Hitchcock's masterful film about intrigue and espionage is filled with suspense and excitement.
The popular viewpoint amongst many movie critics these days seems to be that Alfred Hitchcock's British films are inherently inferior to his US output. The truth is that "The Lady Vanishes" compares favourably with all but the very best of his work, British or American. This film could rightly be described as a thriller, a romance or even a comedy. At the beginning of the film a group of tourists are dismayed at the cancellation of their train and having to spend an extra night in a Tyrolean ski lodge. The extra night allows the tourists to get to know each other and the viewer to be introduced to the main characters. The main players are a spoilt young lady Iris(Margaret Lockwood), a brash musician Gilbert(Michael Redgrave) and a slightly dotty old lady Miss Froy(Dame May Whitty). The next morning when waiting for the train Iris suffers a bang on the head and is helped onto the train and befriended by Miss Froy. Iris sleeps on the train and awakes to find the old lady gone and the other passengers in her train compartment denying that she had ever been there. Confused by this Iris sets out to find her new friend only to find that nobody on the train remembers her. The only exception is Gilbert who is totally enchanted by Iris. Together they search the train for the old lady. As the search goes on the various selfish reasons for other passengers denials are revealed to the viewers. The other passengers include Charters and Caldicott a pair of cricket mad Englishmen who were so popular with cinema audiences that they went on to feature in many later films. When the truth about the harmless old lady is revealed it is as big a shock to the viewer as it is to her fellow passengers. Hitchcock displays a lighter touch here than in any other film, even during the romantic moments and the laugh out loud sequences there is still a real tension in the air which sustains the film until the end. A lovely old fashioned film that is pure escapist enjoyment.
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