Nicely-acted film, particularly by a young Jean Simmons demonstrating the capabilities that made her such a well-known figure later in her acting career. What's probably not so well known about this picture is that it appears to be based on a real incident that supposedly occurred at the Paris Exposition in May of 1889. In the "real" incident (it's tough to find documentation of it), it is the girl's mother, not her brother, who goes missing, but the details are much the same as presented in the film. It's been awhile since I last saw this movie, but as I recall the film ending was quite different from the actual conclusion; in the latter situation, the young lady never found her mother and was eventually committed to an insane asylum in England. Or so the story goes. True story, or old, old urban legend? Either way, it lends a little bit of added dimension to this intriguing, fairly obscure movie.
Review of So Long at the Fair
