The Lady Vanishes (Criterion) (Blu-Ray)

The other reviewers have laid out much of the characters and the plot for this film, but I wanted to add a couple of things.

This isn't a comedy, but it does have some wry, dry-humour moments as it imitates real-life situations and quandries. It doesn't claim to be a comedy, or a taut spy thriller either for that matter, so if you watch it without expectations, I think you'll enjoy this film.

We think of the past as a simpler time, but this shows it really wasn't. Sure, they didn't have cel phones or laptops or ipods, but if people today are put in the same situation, we'd fare no better than these people. Even today, you could be at a ski lodge or a mountain hotel and the train tracks and roads get snowed over, the snow clearing equipment is elsewhere, the phone lines go down, and because of the mountains, cel reception is non-existent. If the lodge was already full and then had to make room for people stuck because the train isn't going anywhere... you see when I'm going with this.

It doesn't matter if it's 1930 or 2012, when you're stuck, you're stuck. And it's in this setting that we find our characters. They finally board a train and one of them goes missing. The thing is, almost everyone claims they never saw the elderly woman. Who's telling the truth? Who's lying, and, if they are lying, why?

In this arguably timeless film, the female lead is also stuck, so to speak, (a la Flightplan) and begins to doubt her sanity.

Some reviewers may complain about the number of rounds a certain handgun may or may not have, or what Hitchcock should have done differently, but I think this film is fine the way it is. Yes, it's a bit hokey at times, but it does touch on some serious subjects (such as at one point, a country the train enters is in the middle of political turmoil and the train is forceably stopped and everyone on board is afraid they'll be killed) and is timeless. Hence, I would call this film a timeless classic, and, as such, I think anyone who is a Hitchcock fan, a Michael Redgrave fan, an "oldies" fan, or a student of human nature would do well to watch this film.

Alfred Hitchcock wasn't too good at straight-out comedy, which he only did once. But he was absolutely brilliant at clever, witty thrillers, one of the earliest of which is "The Lady Vanishes." While it has some major plot holes, Hitchcock makes up for those with witty dialogue and solid acting.

Iris (Margaret Lockwood) is having a last girl's-night-out with her best friends, at a small Alpine hotel. As she's leaving on the train, she befriends a kindly little old governess (Dame May Whitty) -- who vanishes while Iris is napping. Even worse, everyone denies that the old lady existed, making Iris wonder if she imagined the whole thing.

She enlists the help of eccentric musician Gilbert (Michael Redgrave) to help her find the old lady, once they are both convinced that the lady existed. Now the pair must go through the train in search of the old lady -- but they never expected to uncover an international conspiracy, which could leave them all dead.

"The Lady Vanishes" was a pretty early movie of Hitchcock's, and at the end we're left wondering about several oddities in the plot (how is an eighty-year-old lady so athletic? How inept can those foreign agents BE?). As a spy thriller it's flawed but passable... but it's very good as a comedic mystery.

Hitchcock takes his time introducing us to these characters, by having them all bunk at one overcrowded hotel. One particularly funny scene has Gilbert invading Iris's suite, after she has him ejected from his room, and strewing his things all over as she orders him to leave. But Hitchcock also captures the claustrophobic feeling of being menaced on a train.

As well as the feisty socialite and weird musician, the movie is sprinkled with cricket-obsessed Brits, ebullient hoteliers, and bickering adulterous lovers. They all do fairly solid jobs, with Redgrave as a charming, slightly odd standout. And they all get some entertaining dialogue, no matter how stodgy they are. ("My father always taught me, never desert a lady in trouble. He even carried that as far as marrying Mother.")

"The Lady Vanishes" is a comedic mystery that doesn't quite work as a spy thriller. But it's still an entertaining, taut little movie. Definitely a keeper.

Spunky Iris Henderson (Margaret Lockwood) boards a train in Eastern Europe on her way to be married in England. Aboard are a colorful assortment of characters including two cricket-obsessed eccentrics, a suspicious couple having an illicit affair, and a rather scary magician. One bright note is an elderly governess, Miss Froy (Dame May Whitty) whom Iris befriends. As the trip gets underway, the old lady promptly disappears and no one seems to have seen her except Iris, who did suffer a bop on the head earlier and may have imagined her.

While the basic plot is a lot like Flightplan, this 1938 Alfred Hitchcock suspense story is full of comedic touches. The quirky characters are well-developed and appropriately silly or menacing and I was kept interested and guessing until the end. Lockwood is quite likeable as the spirited heroine and Michael Redgrave is fun as her joking yet sympathetic new friend.

The movie loses a star because model trains and bad indoor-for-outdoor sets are obviously used and in a shootout, two pistols hold at least a hundred bullets. But the overall mood is exciting as well as playful; indeed, this is a good mystery that doesn't take itself too seriously. Recommended.