Bizarre situation plagues (pun intended) visiting tourist, Diana Winthrope (Pat Hitchcock, daughter of Alfred in her first of ten episodes in the series) as she enters a luxurious Parisian hotel with a very ill mother, told by a doctor on staff to fetch something medicinal in a place in the city a bit distant from her current location, returning two hours later to find a clerk, porter, and maid who inexplicably have no recollection of her ever being there! "The Lady Vanishes" is used somewhat efficiently here, although the results of all the deceit and having poor Diana running around believing she's going mad, even though she is in full control of her faculties, is rather odd
a lot of trouble went into making sure the old lady's whereabouts and identity were erased when just telling Diana why they would need her moved perhaps could have been sufficient enough. With Basil Farnham (Geoffrey Toone) working for the embassy in the city, given permission by Sir Everett (Alan Napier, Batman (1966)) to help Diana establish whether or not her mother exists and to determine why the hotel would bother to cover up her vanishing, the episode follows this young woman's journey to discover what the hell is going on. Period sets and costumes give the film a nice decorum for the ongoing plot where we know and Diana knows that her mother exists and that all that was shown to us prior to going to get medicine for her ailing mother was real. Pat is okay, although she has this fluttering voice and "oh, golly gee" way about her that can be a bit annoying. Still to have that vulnerability and innocence helps build sympathy for her; she is just a sweetheart with no reason to be treated like a fool. The use of the bubonic plague ties a terrible tragedy to the episode and dates it within a certain time, adding to the period presented to us. Alfred Hitchcock has a little fun with the phrase "vanished into 'thin air'" while introducing the tale to us as the show's "humble host".
Review of Into Thin Air
