While travelling in continental Europe, a rich young playgirl realizes that an elderly lady seems to have disappeared from the train.While travelling in continental Europe, a rich young playgirl realizes that an elderly lady seems to have disappeared from the train.While travelling in continental Europe, a rich young playgirl realizes that an elderly lady seems to have disappeared from the train.
- Director
- Writers
- Ethel Lina White(based upon the story by: "The Wheel Spins")
- Sidney Gilliat(screen play)
- Frank Launder(screen play)
- Stars
Top credits
- Director
- Writers
- Ethel Lina White(based upon the story by: "The Wheel Spins")
- Sidney Gilliat(screen play)
- Frank Launder(screen play)
- Stars
- Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination
Videos1
May Whitty
- Miss Froy
- (as Dame May Whitty)
Selma Vaz Dias
- Signora Doppo
- (as Zelma Vas Dias)
Catherine Lacey
- The Nun
- (as Catherine Lacy)
- Director
- Writers
- Ethel Lina White(based upon the story by: "The Wheel Spins")
- Sidney Gilliat(screen play)
- Frank Launder(screen play)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn an interview with Peter Bogdanovich, Alfred Hitchcock revealed that this movie was inspired by a legend of an Englishwoman who went with her daughter to the Palace Hotel in Paris in the 1880s, 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. 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 dared not let anybody know she died, otherwise all of Paris would have emptied." The urban legend, known as the Vanishing Hotel Room, also formed the basis of one segment of the German portmanteau film Eerie Tales (1919), So Long at the Fair (1950) (in which the missing person was the young woman's brother as opposed to her mother) and Into Thin Air (1955), starring Hitchcock's daughter Patricia Hitchcock.
- GoofsIn the noisy dancing scene above Lockwood's hotel room, the clarinet is shown with the mouthpiece turned with the reed upwards. Normally the mouthpiece is turned so that the reed is downwards, but in some European folk traditions the clarinet was played with the mouthpiece "upside-down".
- Quotes
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.
- Crazy creditsClosing credits: The Characters in "THE LADY VANISHES" were played by:
- Alternate versionsA brief segment where a hotel maid bends down to pick up a hat from under a hotel bed is missing from most US releases, including Criterion's first official DVD and all bootlegs. It's intact in all official non-US releases and has been restored for Criterion's 2-disc remastered DVD.
- ConnectionsEdited from Oh, Mr. Porter! (1937)
Top review
Fast moving early Hitchcock comedy/thriller with memorable acting and outstanding script
Miss Froy (Dame May Whitty) mysteriously vanishes while on a long train journey through the Swiss Alps during a cold winter. Margaret Lockwood as Iris Henderson is the only person on the train who believes that Miss Froy has disappeared (or in fact that she even existed!) but Lockwood manages to persuade fellow traveller music scholar Gilbert Redman (Michael Redgrave) to assist her in the search. Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne (as cricket fans Charters and Caldicott) have seen Miss Froy but are fearful that an investigation into her disappearance might delay the train and therefore stop them getting to Manchester in time for their beloved Test Match so they decide to stay silent. Paul Lukas (Dr Hartz) tries to convince Lockwood she is mistaken and has imagined the entire episode due to a blow on the head she received prior to the train journey. Cecil Parker (Mr Todhunter) has his own reasons for keeping quiet as he does not want his illicit affair with Linden Travers to become public knowledge. Several other passengers on the train have seen Miss Froy but do not want to be involved which confuses our heroine and places her in grave danger as the journey progresses.
Shame about the fake model shots at the start of the film but this aside Hitchcock skilfully keeps the suspense at a high level and the witty script by Sidney Gilliatt and Frank Launder is both entertaining and enthralling. Hitchcock obviously has a liking for trains as his films have often featured long train sequences. "The 39 Steps", "Strangers on a Train" and "North by Northwest" are just three classic examples.
Some favourite lines from the film:
Margaret Lockwood: "I've no regrets - I've been everywhere and done everything. I've eaten caviar at Cannes, sausage rolls at the dogs. I've played baccarat at Biarritz, and darts with the rural dean. What is there left for me but marriage?".
Basil Radford (on the phone to London): "No, you don't follow me sir - I'm enquiring about the Test Match in Manchester. Cricket, sir, cricket!! What! You don't know! You can't be in England and not know the Test score!".
Margaret Lockwood (to Michael Redgrave): "I know there's a Miss Froy - she's as real as you are".
Paul Lukas (to Margaret Lockwood): "There is no Miss Froy - there never was a Miss Froy. Merely a very subjective image".
Although "The Lady Vanishes" is one of Hitchcock's very early black and white British films (1938) it anticipates the future expertise, skills and talent of this accomplished director and is well worth viewing. If you are waiting to spot Hitchcock's regular cameo appearance this doesn't take place until the closing minutes of the film so settle back and enjoy the plot then watch out for Hitchcock smoking a cigar at Victoria Station almost at the end! "The Lady Vanishes" was remade in colour in 1979 with Elliott Gould and Cybill Shepherd but the Hitchcock version is definitely the one to see. 10/10. Clive Roberts.
Shame about the fake model shots at the start of the film but this aside Hitchcock skilfully keeps the suspense at a high level and the witty script by Sidney Gilliatt and Frank Launder is both entertaining and enthralling. Hitchcock obviously has a liking for trains as his films have often featured long train sequences. "The 39 Steps", "Strangers on a Train" and "North by Northwest" are just three classic examples.
Some favourite lines from the film:
Margaret Lockwood: "I've no regrets - I've been everywhere and done everything. I've eaten caviar at Cannes, sausage rolls at the dogs. I've played baccarat at Biarritz, and darts with the rural dean. What is there left for me but marriage?".
Basil Radford (on the phone to London): "No, you don't follow me sir - I'm enquiring about the Test Match in Manchester. Cricket, sir, cricket!! What! You don't know! You can't be in England and not know the Test score!".
Margaret Lockwood (to Michael Redgrave): "I know there's a Miss Froy - she's as real as you are".
Paul Lukas (to Margaret Lockwood): "There is no Miss Froy - there never was a Miss Froy. Merely a very subjective image".
Although "The Lady Vanishes" is one of Hitchcock's very early black and white British films (1938) it anticipates the future expertise, skills and talent of this accomplished director and is well worth viewing. If you are waiting to spot Hitchcock's regular cameo appearance this doesn't take place until the closing minutes of the film so settle back and enjoy the plot then watch out for Hitchcock smoking a cigar at Victoria Station almost at the end! "The Lady Vanishes" was remade in colour in 1979 with Elliott Gould and Cybill Shepherd but the Hitchcock version is definitely the one to see. 10/10. Clive Roberts.
helpful•5617
- clive-38
- Dec 1, 2000
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- The Lost Lady
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $39,776
- Runtime1 hour 36 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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