Into Thin Air

No, you're not the only person who noticed similarities between "Into Thin Air" (Season 1, Episode 5) and Hitchcock's own 'The Lady Vanishes (1938).' Indeed, Hitch himself openly acknowledges the mutual source for both works, humbly referring to the director of the latter in the third person. This episode, directed by Don Medford, is certainly inferior to its cinematic counterpart, but it effectively creates a sense of paranoid mystery from a familiar story. Daughter Patricia Hitchcock, who had previously appeared in small roles in 'Stage Fright (1950)' and 'Strangers on a Train (1951),' is given the lead role – she does a fair job, but certainly wasn't the next Ingrid Bergman or Grace Kelly. Pat Hitchcock has a slightly-whiny voice that she shows off when asked to sound panicked, the sort of hysterical performance that wasn't uncommon among actresses in the 1940s. Her father, of course, seems rather proud of the effort, and mischievously remarks "incidentally, I thought the little leading lady was rather good, didn't you?"

When Diana Winthrop (Hitchcock) books herself and her sick mother (Mary Forbes) into a Paris hotel, she doesn't give a second thought to her own mental health. However, after being sent away to collect some medicine for her mother, Diana returns to find that her mother is missing, and, worse still, nobody in the hotel claims to remember her. Beginning to doubt her sanity, she seeks help from the British embassy, but they have a hard time taking her word over that of half a dozen hotel employees and a sign-in register from which the name Winthrop has disappeared. The story fits snugly into the half-hour time-slot, though the conclusion is not as satisfying as it might have been. "Into Thin Air,' just like 'The Lady Vanishes,' toys with the intriguing question of how one can maintain confidence in their own sanity if everybody is scheming against them. After all, as Orwell put it, perhaps a lunatic is simply a minority of one.

'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' was a bit of a mixed bag up to this early stages. The first two episodes to me were great, but the next two were disappointing. The biggest interest point of "Into Thin Air" is that it stars Hitchcock's own daughter Patricia in the first of ten appearances in the series in the lead role. The story, while not novel which is acknowledged by Hitchcock himself in the bookending, was a very good idea and very Hitchcockian, even though not directed by Hitchcock.

"Into Thin Air" is neither one of the best or worst episodes of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents', certainly better than the rating here implies (somehow managing to be rated worse than the previous episode "Don't Come Back Alive"). More of somewhere in the middle, that does a good deal right but it could have been fresher and runs out of gas at the end (which is a shame). Very neat set up, with a clear 'The Lady Vanishes' and 'So Long at the Fair' influence, with generally solid albeit not amazing execution.

Many things in "Into Thin Air" are good. The production values are solid, some stylish shots and a nice atmosphere created. The music is suitably ominous without being over-emphasised, and cannot get enough of the theme tune for reasons that have been pointed out in my reviews for the previous 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episodes. The intro is wonderfully dry and acerbic and Don Medford directs in a way that is not static or routine, even if he is not in complete control in the latter stages.

Enough of the script intrigues and there is some nice suspense. Patricia Hitchcock does a good sympathetic job in the lead roles, one of her better performances of the series. The rest of the cast support her well. Alan Napier was always great value, always liked him in 'Batman' for instance.

However, "Into Thin Air" is another episode of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' that tries to cram in too much in too short a duration. It feels very rushed, sprawling in structure and needed a much longer length, this is a story that would have leant itself much better as feature length. The suspense also could have been more consistent, it's there but just not enough.

Really do agree that a lot of suspension of disbelief is needed, though it is not as much as "Don't Come Back Alive" and even more so that the very abrupt and anti-climactic ending is a let down. Giving the sense that the writers didn't know how to end it so tacked one on.

Concluding, acceptable if not great. 6/10.

Of course, it is not a surprise to find such a plot in ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS tv show, he who already gave us THE LADY VANISHES, back in 1938; the very same scheme but aboard a train instead of a Parisian hotel, as it is the case here. And this scheme will also be used many times after, since, with movies such as BREAKDOWN ( 1997), R. I. F (2011), THE VANISHING (1988), DYING ROOM ONLY (1973).... But this scheme will never get old, it will always work for generations, whatever the contry it comes from, whatever the period or settings. It is an unavoidable episode for anyone who is interested in Alfred Hitchcock's atmosphere.

A young woman and her mother arrive in Paris. They check into a hotel. The mother is quite ill and the doctor sends the young woman off to get some medicine. It's all a ruse. When she returns, her mother has disappeared. She begins her personal investigation into the missing mother's whereabouts. One must suspend belief when one considers why this whole persiflage takes place. When we finally find out what happened it makes no sense why these people couldn't have kept the daughter in the loop. She was certainly a cool head, rather staid, and wouldn't have presented a security risk. For a government to have gone to so much effort to cover something up is beyond belief. Also, to have done what they did in a couple hours is also ridiculous. Can you imagine how hard it would be to set all this up, including the remodeling of the hotel room? It's an interesting episode, but it's not the Twilight Zone, so things should have some verisimilitude.

The story is pretty intriguing and remind me of Lady Vanishes in some way and i still enjoyed the episode. We are wondering what happened and where is the mother? We just want the explanation and now we just wait for answers for all our questions. A very good investigations story that is pleasant to follow.