Hitchcock opens this film with a location shot of the tiny village in which we will find the hotel which is obviously made up from miniatures, which I don't think Hitchcock really tries to hide, and which instead emphasizes the somewhat "fairy-tale" nature of the narrative, which involves a sleeping beauty who awakes to a different world than the one she fell asleep in. In addition, the first few minutes are silent, and it is only when Miss Froy "vanishes" out of the door, that a cacaphony of noises and voices fill the soundtrack. Much importance is placed on the role of language here - from the misinterpretations of Charters and Caldicott, to the hotel manager translating his message into different languages, to Iris correcting his pronounciation. This seems to set up the theme that language is key to control and reality.
