So Long at the Fair

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So Long at the Fair
Directed by	Terence Fisher Anthony Darnborough
Starring	Dirk Bogarde Jean Simmons
Release date(s)	1950
Running time	86 min.
Country	U.K.
Language	English
IMDb profile

So Long at the Fair is a mystery-/suspense-thriller directed by Terence Fisher and Anthony Darnborough in 1950. It stars Dirk Bogarde and Jean Simmons. In its plot elements and style the film is reminiscent of many of the films of Alfred Hitchcock. It stars a woman and her brother who are on vacation in Paris and are in separate hotel rooms. One morning, the woman wakes up to find her brother missing and a blank wall where his room was. All people at the hotel claim she arrived on her own, except for Dirk Bogarde, who is her sole ally in helping to solve the mystery.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In most versions of this famous story, a sibling or mother has the plague, and to avoid panic and any loss for the hotel, the staff, police and a doctor set up the woman to go across the town for a useless medicine, telling her that her mother is simply sick. The mother dies while she is gone, and a crew bury her, refurnish her room, all in secrecy with a warning that they'd be fired should they reveal the truth. When the woman comes back, the doctor, manager and desk clerk pretend not to know who she is and show her the different room. It was as if her mother and the hotel room never existed. In other versions, the women bribes a person into spilling the beans. Some claim that all versions are based on true accounts as early as the 19th century, both in London and the US. But for others, it is just an urban myth.

It is based on the same story told in Alvin Schwartz's "Scary Stories 3" as "Maybe You'll Remember".