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The Lady Vanishes by Alfred Hitchcock
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DVD Cover InformationActor: Cecil Parker, Dame May Whitty, Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Paul Lukas Director: Alfred Hitchcock Cinematographer: Jack E. Cox Editor: R.E. Dearing Producer: Edward Black Writer: Ethel Lina White Writer: Frank Launder Writer: Sidney Gilliat DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: English (Original Language) Format: Black & White, NTSC Picture Format: 1.33:1 Running Time: 96 minutes DVD Release Date: 2003-01-01 Audience Rating: Unrated Studio: Tgg Direct
Movie Reviews of The Lady VanishesMovie Review: Hitchcock is the best there is!! Summary: 5 Stars
Way, way before Psycho, The Birds, Rear Window, or Vertigo, there was a little known British director named Alfred Hitchcock who directed a precious gem called The Lady Vanishes. This film is so good that it's impossible to distill its greatness into words; one must see this film to appreciate it.
The story begins in a remote country in pre-World War II Europe. An avalanche delays a train and strands passengers in a small hotel. There, a beautiful young woman (Margaret Lockwood)has a chance, but cool, encounter with a young musicologist (Michael Redgrave). The movie bounces back and forth among the hotel's various guests, all of whom are eccentric. Finally, the train arrives at the hotel. By this time, the passengers are restless and surly as they empty the hotel and pile onto the train. Inadvertantly, a box-plant drops from a windowsill and lands on the head of Iris just before she boards the train. Images blur and swirl around in her head. On the train, she befriends an old woman--a governess named Miss Froy (Dame May Whitty). They, along with another young woman, a magician, and a nun, share a compartment. Iris, still woozy from the flowerpot that fell on her head, falls asleep. When she awakens, the old governess (Miss Froy)is gone. Iris searches the train. She accosts all of the passengers on the train; no one has seen the old woman who seems to have vanished into thin air. Iris is the only person who'd seen the old woman; Iris also had a flowerpot dropped on her head. Everyone doubts her. By chance, she runs into Gilbert, the young musicologist she met at the lodge. Led by the promise of romance, Gilbert supports Iris; however, he, too, begins to doubt her. Outnumbered by her skeptics, Iris begins to doubt herself. Then, she glances out a window and sees the name Froy--earlier, the old woman had traced her name on the window. This sign confirmed Iris's belief in herself and that there had been an old woman on the train. Gilbert is dubious, but still supportive. Then, like a flash of lightning, he sees a sign that convinces him of Iris's story. As they search the train for the old woman they become intangled in a plot of international espionage and murder.
This great film is reminiscent of Hitchcock's American film Saboteur, which also involves faith in the face of popular skepticism. On a technical note, there's a scene where Gilbert climbs out of a window and is trapped between two moving trains--even with today's CGI,this scene would have been difficult to pull off any more effectively than Hitchcock did for this scene. Everything about this film is perfect. Hitchcock was one of a kind and he is sorely missed.
BONDAGE AND DISCIPLINE, SADISM AND MASOCHISM: Zack's Odyssey Part 1
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