The Lady Vanishes

Movie Review: The Lady Vanishes

Year of Release: 1938
Country of Origin: UK
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Paul Lukas, Dame May Whitty

Plot outline: While traveling in continental Europe, a rich young playgirl realizes that an elderly lady seems to have disappeared from the train (IMDb).

An assortment of Hitchcock's greatest early movies are featured in a three-disc collection. Adapted from the 1936 novel The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White, this movie was the penultimate movie of Hitchcock's British period. The movie was a great success and brought him to the attention of Hollywood. Considered to be the second best of his British movies (after The 39 Steps), The Lady Vanishes skilfully combines suspense thriller and black comedy, making this one of Hitchcock’s most entertaining – and unpredictable – movies. The movie’s cast is as perfect as its direction and scripting. Margaret Lockwood makes a terrific Hitchcockian heroine – resilient, vulnerable and attractive (!); her pairing with the great Michael Redgrave is a stroke of genius. This is just one of the many well-formed double acts the movie has to offer – the most memorable being Naunton Wayne and Basil Radford as the cricket-obsessed Caldicott and Charters. These latter two proved to be so popular that they re-appeared in a number of subsequent movies. The more shocking sequences in the movie are offset by some superlative – and wonderfully downplayed – comedy, which curiously adds to the suspense. There are even a few nice expressionist touches, notably the sequence when the heroine struggles to hold onto her consciousness as the train begins its nightmarish journey. The movie’s strengths – particularly in its characterisation and atmosphere – manage to carry it through its weaker moments (an unconvincing model shot at the start of the movie, and a needlessly drawn-out shoot-out sequence near the end). On a bigger budget, Hitchcock would undoubtedly have managed to make a more polished production, but it is doubtful that he would have improved upon the movie he did make, the compelling and irresistibly funny The Lady Vanishes. (JT)

My judgement: ***1/2 out of 4 stars