question: who is Adrián Vera Celande? The 7 episodes of this DVD set from Koba are on 4 discs in French only. French subtitles for the hearing impaired are available. Overall effective, this ultimate series of Gran Hotel is packed with mystery, suspense and romance. Its twists and turns are more riveting than ever, the settings are gorgeous (3), the cast is composed of Spain's best actors and the music of Lucio Godoy is magnificent. An Italian adaptation of Grand Hotel produced by Cattleya (Gomorrah) and Beta Film for pubcaster RAI 1 will start on September 1. It stars Eugenio Franceschini and Valentina Bellè.

(1) http://blogs.formulatv.com/aldia/antena-3-corta-la-segunda-temporada-gran-hotel-para-emitirla-mas-adela/
(2)  http://nachomedivas.es/secretos-gran-hotel-creador-ramon-campos/
(3) Grand Hotel was primarily filmed at the Palacio de la Magadalena, an early 20th-century palace on the Magdalena Peninsula of the city of Santander (http://palaciomagdalena.com/en/).


http://www.kobafilms.fr/reservation/grand-hotel---saison-4-449.html
http://www.bambuproducciones.com/?language=en 

See also:


http://tattard2.blogspot.fr/2015/06/grand-hotel-3-second-half-of-s2-french.html (Second half of Series 2 DVD review)
http://tattard2.blogspot.fr/2014/08/grand-hotel-series-two-french-region-2.html (First half of Series 2 DVD review)
http://tattard2.blogspot.fr/2014/05/grand-hotel-french-region-2-dvd_10.html (Series 1 DVD review)  

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