The Lady Vanishes

'The Lady Vanishes' is one of the last films made by Hitchcock before crossing the ocean and starting his American career. It used to be one of the preferred Hitchcock films of Francois Truffaut who confessed in his book of dialogs with Hitchcock to know it by heart. I had great expectations before seeing it, and I frankly was disappointing. The idea of the film is fantastic, and the film starts a genre or maybe two - the train (or other closed space) thriller and the denied disappearing where we the viewers and the hero are the only ones who believe in the reality of what we have seen - the combination that was lately used again in 'Fightplan'. The problem here is with the combination and ratio between comedy and thriller. The British humor mixed with national stereotypes that may have been enjoyed by the 1930s viewers did not work at all with me. The two principal characters played by Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave are quite credible, and May Witty justifies the Dame put before her name, but the rest of the actors are no more that sketches filling in the screen with conventional and sometimes wooden acting. There is little thrill in the whole film especially after the secret of the disappearing is dispersed, there is none of the famous Hitchcock suspense scenes that we can remember, and the final action scenes look completely amateurish (what happened with the Nazi officer with a a gun with one bullet at hand in the train?). This film may have spoken actual messages by the time it was made. An appeasing lawyer is shot and killed while trying to surrender - a clear message for the contemporary audiences in England or the US a few weeks after the Munich agreement. Yet for the viewers today there is too little good cinema to keep beyond the truly original idea of the script.

A cracking plot, sparkling dialogue, great characters and sublime direction make The Lady Vanishes an all-time must see. Marking the peak of Hitchcock's British period, it is an exquisitely crafted, finely wrought, cinematic treasure, boasting a cast which reads like a veritable Who's who of British acting talent from the Golden Age of British Cinema. While the director, writers and supporting cast all deserve credit, the film very much belongs to its leading lady, the lovely Margaret Lockwood, who, as feisty heroine Iris Henderson, somehow manages to be heart-stoppingly beautiful, supremely sexy, spirited, cute and adorably vulnerable all at the same time! Now where can I meet a girl like that? The Lady Vanishes is, for every reason, but especially because of Miss Lockwood, the very best of the very best; a landmark movie which is truly unmissable! Buy it, rent it, steal it if you must, but make damn sure you see it

Dame Mae Witty gives a memorable performance as the old woman who goes missing. The rest of the cast is great with Margaret Lockwood as the woman she befriends on the train. Sir Michael Redgrave also is wonderful as the obvious love interest of Lockwood. The film is truly filled with Hitchcock's stamp all over it. He takes a simple story and makes us not only intriguing but entertaining as well. They remade the film again in 1978 more than 40 years after this film debuted in British cinema. This classic film should not be mixed up with that one. I enjoyed this film. It had its humorous moments. I think this film is really wonderful to watch without being too much. Nowadays filmmakers can take note by Hitchcock's genius and talent. You do not need grand special effects today to create a memorable film but great actors and decent writing. This film is a great film about a good old fashioned mystery without deterring the audience. This film is good old fashioned movie making at its best.