The Lady Vanishes (1938)

The Lady Vanishes
Call No: TEMP 866

There’s no question that Alfred Hitchcock made his mark in the cinema. During his life he directed fifty-four feature length films from 1925 to 1976. He was known for being meticulous in storyboarding and setting up every single shot months before filming began. He expected only the best from his actors and was known for his determination and no-nonsense attitude. An actor once approached him and asked what his motivation was in the scene. Hitchcock replied without delay, “Your salary”. He was a perfectionist of the highest order, and even remade his own movie The Man Who Knew Too Much (the original was in 1934, the remake in 1956). His most popular films seem to be those made after WWII, such as Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, North By Northwest, and his most famous Psycho. Fewer people have seen his earlier works. The Lady Vanishes is one of these.

The premise is very simple: As a group of people wait out a storm for their train the next day, a young woman named Iris befriends an elderly lady named Miss Froy. The two board the train together but within hours of doing so, Miss Froy disappears. What is even stranger is that no one seems to remember who Miss Froy is. Add in a dash of romance with a flirtatious stranger, a pinch of unusual situations, and a teaspoon of passenger secrets, and you’ve got a mystery so entertaining that it could have been written by Dame Agatha Christie herself. (If the premise of the film sounds familiar, it’s because the Jodie Foster film Flightplan also follows the same plot.)

What makes this film a fun watch is the diversity of the characters. Michael Redgrave (grandfather of the Oscar-winning actress Vanessa Redgrave) does an excellent job as Gilbert, a fast-talking, flirtatious and somewhat cocky musician and writer who has a rocky start with the female lead. Margaret Lockwood turns in a wonderful performance as Iris Henderson, whose determination remains more inspiring than annoying. But Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne steal the show as a pair of cricket fans who want nothing more than to get to their match on time. Don’t forget to look for Hitchcock towards the end of the film, making his usual cameo as always.

Gilbert and Iris might solve this, if they don't kill each other first.

The Lady Vanishes is one of the more popular of Hitchcock’s lesser known works. One of the reasons for this is that it has equal parts humour and suspense.  Most of Hitchcock’s films focus more on the suspense and the dark drama that it brings. His aim is to thrill the crowd, not entertain. The Lady Vanishes almost straddles three different genres and fluidly morphs from one type of film into the next from scene to scene. What starts off as a mystery and romantic comedy blend evolves into drama and intrigue and finally espionage before returning back to its roots in entertaining mystery and romance. It doesn’t take itself as seriously as Hitchcock’s other films do, which makes it one of the more entertaining films of his career, rather than one of the scariest.