The Silver Screen Oasis

Has anyone seen The Lady Vanishes? I think it is one of Hitchcock's most entertaining films.

I love The Lady Vanishes, it's so charming. And sinister. Plus it's got Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne.

I agree that Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne are great. I also liked the pairing of Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave.

The story of Lady Vanishes is inspired by that legend of an Englishwoman who went with her daughter to the Palace Hotel in Paris in the 1880's, at the time of the Great Exposition. The woman was taken sick and they sent the girl across Paris to get some medicine, in a horse-vehicle, so it took about four hours, and when she came back she asked, "How's my mother?" "What mother?" "My mother. She's here, she's in her room. Room 22." They go up there. Different room, different wallpaper, everything. And the payoff of the whole story is, so the legend goes, that the woman had Bubonic plague and they daren't let anybody know she died, otherwise all of Paris would have emptied. That was the original situation and pictures like Lady Vanishes were all variations on it.

Isn't that the same as Too Long at the Fair as well?

I haven't seen So Long at the Fair. So I checked the wikipedia link of So Long at Fair.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_Long_at_the_Fair

You are correct. It also got the inspiration from 1880s incident.

LADY VANISHES has a lot going for it. The dialogue gets a little too silly. I appreciate the light banter against the menacing scenario, but a step back would have made it more palatable. The concept is better employed in 39 STEPS and SABOTEUR. But you're right. It's a very good movie!

The Lady Vanishes is my favorite Alfred Hitchcock movie, closely followed by The 39 Steps. It's one of his most entertaining, largely because it's less of a pure suspense movie than a combination of comedy, suspense, and a little adventure thrown in. For me, at least, the mixture makes it more enjoyable than if it was just pure suspense. Plus, screwball comedies are one of my very favorite genres, and, at times, The Lady Vanishes comes very close to being one.

For some reason, I like many of Hitchcock's earlier movies (particularly from the 1930s) more than many of his more acclaimed later ones. It's not that I don't like his later ones. I like many of them a lot (especially Rear Window and North by Northwest), but I like several of his earlier movies even more. I'm not completely sure why. I think part of it may be that they are often less pure suspense stories, and have more comedy and adventure mixed in than his later ones. But that doesn't apply to all my favorite Hitchcock movies, nor to all of his early ones, so I'm not really quite sure what the reason is.

There's an awful lot of charm to The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes. I agree that 39 Steps is tighter, better realized and all, but for flat out fun and humor, The Lady Vanishes is the one to pick. Michael Redgrave never again would show as much charisma as he does here, through his whole long career.

I enjoy The Lady Vanishes much more than North by Northwest. Compared to The 39 steps and Saboteur, I agree that it has a lighter touch. But I think "serious subject" in The Lady Vanishes would have been much more predictable if it had a serious touch like we see in The 39 steps and Saboteur.

But with The 39 steps and Saboteur, it is more far more serious due to the fact that we are travelling with the men on the run from both police and the real enemies. Another reason for seriousness in the 39 steps is due to the way the woman gets killed in the beginning. In Saboteur, the seriousness also comes from the sabotage caused by Frank Fry. The crimes caused by the enemies in the beginning of both The 39 steps and Saboteur give audience the impression that the leading characters are in a very dangerous level.

In The Lady Vanishes, its exactly the opposite. We are travelling through the "innocent" people (Lockwood and Redgrave) who are not in a dangerous level like Miss Froy is. Although the head injury of Lockwood does add tension, still the audience is later relieved that she is with a man (Redgrave) whom she can trust.

Don't you think that the lighter, more escapist tone of The Lady Vanishes might have to do with when it was made, in relation to the other two films? The 39 Steps was mid thirties, a time of anxiousness maybe, but not particular threat. Saboteur was definitely a war, wait, a propaganda movie. When The Lady Vanishes was made, war was just on the brink, and people felt a need for something light to ease the tension. Still there is an underlying mood to the movie, a spirit of let's work together to stop the common enemy - shown in the battle on the train.

You know, as much as I like Madeleine Carroll, I think you are right about the women in both films. Both ladies are beautiful, even elegant at times, both are good actresses. I like them both tremendously. Madeleine can be a bit starchy, but in all the right ways, more graceful and feminine maybe. Lockwood has starch but is never uppity, she's fiery instead, and all too human, more like us, sometimes brushing off the man, because she's seen too many pick up lines, lol. She's more human with all her faults and foibles.

Maggie is definitely more down to earth. You'd never find Madeleine Carroll running off with a man and sleeping on the beach on Bank Holiday.

ha! that is hard to picture.