The Lady Vanishes

The Lady Vanishes (1938)

Runtime: 96 minutes

Directed by: Finally, I see another movie from Hitchcock

Starring: Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Paul Lukas, Dame May Whitty

From: Gainsborough Pictures

As of late I've mainly been watching really old movies. It just worked out that way, you know. I haven't reviewed any of his films in a real long while (I did do Strangers on a Train on Letterboxd in March, but that was a rewatch and I already reviewed that a few years prior) so I figured doing this would be killing 2 birds with 1 stone.

To steal a long plot description from the IMDb: “Passengers on a scheduled train out of the mountainous European country of Mandrika are delayed by a day due to an avalanche, and thus get up close and personal with each other out of necessity in the only and what becomes an overcrowded inn in the area. Once the train departs, the one person who it is uncertain is on the train is a middle aged English governess named Miss Froy. Iris Henderson, who was vacationing in Mandrika with girlfriends before heading back to England to get married, is certain that Miss Froy was on the train as they were in the same compartment and they had tea together in the dining car, but all those people who can corroborate her story don't seem to want to do so. Iris' thoughts are easily dismissed as a possible concussion as Iris was hit over the head just before boarding the train...” Yep, it's a now familiar plot device used in such subsequent movies as Bunny Lake Is Missing and Flightplan.

The rest of the review is from Letterboxd, where I rated it 3 ½ stars out of 5, with some additional information.

Overall, I'd say that I enjoyed it enough to give it a 3 ½ star rating, but in the world of Hitchcock motion pictures, it means that there definitely are other works of his I'd see again rather than this. Sure, the three main characters you see-and I listed first when I mention the movie's stars-all do a real nice job, there are some quality laughs and thrilling moments too. 

Yet, the movie takes awhile before the train gets-a-rollin'; it establishes characters and all that and I have no complaint with that; not all of the humor works, unfortunately. That and some pretty dumb/annoying characters were disappointing; maybe they were funny/entertaining at the time... for example, sometime I enjoyed the British chaps who were obsessed with cricket (allegedly, that represented those Brits who focused on other things rather than the impending World War, or so I hear) and othertimes they just came off as obnoxious dopes.

Then, the story ends up being real absurd and ridiculous and even nonsensical at a few moments. While I was amused at the directions the tale went, it also was kind of goofy, and it stood out with a story I did find often to be quite interesting and intriguing. But that's OK. While others may enjoy this more than me, at least I have more than a few films from Hitch I can rewatch with more enjoyment than what'd happened if I saw this again without the aid of a mute button or the fast forward button.

I'll return tomorrow night.