So Long at the Fair

A visitor to the Paris World Fair of 1889 vanishes overnight, along with his hotel room and all traces of his existence. An appropriate training ground for Fisher's later ventures into horror, but his opportunities for exploring the macabre are restricted here by the demands of an insipid romance between Simmons, as the disappearing man's distraught sister, and Bogarde as the English artist who believes her story. Simmons is too sweet and self-assured to inspire more than mild concern for her predicament, and Bogarde's potential for debonair caddishness remains sadly unfulfilled in the face of his partner's redoubtable innocence. Enthusiasm has to be reserved for the period trappings, a clever Offenbach-ish score, and the fine support playing of Nesbitt, Blackman and Poncin.