Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

I doubt that many people these days have ever heard of this movie but IMO it's one of those absolute classic films which is practically flawless and holds your attention from beginning to end. The sense of period is marvellous and all the cast are fully professional in their roles. The one character that really stood out for me was Mde.Herve played by Cathleen Nesbitt. I was probably only around 17/18 when I saw this on t.v. but her portrayal was the one I remembered most vividly for years after. It was great to be reacquainted via YouTube and as a mark of a truly great production it was every bit as good as I remembered which, as we all know, is so often not the case after the passing of many years.

I'm generally not a fan of old British movies, although occasionally one comes along that is not stuffy and slow. This is one of those exceptions, and one worth of a Hitchcock treatment (and in fact, Hitchcock redid the film as an episode of his television series). It's an intriguing whodunit...or in this case who and what dunit. I cheated and read the reviews and plot line in advance, and I'm kinda glad I did...gave me a hint at what to watch for, although not knowing that might have been just an interesting.I also suddenly realized while watching the film that the lady hotel owner was also Cary Grant's grandmother in "An Affair To Remember". Of course, in this film she wasn't nice and sweet! The plot here is rather simple. A British brother and sister come to Paris for the 1889 World's Fair (and the introduction of the Eiffel Tower). They stay in a nice hotel, in separate rooms, and overnight her brother disappears...and so does his hotel room! Everyone acts as if she is a bit daft, but she realizes she must track down the truth. Just about when everything appears hopeless...about halfway through the film...along comes Dirk Bogarde to the rescue (we see Bogarde early in the film, but only briefly). He begins to pull the pieces of the puzzle together.Jean Simmons is excellent here, and she was well along in her career at this point. On the other hand, Dirk Bogarde was on the rise in his, and he makes a very good showing of himself here.One odd thing about this British movie is that because much of it takes place in Paris, many of the people in the film are speaking FRENCH...and there are no subtitles. Sometimes that heightens the suspense, other times it puts a damper on it.Top notch entertainment; highly recommended.

A classic thriller from England that's rarely seen but beloved by those who are lucky enough to come across it. Siblings Jean Simmons and David Tomlinson check into a hotel in Paris during the 1891 Exposition. Tomlinson promptly disappears. The hotel staff agrees that Tomlinson never existed and suggests that Simmons is crazy. Co-directed by Antony Darnborough and future Hammer auteur Terence Fisher, the film grows more and more sinister with each turn as Simmons desperately tries to convince SOMEONE that her brother did exist. Serendipidously, fellow Brit Dirk Bogarde is around and believes her (and has even met Tomlinson). Featuring some terrific acting (particularly by Simmons, just 21 and only two years after playing Ophelia to Olivier's Hamlet). Simmons and Bogarde have a lot of chemistry. Tomlinson is suitably uptight though not as tightly wound as he would be in his later Disney films. Felix Aylmer is a sympathetic British Consul and a very young Honor Blackman plays Bogarde's would-be girlfriend. Cathleen Nesbitt is the deceptively helpful Madame Herve. The conclusion is quite shocking.

Not many people know that the basic plot of this film is based on a real life event that took place during the 1889 Great Exhibition in Paris. There are major differences of course; for a start, the young woman arrived with her mother and not brother as depicted in the film. Secondly, they arrived directly from India and not Italy. Ironically, the 1955 TV Episode 'Into Thin Air' - part of Alfred Hitchcock presents - is far closer to the truth than the 1950 feature film.But I agree to the change of plot because casting the missing person as the brother gives the story more flexibility. That said, the script should have been far more exciting than the rather bland fare that the director had to cope with. There was plenty of scope for a brilliant thriller with plenty of red herrings, something which Hitchcock would have exploited with glee - as he already had done in his 'The Lady Vanishes' and would do so again in the aforementioned TV episode.