(NOIR) Fog Island - 1945 ***

A poorly done "B'' movie about a group of people invited to an old man's house at Fog Island. He invites them there under the pretext that they will be given some of his inheritance but he actually wants to uncover which of them murdered his dead wife. I was surprised but happy to see Jerome Cowan of the 'Fred and Ginger' films taking a moderate sized part here, but the quality of the film was so dire that a lot of the time it was hard to differentiate who was who.

(HORROR) Megan is Missing - 2011 ****

'Megan is Missing' is a very powerful film. Although it's based on true events (actually its based on a number of cases not just one) it still manages to come across as terrifying. It's a warning to all people out there never to trust what people say over a computer screen, and to always go with someone else when you are going to meet them. Sadly younger girls are awfully naive when it comes to this sort of thing, and can become embroiled in situations beyond their control.

Megan is a popular, confident and pretty 15 year old girl, who enjoys promiscuous enocunters with guys, partying and doing drugs. Her 13 year old best friend Amy is the complete polar opposite, shy, insecure and quiet, but somehow, the two girls are very close and perfectly compatible. When Megan starts talking to a boy on the internet, all she can think of is when and where they can meet, and without telling Amy where she is going, she disappears. A few days later Amy is also gone.

An important film to watch, and very upsetting in some scenes, but actually one of the better 'lost footage' movies of it's time.

So Long at the Fair - 1950 ****

My best friend hunted down a copy of this for me and I am so grateful (thank you pasta!) because it was a brilliantly constructed and shockingly overlooked mystery gem supposedly based on a true story.

The story is of a sister and brother who go to Paris in 1889 to see the world fair. The night before they are due to depart to the fair they check into a hotel with separate rooms. The next morning the sister eagerly rushes to her brother's room to wake him, and finds with horror that both he and his room have disappeared. And even more shocking is that the owners and staff og the hotel claim that she arrived alone and that they never saw her brother. Enter Dirk Bogarde, the one man who spoke to her brother the night before the disappearance, and the one person who can help her unravel what happened.

A tight plot, with a shocking ending, Jean Simmons and Dirk Bogarde are totally in sync with each other.