The Lady Vanishes [1938]

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-09-08 rating:
FABULOUS 1930s CLASSIC!

One of the greatest movies from the 1930s!

Margaret Lockwood stars as a passenger on a train who is befriended by an elderly lady (Dame May Whitty) after receiving a bang on the head. The plot thickens when Miss Froy (Whitty) goes missing, but no one on the train will admit to ever having seen her.

Lots of suspense in this, and not a boring moment! This can be watched over and over and still remains as fresh as the day it was made! This classic suspense movie will keep you on the edge of your seat the whole time! Includes a galaxy of stars, with some outstanding performances - particularly those of Catherine Lacey (the nun), Linden Travers, Dame May Whtty and of course Lockwood herself.

Also stars a young Googie Withers.

Fabulous!


review by: date: 2008-08-16 rating:
A classic by any definition
Many films since have tried to make hay out of a similar concept, just how can a woman go missing from a moving train without anyone seemingly having seen her, but none have ever made for a movie quite as good as this genuine classic from 1938.

Of course the audience knows that Miss Foy, a delightful turn from Dame May Whitty, was on the train and we soon learn the reasons why the other passengers don't believe, or won't back up, Iris Henderson (another great turn from Margaret Lockwood) when she insists that the old woman has, well, vanished. Two bumbling Englishmen don't want to miss the test cricket, a lawyer doesn't get involved because he's in the middle of an illicit romantic affair.

When it was remade in 1979, badly, the action almost immediately cut to everyone meeting on the train; here almost 20 minutes elapses before we get to that point and the time invested at the beginning in this filling out of the story pays off superbly when the crunch comes further down the line giving the viewer a greater, and more logical, insight into the intimacy that has developed between the characters.

Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave share a flirtatious rapport and the humour in the film is charming in the extreme. Throw in a little pre-war propaganda (although on this note, its interesting to watch the bumbling Englishmen of Charters & Coldicutt) and you have an admittedly light concoction, but one that is perfectly assembled. And as numerous subsequent attempts along the same lines have proved, it's impossible to improve on perfection.

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Similar products

The 39 Steps [1935]
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North By Northwest [1959]
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Similar categories

Video . DVD & VHS . Categories . Classics . Horror & Suspense
Video . DVD & VHS . Categories . Crime, Thrillers & Mystery . Alfred Hitchcock
Video . DVD & VHS . Categories . Horror
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Format (binding_browse-bin) . DVD
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . BBFC Rating (intended_use_browse-bin) . PG
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Editions (feature_two_browse-bin) . Standard Edition
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Region(feature_browse-bin) . Region 2
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Release Date (feature_three_browse-bin) . 1939 and earlier

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