The Lady Vanishes - Criterion Collection

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Fans of Hitchcock must see this movie, 2009-01-09
The Lady Vanishes is a wonderful piece of fluff, the culmination of Hitchcock's British period, after which he started to explore more serious themes in his American films. Of course the basic plot is absurd, centering around the most ridiculous way to get a secret message through one can think of, and why did.....o well, never mind, it's the handling that matters, and Hitchcock achieves a near perfect balance here of humour and suspense that he only really matched on one other film, North By Northwest. br / br /The film spends 20 or so minutes just introducing it's characters, but they are all so great, especially the two men so obsessed with returning to a cricket match that a case of disappearance and possibly murder is relatively unimportant, that it hardly matters, while Michael Redgrave and Margaret Lockwood simply sparkle as the main couple who of course initially can't stand each other. Once on the train, the ensuring mystery and sleuthing are riveting,and full of fantastic little details- the name on the window, the nun with high heeled shoes, the fight amidst a magician's paraphenalia The final shootout is excellently staged and still quite exciting. The laughs are constant, with some helarious lines, but they never detract from the suspense. Of course there's those shoddy model shots, but hell, this is a film from 1939! br / br /Hitchcock had countless classics to come, including such complex masterpieces as Vertigo and Rear Window, but the delightful, hugely enjoyable The Lady Vanishes is a little masterpiece of it's own.

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The Master of Suspense...Mr. Alfred Hitchcock - The Lady Vanishes, 2008-12-03
This is one of Hitchcock's early films and he does a very good job with it. Iris Henderson (Margaret Lockwood) is at the end of a ski vacation and must return to London to be married. She is not happy about the situation. She meets Miss Froy (Dame May Witty) and Gilbert (Michael Redgrave) and after a blow to the head, the adventure begins. Miss Froy goes missing without a trace. A shifty physician and a mysterious nun add to the mix as Iris is thrown for loops at every turn. Is she losing her mind or are there characters in this fray with ulterior motives? br /

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Where is Freud, or Fraud, or..., 2008-07-23
This interesting remake of Jodie Foster's "Flightplan"... sorry, kidding. Hitchcock greatness is easy to spot in this 1938 comedy thriller. It starts with what seems a gathering of all European nations in an hotel somewhere at the foot of the mountains, with people speaking languages as if they were in Babel after the fall. Nobody understands entirely each other, and if they act nice, egoism surface when they must sacrifice an interest for somebody else. So, when a lady friend of our heroine disappears inside a train in movement, nobody wants to admit it. It reaches a point when we are not entirely sure the lady in question even exists. The year is 1938, and spies with obscure plans seems to roam the entire train, which stands for Europe. If at the end the film seems quaint, outdated, all the motives of the characters are explained, and what is more important, they make a sense, a characteristic lost in "Flightplan". Add to that a palpable chemistry between the three main characters, smartly portrayed. Personally I think that the comedy holds better in this film that the suspense, but this opinion must not deter you from watching it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Thumbs up for "The Lady Vanishes", 2008-07-17
Terrific movie from one of the most talented directors ever. A must see for anyone who likes mysteries--or just good movies!

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

A fine quality print at last, 2008-03-29
The Lady Vanishes has been a favourite film of mine for many years, but apart from late night television screenings the only previous copies that were available ranged from appalling to average in quality. br / br /This new Criterion release is excellent, and a good deal of trouble has been taken with cleaning the print and preparing the new transfer. The image is crisp, with a better range of tone, particularly in the dark grey. The picture is clearer overall, and the camera shake that appeared on most previous transfers has been removed - great work! br / br /The sound is also clear and well restored, and the extra features are interesting and worth having. br / br /Criterion releases are usually very good, although on occasion they have not been as good as versions offered by other publishers. In this case, however, they have done an outstanding job.