The Lady Vanishes(1999)- User Reviews

The Lady Vanishes comes near the end of Hitchcock's film making in England, and his classic style was evident earlier in "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (remade 20+ years later) and "The 39 Steps." This film shares the same low budget production values and appears quaint by U.S. 1938 standards. The plot is pretty straight forward, with Hitch's usual "ordinary" person involved in extra-ordinary affairs. Being made in 1938 there are some hints about European intrigue, and a scene near the end that shows the futility of pacificism in the face of hostile forces. The film is peopled with great characters, like the obsessed cricket fans (look for the payoff near the end) and the fat magician and his troope (looking vaguely like Hitch himself, but wait for the end of the film to see his cameo). This certainly isn't among the best of Hitch's films, but ending, as it does, his English tenure, it is interesting to watch. Yahoo's description is only partial. It fails to list Margaret Lockwood as the innocent, Michael Redgrave as her accomplice, and Dame May Whitty as the missing lady. Paul Lucas is terrific as the (menancing) physician and Naunton Wayne and Basil Radford are a riot as the cricket fans.