So Long at the Fair (1950)

Directors:

Antony Darnborough
Terence Fisher

Writers:

Hugh Mills (writer)
Anthony Thorne (writer)

Release Date:

29 March 1951 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Romance

Plot:

Vicky Barton and her brother, Johnny, take a trip to the 1896 Paris Exhibition. They both sleep in seperate rooms in a hotel...

Plot Keywords:

Disappearance | Paris France | Remake | Plague | World's Fair

Cast

Jean Simmons	...	Vicky Barton
Dirk Bogarde	...	George Hathaway
David Tomlinson	...	Johnny Barton
Marcel Poncin	...	Narcisse
Cathleen Nesbitt	...	Madame Hervé
Honor Blackman	...	Rhoda O'Donovan
Betty Warren	...	Mrs. O'Donovan
Zena Marshall	...	Nina
Eugene Deckers	...	Day Porter
Felix Aylmer	...	British Consul
André Morell	...	Doctor Hart
Austin Trevor	...	Police Commissaire
Natasha Sokolova	...	Charlotte
Nelly Arno	...	Madame Verni

Runtime:

Argentina:81 min | USA:86 min | UK:86 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | German | French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

West Germany:12 | Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Gainsborough Pictures

Trivia:

This same story was filmed for Season One of the TV series, "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (1955), under the title "Into Thin Air". The show starred Hitchcock's daughter, Patricia Hitchcock. The change to the plot was that the girl arrived in Paris with her mother instead of her brother.

Goofs:

Factual errors: At the end of the film at the hospital, there is a statue of St. Therese of Lisieux. The Exposition took place in 1889, eight years before Therese died, and she wasn't made a saint until about 1925.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Kiss of the Vampire (1963)

Soundtrack:

Coronation March from 'The Prophet'

Marvelous movie

This is an unsung masterpiece. The atmosphere of the 1896 Paris Exhibition is superbly recreated. Jean Simmons is magnificent as the heroine, and Dirk Bogarde has genuine chemistry with her as an aspiring artist who is the only one who believes her. Cathleen Nesbitt is perfection itself in her role, and a young Honor Blackman scores points in an important bit part. And David Tomlinson (later George Banks of Mary Poppins fame) is memorable as Simmons' brother. The sound track and art direction are also terrific. The script is taut and the dialogue crisp. All this and perfect pacing too. I've seen this five times and still look for it whenever it is on. Most highly recommended.

By the way, another reviewer thought this was some sort of re-working of Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes. Aside from the fact that someone vanishes (a man), not much else relates. This is much closer to a Jeanne Crain B-movie that came out a few years later called Dangerous Crossing.