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The Lady Vanishes (1938)

Director(s) Alfred Hitchcock
Producer(s) Edward Black (uncredited)
Top Genres Comedy, Mystery, Romance, Thriller/Suspense
Top Topics Spies
More Films Directed by Alfred Hitchcock More Films Produced by Edward Black More Films from 1938 More Films from the 1930s Top Classic Movies of the 1930s Top Spies Films

The Lady Vanishes Overview:

The Lady Vanishes (1938) was a Comedy - Mystery Film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and produced by Edward Black.

SYNOPSIS

The high point of Hitchcock's British films is a beguiling mystery story. A group of English travelers on a train across Europe includes a sweet old woman (Whitty)...for a while. Lockwood and Redgrave get pulled into a web of intrigue when, after Lockwood gets beaned on the head, the lady disappears, leaving only her name written in frost on the window. When they set out to find her, Lockwood's memory and sanity are questioned, particularly by a scheming Lukas. The Hitchcock touches, the sly wit, the unsuspecting hero plunged into a baffling situation, are already apparent. The special edition video includes a documentary on Hitchcock's famous cameo appearances. Remade in 1979 with Elliott Gould and Cybill Shepherd.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

The Lady Vanishes BlogHub Articles:

THE LADY VANISHES (1979)

By Dan Day, Jr. on Feb 26, 2023 From The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog

THE LADY VANISHES is a 1979 remake of Alfred Hitchcock's much more famous (and better) 1938 film with the same title. The '79 THE LADY VANISHES is now best known as being the last theatrically-released feature that Hammer Films was involved in during the 20th Century. The head of Hammer, Michael Car... Read full article

Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave in Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes

By Stephen Reginald on Oct 10, 2020 From Classic Movie Man

Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave in Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes The Lady Vanishes (1938) is a British thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave. The success of this film caught the attention of producer David O. Selznick. Selznick signed H... Read full article

Review: The Lady Vanishes (1938)

By 4 Star Film Fan on Apr 16, 2018 From 4 Star Films

Though he would make Jamaica Inn the following year, it’s undoubtedly The Lady Vanishes that situated Hitchcock for the move to Hollywood as his last great British film showcasing once more his immense aptitude as a storyteller no matter the resources on hand. At the beginning of the proceedin... Read full article

REEL INFATUATION BLOGATHON: The dashing Gilbert of The Lady Vanishes (1938)

on Jun 23, 2017 From Caftan Woman

Who is the movie character that sets your heart aflutter? Font and Frock and Silver Scenes are hosting, for the second year, the Reel Infatuation Blogathon running from June 23 to June 25. Day 1 recap Day 2 recap Day 3 recap The delightful comic-thriller The Lady Vanishes was adapted by Sidn... Read full article

REEL INFATUATION BLOGATHON: The dashing Gilbert of The Lady Vanishes (1938)

By Caftan Woman on Jun 23, 2017 From Caftan Woman

Who is the movie character that sets your heart aflutter? Font and Frock and Silver Scenes are hosting, for the second year, the Reel Infatuation Blogathon running from June 23 to June 25. The delightful comic-thriller The Lady Vanishes was adapted by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder from Ethel L... Read full article

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The Lady Vanishes Quotes:

Gilbert: Come on, sit down, take it easy. What's the trouble?
Iris Henderson: If you must know, something fell on my head.
Gilbert: When, infancy?
Gilbert: [wearing a deerstalker and brandishing a calabash pipe] Let's marshal the facts over a pipeful of Baker Street shag.
Iris Henderson: I was having tea about an hour ago with an English lady. You saw her, didn't you?
Charters: Well, I don't know, I mean, I was talking to my friend, wasn't I?
Caldicott: Indubitably.
Iris Henderson: Yes, but you were sitting at the next table. She turned and borrowed the sugar. You must remember.
Charters: Yes, I recall passing the sugar.
Iris Henderson: Well then you saw her.
Charters: I repeat we were deep in conversation. We were discussing cricket.
Iris Henderson: Well, I don't see how a thing like cricket can make you forget seeing people.
Charters: Oh, don't you? If that's your attitude, there's nothing more to be said! Come Caldicott. "A thing like cricket!"
Gilbert: Wrong tactics. We should've told him we were looking for a lost cricket ball.
Gilbert: Can I help?
Iris Henderson: Only by going away.
Gilbert: No, no, no, no. My father always taught me, never desert a lady in trouble. He even carried that as far as marrying Mother.
Gilbert: What was she wearing? Scotch tweeds wasn't it?
Iris Henderson: Oatmeal tweeds.
Gilbert: I knew it had something to do with porridge.
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The Lady Vanishes Facts
The set that the movie was shot on was only ninety feet long.
Although he uses the fictitious Bandrikan language when speaking to his staff, at the end of the phone conversation in which he conveys Iris's room service order for "champagne", Boris, the harassed hotel manager, exclaims, "Oy vey is mir", a Yiddish expression meaning "woe is me."
Alfred Hitchcock:  near the end of the movie at Victoria Station wearing a black coat and smoking a cigarette.
'Francois Truffaut' claimed this movie was his favorite Hitchcock and the best representation of Alfred Hitchcock's work.
In the original cut, as seen in the 25th Anniversary national re-release of 1963, Charters and Caldicott have to share the same pair of pyjamas in the hotel after Charters has accidentally dropped his in the water jug. In later years and showings this innocent preamble has been snipped out and we cut straight to them in bed together. Though we can still see Charters' pyjamas hanging up to dry during the scene the explanation has disappeared.
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