Movie Review The Lady Vanishes

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1938 – Spoiler alerts Regarded by many as among Alfred Hitchcock’s best movies, I find it rather disappointing. It veers wildly from screwball comedy to melodrama, to mystery to spy thriller without really settling on any of its themes. Plotwise, various British travelers are on a train coming across Europe on a train. The model work on the train often looks really bad. Stranded briefly at a railway hotel because of an avalanche, the passengers, including Margaret Lockwood as Iris Henderson, move around and we get to know some of them. Michael Redgrave as Gilbert who Iris quickly comes to detest as he keeps her awake with his loud music. She also meets an old lady called Miss Froy (May Whitty) who she sits with when the train finally gets going again. Aside from two cricket mad Englishmen, Charters and Caldicott (who went on to appear in other movies as a comedy double act) most other passengers are East European. (German Nazis in all but name). Naunton Wayne as Caldicott and Basil Radford as Charters are the best known characters in the movie. When Miss Froy inexplicably disappears, Iris finds that everyone else denies she ever existed, even people who met her and spoke with her while Iris was present. The passengers treat her as if she is mad, except Charter & Caldicot who initially try to avoid getting involved fearing the fuss might make them miss a big cricket match. Only Gilbert believes Iris and they unite to uncover the mystery. Miss Froy is a British spy, kidnapped and hidden in a magician’s cabinet. The heroes, assisted by Charters & Caldicot and a patriotic gun toting nun, end up defending the train when the enemy agents attack and Miss Froy escapes to complete her never fully explained mission. Put together the elements don’t mix well, though the character interaction is fun. This is not the classic it was made out to be though. The film has been remade twice, both times unsuccessfully. Arthur Chappell