THE LADY VANISHES
The film that brought him to the attention of Hollywood, The Lady Vanishes is a piece of
classic Alfred Hitchcock. A tale of innocents abroad, caught up in a web of intrigue beyond
their ken and with some characteristically thrilling and tense moments, the film is a
classic of the thriller genre that Hitchcock was master of.
Margaret Lockwood plays Iris, an English girl on holiday in a remote Eastern European principality.
Stranded in an old hotel together with a motley assortment of travellers of all nationalities,
she has a run in with Gilbert (Michael Redgrave), a brash and confident writer, studying the
folk dances of the region. She also meets Miss Froy (Dame Whitty), an aged English governess
about to return home, and is taken under wing by her. When the weather clears to allow the
travellers to depart, they all board the same train bound for Britain. Iris shares a carriage
with Miss Froy, and drifts off to sleep, awakening to find the old woman gone. Unable to
locate her and faced with the flat denials of everyone as to Miss Froy's very existence,
Iris fears for her sanity as she attempts to convince everyone that her aged friend may be
in mortal danger. Sadly, no-one seems to listen...
Filled with taut, tense moments (the shoot-out from the train carriage is particularly
exciting) and expressionistic touches (such as the heroine's blurred vision and hallucinations of
Miss Froy), The Lady Vanishes is never boring to watch. To counter the rollercoaster
ride of the plot, there are many comic touches to the film, foremost amongst them the pair
of bumbling English gentlemen abroad, desperate to return to Blighty to catch up on the
latest cricket scores. Overall, the script is jam-packed with witty dialogue and amusing
situations which instead of detracting from the rest of the movie, serve rather to enhance
it.
Acting throughout is impressive (although a bit stiff-upper-lip in places). Michael Redgrave
and xxx make a superb pairing as amateur sleuths, and Dame Witty brings equal parts dottiness
and perceptiveness to her role.
Vintage Hitchcock at his best, The Lady Vanishes is an exciting, amusing, charming and
utterly compelling movie and one that can be viewed over and over again, without the slightest
lessening of enjoyment.
Vintage stuff from the master. 9/10
