In the late 1930s, Alfred Hitchcock enjoyed a reputation as one of the most commercially successful British filmmakers. The legendary status of this giant of world cinema, however, came a little later, with his move from his native Britain to Hollywood, where he would create his best-known works. The film credited with making such a transfer possible is The Lady Vanishes, his 1938 comedic thriller, often considered one of the most entertaining and light-hearted pieces of Hitchcock’s filmography.
The film is based on the eponymous mystery novel by Ethel Lina White. The plot begins in the fictional Central European country of Bandrika, where the British socialite and protagonist, Iris Henderson (played by Margaret Lockwood), is holidaying before returning home to marry her wealthy fiancé. Due to an avalanche that temporarily blocks the railway lines, she is forced to spend the night in a mountain hotel crowded with her compatriots, including Gilbert Redman (played by Michael Redgrave), a musicologist researching folk music. She initially dislikes him, in contrast to her fondness for Miss Froy (played by May Whitty), an elderly governess who helps her recover from a minor injury. When they finally board the train to London, Miss Froy suddenly disappears. Iris attempts to find her but discovers that nobody else remembers her. Neurosurgeon Dr. Hartz (played by Paul Lukas) even suggests Miss Froy never existed and is merely a figment of Iris’s imagination. Gilbert, despite his scepticism, decides to help her, largely because he is attracted to her. Soon, two amateur investigators discover that Miss Froy may have been involved in international espionage.
The Lady Vanishes is more a comedy than a thriller, especially in the first twenty minutes set in the mountain hotel, where we meet Iris and a host of eccentric characters. As such, the film exhibits a strong influence from Hollywood screwball comedies, which were apparently all the rage at the time. Margaret Lockwood, a brunette whose appearance as the protagonist seems at odds with Hitchcock’s habit of casting icy blondes in main female roles, appears quite at ease with this approach and shares great comedic chemistry with Michael Redgrave, a tall, dashing actor renowned for his stage work and for whom the role of Gilbert was his first major screen success.
It is only after the first killing occurs that The Lady Vanishes adopts a slightly darker tone. On the train, it becomes a proper Hitchcockian thriller about an “ordinary person in an extraordinary situation”. Humour remains, but Hitchcock increasingly emphasises action, particularly near the end, which features a protracted showdown involving firearms. The tone remains generally light-hearted, which, among other things, reflects Hitchcock’s playful approach to content considered erotic by 1930s standards, including scenes of women scantily clad or disrobing in often humorous contexts.
The Lady Vanishes benefits from a very good cast. Lockwood and Redgrave are accompanied by Dame May Whitty, a veteran actress whose character, a harmless elderly lady, wins the audience’s sympathy as effortlessly as the heroine’s favour. Paul Lukas, a Hungarian actor who would later become famous for playing villains, is quite effective as Iris’s main opponent. Strong performances are also given by Cecil Parker and Linden Travers as an adulterous couple pretending to be married. However, two actors nearly steal the show: Naunton Wayne and Basil Radford play Caldicott and Charters, two cricket-obsessed men desperate to return to England in time for a Test match in Manchester. Their single-minded obsession provides a comical contrast to the seriousness around them. These characters were created specifically for the film and proved so popular that Wayne and Radford reprised them in three subsequent films, technically making The Lady Vanishes the first Hitchcock film to spawn a sequel.
Hitchcock demonstrates great skill in his direction, particularly in the opening scene, which depicts a snow-covered mountain village using miniatures. These impressive visuals, however, do not compensate for serious deficiencies in the script by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder, who tried a little too hard to ‘spice up’ the plot by adding motives of espionage and complicated intrigue absent from the novel. As a result, the plot logic is often strained, and its resolution is quite sloppy. Despite this, Hitchcock succeeded not only with audiences but also impressed David O. Selznick enough to hire him to direct Rebecca, which would become his Hollywood debut.
The film was made during a period of increasing international diplomatic tension. After the Second World War, it became fashionable to view The Lady Vanishes as an allegory about the dangers of Nazi Germany. Even a scene in which a character refuses to fight villains and instead tries unsuccessfully to negotiate is seen as an implicit condemnation of the British policy of Appeasement, which led to the Munich Agreement. In reality, Hitchcock cared little about politics and later rejected all such interpretations. The fictional country of Bandrika more closely resembles the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, where the original novel was set, and some of Louis Levy’s musical score even features motifs that could have been inspired by the Yugoslav (or Polish) anthem.
Regardless of its context and despite its flaws, The Lady Vanishes remains one of Hitchcock’s more successful forays into comedy and one of his most entertaining films. In 1979, it was rather unsuccessfully remade with Cybill Shepherd in the main role, and in 2013, the BBC produced a television film starring Tuppence Middleton with a plot much closer to the original novel.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
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