Movie Review: So Long at the Fair (1950)
Synopsis: British citizen Victoria Barton travels with her older brother/guardian Johnny to Paris to see the World's Fair and the siblings check into two rooms at Hôtel de la Licorne. The next morning, Victoria wakes up and discovers both her brother and his hotel room are missing and the hotel's owners insist she arrived alone. With limited ability to speak French, she tries to find help, only to find none of the authorities will believe her without proof.
Who's in it? The movie stars Jean Simmons, Dirk Bogarde, David Tomlinson, Honor Blackman and Cathleen Nesbitt.
Review: I came across So Long at the Fair a couple weeks ago and thought the plot sounded intriguing enough to add to my library. I ended up watching it this morning and it proved to be an OK choice that ultimately left me wanting.
The thing that intrigued me most about this movie was the somewhat complicated, albeit successful, attempt to gaslight Victoria (Simmons). It was unclear what the motive was. While her brother (Dirk) seemed to have money, it didn't look like he was any richer than any of the other guests and, based on how quickly his disappearance was covered up, it seemed premeditated rather than random. It was almost as though it was something they had done before, even though there seemed to be no indication the local authorities had received similar reports in the past.
I also wondered if maybe her brother was in on it, enlisting the hotel's help in his disappearance. However, if that was the case, it just added a lot more mystery as to why.
Proving her brother's existence also proved to be much more difficult than I would have expected. Her signature was the only one in the guest book, none of the hotel employees were willing to speak up on her behalf and the one person she thought would be willing to be a witness was killed in a hot air balloon accident.
I was also undecided about the one person who did try to help her, George Hathaway (Bogarde). He seemed to be on her side and was clearly a potential love interest. At the same time, I did wonder if maybe he was somehow involved and stringing her along. At minimum, he was taking an awful lot of risks for a woman he just met.
I did wish Victoria would have done more on her own. As I've said in the past, I am a fan of movies with strong female leads and Victoria didn't quite fit that description because she mostly just stood around while George and other men did the work. I would have loved to see her put her neck on the line a bit more.
My biggest complaint about the movie, however, is the ending, mostly because it didn't make a whole lot of sense. I understood why he was taken away from the hotel during the night but am still confused about why there was such a need to gaslight his sister afterwards. If anything, you would think they would have wanted her to know and get her out of the hotel too. Frankly, it was a bit of a letdown because it made the rest of the drama/suspense seem so unnecessary.
Final Opinion: This is a good mystery but is unfortunately ruined by an explanation that left a whole lot more questions than answers.
My Grade: C
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Here are some reviews of other movies from 1950:
Movie Review: The Tattooed Stranger (1950)
Movie Review: Mystery Street (1950)
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