Lady Vanishes, The (1938): Hitchcock’s Comedy Thriller–Curios, Facts, Myths, Casting and Stars–What you Need to Know
Title
The Lady Vanishes was originally called The Lost Lady, and Irish director Roy William Neill was assigned by producer Edward Black.
A crew was dispatched to Yugoslavia for background shots, but when the Yugoslav police accidentally discovered their negative portrayal in the script, they kicked the crew out, and Black scrapped the project.
A year later, Hitchcock could not come up with a property to fulfil his contract with Black, so he accepted Black’s offer to stage The Lost Lady.
From Page to Screen: Changes from Novel
Hitchcock worked with the writers to make some changes to tighten up the opening and ending, while again collaborating with his wife Alma Reville on the script.
The film’s plot differs considerably from White’s novel.
In “The Wheel Spins, ” Miss Froy is innocent old lady visiting her octogenarian parents; she is abducted because she knows something (without realizing its significance) that, if revealed, would cause trouble for the authorities.
In the book, Iris’ mental confusion is due to sunstroke, not a blow to the head.
In White’s novel, the wheel keeps spinning. the train never stops, and there is no final shoot-out.
In the novel, the Gilbert character is Max Hare, a young British engineer building dam in the hills who knows the local language.
There is also modern-languages professor who acts as Iris’s and Max’s interpreter, who does not appear in the film.
The cricket-obsessed characters Charters and Caldicott were created especially for the film and do not appear in the novel.
Politics
The plot has references to the political situation leading up to the Second World War. The British characters, who initially tried hard to keep out of the conflict, end up working together to fight off the jack-booted foreign
Lawyer Killed
But the lawyer who wishes to negotiate with the attackers by waving a white flag is shot and killed.
Casting
Margaret Lockwood
Hitchcock considered Lilli Palmer for the female lead, but it went instead to Margaret Lockwood, who was at the time unknown. Lockwood, who was attracted to the heroines of Ethel Lina White’s stories, accepted the role gladly
Michael Redgrave was also unknown to audience, but was a rising stage star at the time. He was reluctant to leave the stage to do the film, but was convinced by John Gielgud. Indeed, this Redgrave’s first leading role made him an international star.
However, Redgrave and Hitchcock did not get along; Redgrave wanted more rehearsals, while Hitchcock valued spontaneity. The two never worked together again.
With the exception of Ralph Richardson, Hitchcock had worked with Britain’s three greatest actors: John Gielgud (Secret Agent), Laurence Olivier (albeit in an American movie, Rebecca), and Michael Redgrave.
Hitchcock’s Cameo
Hitchcock can be seen at Victoria Station, wearing black coat and smoking a cigarette, near the end of the film.
The film marks the first appearance of the comedy double-act Charters and Caldicott (played by Naunton Wayne and Basil Radford).
The film was shot at Islington Studios, Shepherd’s Bush and on location in Hampshire at Longmoor Military Camp, the site of the Longmoor Military Railway.
It was the first film made under agreement between Gaumont-British and MGM, in which Gaumont provided MGM with some of their Gainsborough films for release in the UK, for which MGM would pay half the production costs if MGM decided to release the film in the US. However, 20th Century-Fox handled the American release.
The shoot was briefly interrupted by electricians’ strike.
Elisabeth Weis contends that Hitchcock uses the “classical style,” – eschewing expressionistic sounds in favor of sounds heard in a realistic context.
When Iris faints on the train, rather than extraneous noises to denote delirium, only the sound of the train is heard.
Evil things are often heard before they are shown. The evil Dr. Hartz often is first heard before he appears on screen, an aural intrusion “not so much an invasion of privacy as of security.”
When The Lady Vanishes opened in the UK it was an immediate hit, becoming the most successful British film to that date. It was also very successful when it opened in New York.
In a contemporary review, the Monthly Film Bulletin described the film as an “out of the ordinary and exciting thriller.”
The film has retained its popularity as a “craftily sophisticated thriller” and a “cracking piece of entertainment.”
The film was “arguably the most accomplished, and certainly the wittiest of Hitchcock’s British films.”
Duguid singled out the young writing partnership of Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, noting: The story contains many witty and imaginative touches, like the conceit by which the passengers are each given selfish motives for refusing to verify Iris’ story.
The chemistry between the two leads is notable.
The film has some of Hitchcock’s best character parts, with Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne as the cricket obsessed Charters and Caldicott.
One of the greatest train movies from the genre’s golden era, and a sampler of best comedy thriller ever made.
The film frequently ranks among the best British films of all time. On Metacritic, it has a score of 98 out of 100, based on reviews from 17 critics, indicating “universal acclaim”.
In 2016, Empire ranked the film at No. 82 on their list of “The 100 best British films”
In 2022, Time Out magazine ranked the film at No. 54 on its list of “The 100 best thriller films of all time.”
Awards and Honors
The Lady Vanishes was named Best Picture of 1938 by The New York Times. In 1939, Hitchcock received the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director, the only time Hitchcock received an award for his directing.
The cricket-obsessed Charters and Caldicott were created for the film, but became popular in their own right, and appeared in a series of films, radio programs and a much later TV series.
Copyright status and home media
The Lady Vanishes is copyrighted worldwide.[23] His British films were public domain in the United States for a while.[24] They have been heavily bootlegged on home video.[25] Despite this, various licensed releases have appeared on Blu-ray, DVD and video on demand worldwide from the likes of Network Distributing in the UK and The Criterion Collection in the United States.[1]
