Movie Review – The Lady Vanishes

The Lady Vanishes (1938) – As young socialite Iris Henderson (Margaret Lockwood) journeys back to England to be married to a man she doesn’t really love, she makes friends with a kindly older woman, Mrs. Froy (Dame May Whitty), on the train.  Shortly the older woman disappears and all the other passengers deny they ever saw her.  With the help of self assured musician Gilbert (Michael Redgrave) she hunts for the truth on the train in this comic drama directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Hitchcock had developed an outstanding reputation for his work in England and Hollywood was considering bringing him to the U.S.  The problem was that his previous four movies hadn’t been particularly successful.  When legendary American producer David. O. Selznick saw “The Lady Vanishes” he knew that Hitchcock was up to the challenge.  This was his next to last movie in England before making the move.  Curiously, his final English movie (“Jamaica Inn“) was a box office success but Hitchcock never liked it.  He did not make his trademark cameo appearance in it.  At least one movie critic considers it one of the 50 worst movies of all time.

This is a classic train mystery.  Someone disappears on a moving train when it shouldn’t be possible to just disappear.  Hitchcock’s trademark sense of whimsy in on display here from the opening scene in an overwhelmed small European hotel.  This is the movie that introduces two classic English characters in Charters and Caldicott (played by Naunton Wayne and Basil Radford).  The two cricket obsessed gentlemen aren’t well known in the States but became quite popular in England.  They would go on to appear in a variety of movies and radio shows, eventually even getting their own TV series.

The movie was a career launching pad for several actors beyond Wayne and Radford.  Margaret Lockwood was relatively unknown prior to taking the role and Michael Redgrave was an up and coming stage actor who had never been on the screen before.  This movie would launch him into stardom.  Dame May Whitty was already an established performer with an Oscar nomination (Supporting Actress, 1937 for “Night Must Fall”) to her credit.

“The Lady Vanishes” lacks the claustrophobic intensity of many of Hitchcock’s classic American films but it keeps the action moving very nicely.  Everything works well together to create a truly enjoyable movie experience.

Rating – **** Recommended