The Lady Vanishes - Criterion Collection
List Price:
Our Price: $8.95
You Save: $31.00 (78%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.00 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Catherine Lacey, Emile Boreo, Mary Clare, Philip Leaver, Selma Vaz DiasPrimary Contributor: Margaret Lockwood
Primary Contributor: Michael Redgrave
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0
Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, NTSC, Special Edition
Picture Format: Academy Ratio, 1.33:1
Running Time: 96 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1998-05-27
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Criterion
Movie Reviews of The Lady Vanishes - Criterion Collection
Movie 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
Summary of The Lady Vanishes - Criterion Collection
In this best-loved of Hitchcock's British-made thrillers, a young woman on a train meets a charming old lady (Dame May Whitty), who promptly disappears. The other passengers deny ever having seen her, leading the young woman to suspect a conspiracy. When she begins investigating, she is drawn into a complex web of mystery and high adventure.At first glance The Lady Vanishes appears to be a frothy, lightweight treat, a testament to Alfred Hitchcock's nimble touch. This snappy, sophisticated romantic thriller begins innocently enough, as a contingent of eccentric tourists spend the night in a picture-postcard village inn nestled in the Swiss Alps before setting off on the train the next morning. In a wonderfully Hitchcockian twist on "meeting cute," attractive young Iris (Margaret Lockwood) clashes with brash music student Gilbert (Michael Redgrave) when his nocturnal concerts give her no peace. She gets him kicked out of his room, so he barges in on hers: True love is inevitable, but not before they are both plunged into an international conspiracy. The next day on the train, kindly old Mrs. Froy (Dame May Whitty) vanishes from her train car without a trace and the once quarrelsome couple unite to search the train and uncover a dastardly plot. No one is as he or she seems, but sorting out the villains from the merely mysterious is a challenge in itself, as our innocents abroad face resistance from the entire passenger list. Hitchcock effortlessly navigates this vivid thriller from light comedy to high tension and back again, creating one of his most enchanting and entertaining mysteries. Though this wasn't his final British film before departing for Hollywood (that honor goes to Jamaica Inn), many critics prefer to think of this as his fond farewell to the British Film Industry. --Sean Axmaker
Action & Adventure DVD Video
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Movies most talked about in English Hitchcock
The LodgerRelease date: 2009-02-10; DVD
Best price: $12.46
Price in other shops:
The Alfred Hitchcock Box Set (The Ring / The Manxman / Murder! / The Skin Game / Rich and Strange)Lions Gate; Release date: 2007-02-06; DVD
Best price: $17.60
Price in other shops:
Alfred Hitchcock: The Early YearsRelease date: 2003-02-18; DVD
Best price: $26.01
Price in other shops:
The Lady Vanishes - Criterion CollectionRelease date: 1998-05-27; DVD
Best price: $10.35
Price in other shops:
Secret AgentWESTLAKE ENTERTAINMENT INC; Release date: 2004-02-10; Published: 2004; DVD
Best price: $1.45
Price in other shops:
The Man Who Knew Too Much (Enhanced Edition) 1934Release date: 2008-06-17; DVD
Best price: $22.49
Price in other shops:
Juno and the Paycock/ BlackmailRelease date: 2000-07-04; DVD
Best price: $14.02
Price in other shops:
ChampagneTimeless Multimedia; Release date: 1991-12-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
The ManxmanRelease date: 1999-07-24; DVD
Best price: $5.36
Price in other shops:
The 39 Steps (Enhanced Edition) - 1935Release date: 2008-04-14; DVD
Best price: $24.99
Similar DVD Movies
Foreign CorrespondentWarner Brothers; Release date: 2004-09-07; DVD
Best price: $6.11
Price in other shops:
Dial M for MurderWARNER HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2004-09-07; DVD
Best price: $5.90
Price in other shops:
NotoriousRelease date: 2008-10-14; DVD
Best price: $11.75
Price in other shops:
Shadow of a DoubtUniversal; Release date: 2006-02-07; DVD
Best price: $10.51
Price in other shops:
The Third Man (50th Anniversary Edition) - Criterion CollectionDVD
Best price: $39.05
The Silence of the Lambs (Criterion Collection Spine #13)Release date: 1998-07-15; DVD
Best price: $23.20
Price in other shops:
North By NorthwestWarner Brothers; Release date: 2004-09-07; DVD
Best price: $32.96
RebeccaRelease date: 2008-10-14; DVD
Best price: $11.97
Price in other shops:
Strangers on a TrainWarner Brothers; Release date: 1997-06-11; DVD
Best price: $7.25
Price in other shops:
The 39 Steps (Criterion Collection Spine #56)Image Entertainment; Release date: 1999-11-02; DVD
Best price: $21.99
Price in other shops: