The Lady Vanishes Reviews

(OK) So delicious, pure Hitch in a fast train, a whole conspiracy when it was in the making, but as tender and touching, as a song memorized by a grandma spy. Hithc rediscovers clisés, make them own, learns and teach...

Since I'm a huge fan of Alfred Hitchcock, of course, I was really eager to check this out. At first, I was wondering where the whole thing was getting to (I never read beforehand what a movie is about) and, during the first scenes, I thought it would be some kind of farce. Eventually, I understood that the hotel sequence was actually there only to establish all those peculiar characters. Indeed, the real action was to take place later on, on the train. There, it became one of those spellbinding thrillers that only Hitchcock could make back then more than 70 years ago. It was just fascinating to see this woman getting back to her seat and asking where was this old lady who simply vanished. I mean, this has been copied so many times through the years, it was just pretty neat to see Hitchcock's own version. Another fascinating aspect was the total lack of music. Indeed, music is usually a key element in your typical thriller and it constantly underlines the action, telling when you should pay attention, when you should be scared and it is usually quite effective but also really intrusive. Here, since there is no music queue, you are left alone wondering which emotions you should feel and I thought it was a great approach. To conclude, even though it might not be one of his many masterpieces, it still is a very good thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I'd call The Lady Vanishes lesser Hitchcock but it does hit on some of his more common tropes. We've a train, a Macgufffin and a case of mistaken (or missing) identity wrapped up in this story of Margaret Lockwood's character searching for a vanished without a trace woman on a train. The search itself is rather compelling as is the interplay between Lockwood and Michael Redgrave (who joins in the search) but the movie quickly devolves into an extended allegory about England's hesitancy to fight Germany in World War II.
This is essentially the movie's downfall. The character's attitudes towards war are one note and exaggerated and those final scenes feel more like an infomercial than a satisfying ending to the story. Unlike something like The Great Dictator It doesn't really rise above its wartime allegory coming closer to a Mrs. Miniver.
It's still interesting and it still has some of that Hitchcock flair but its not among his greatest.

One of my favorites! Great story line, and characters as well. I can watch this movie over and over and not get tiered of it. :)

"The Lady Vanishes" is one of Alfred Hitchcock's early black and white films (1938) and the success of this film helped Hitchcock to be recognised in America as a talented director. He made just one more film in England after "The Lady Vanishes" then left for America where he became famous as a top director of suspense movies. "The Lady Vanishes" is a cracking comedy thriller with a notable script by Sidney Gilliatt, Frank Launder and Alma Reville (Hitchcock's wife). Mainly set on a train snowbound in the Swiss Alps Iris Henderson (Margaret Lockwood) befriends Miss Froy (Dame May Whitty). Miss Froy then mysteriously vanishes and no one on the train will admit seeing her (although many of them did in fact meet her they each have their own reasons to keep quiet about it). Iris manages to persuade fellow traveller Gilbert Redman (Michael Redgrave in his screen debut) to help her in the search. Cricket fanatics Charters and Caldicott (Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne) have seen Miss Froy on the train but are worried that an investigation into her disappearance might delay them getting to Manchester in time for their beloved Test Match so they decide to stay silent. Dr Hartz (Paul Lucas) tries to convince Iris that she is mistaken and has imagined the entire episode due to a blow on the head she received prior to the train journey. Several other passengers on the train also saw Miss Froy but do not want to be involved which confuses our heroine and places her in great danger as the journey progresses. The film was remade in colour in 1979 with Elliott Gould and Cybill Shepherd but the Hitchcock version is still the best in my opinion. For anyone interested in spotting Hitchcock's regular cameo appearance this comes right at the end of the film when Lockwood and Redgrave arrive back in London. (Hitchcock can be seen at Victoria Station wearing a black coat and smoking a cigar). Radford and Wayne were so popular as Charters and Caldicott that they reprised these characters in other films.
Favourite lines:
Margaret Lockwood (on phone to hotel manager): "Boris, Miss Henderson speaking. Look, someone upstairs is playing musical chairs with an elephant. Move one of them out will you? I want to get some sleep".
Lockwood: "I've no regrets. I've been everywhere and done everything. I've eaten caviar at Cannes, sausage rolls at the dogs. I've played baccarat at Biarritz, and darts with the rural dean. What is there left for me but marriage?".
Lockwood (to Michael Redgrave): "You're the most contemptible person I've ever met in all my life".
Basil Radford (on the phone to London): "I'm enquiring about the Test Match in Manchester. Cricket, sir, cricket! What! You don't know! You can't be in England and not know the Test score!".
Lockwood (to Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne): "Well, I don't see how a thing like cricket can make you forget seeing people". Radford: "Oh, don't you? Well, if that's your attitude there's obviously nothing more to be said".
Lockwood (to Redgrave): "I know there's a Miss Froy - she's as real as you are".