A black and white British mystery thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock released in a 1938, THE LADY VANISHES is based on the novel The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White written in 1936 and is about an old lady who suddenly disappears during a train journey and then even the fellow passengers don’t recall seeing her ever. This leads to further confusions and many thrilling sequences creating an intriguing mystery in the moving train and has all the suspense and excited twists you expect from a pure Hitchcockian mystery thriller to say the least.
Interestingly, here Hitchcock also uses, few entertaining subplots running simultaneously with the main narrative, like the ongoing conversation of two cricket fanatics travelling in the train, who keep on discussing cricket even when there is great action going on around them. Further the climax of the movie comes up as the best part with the surprise element executed brilliantly by the master of suspense as always.
Included in various ‘Must See Suspense Movies’ made by the renowned critics all over the world and a favourite of Francois Truffaut, the film is widely rated among Hitchcock’s best works from the black and white era before he moved on to America reaching new heights of his career.
In an interview Hitchcock revealed that the movie was inspired from an urban legend known as The Vanishing Hotel Room, which also was the basic idea behind SO LONG AT THE FAIR (1950) and one of the episodes of TV series Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955) in its season one titled "Into Thin Air" also starring Hitchcock's daughter Patricia Hitchcock. The film was later also remade with the same name as THE LADY VANISHES released in 1979.
In short, if you love Alfred Hitchcock and his kind of cinema then you must have already seen this film repeatedly, but if you haven’t seen it yet then you are missing a great thrilling entertainer from the master of suspense and thus should go for it at the earliest.
Directed By Alfred Hitchcock
Starring : Margarate Lockwood, Michael Redgrave & More.
Note : Alfred Hitchcock can be seen in the end of the film at Victoria Station, moving from one side of the screen to other smoking a cigarette and wearing a black coat.
Update : The film could easily be found at Youtube at the time of writing this update.
Tags :
THE LADY VANISHES Review by Bobby Sing at bobbytalkscinema.com, Black & White Classic, Based on a Book, Movies to See Before You Die, Must See Movies List By Bobby Sing, Alfred Hitchcock Entertaining Mystery Thriller
