imagine you were at a house party with your friends, and one of them pulls you aside for a private conversation. you chat a bit, have a quick bathroom break, and when you come back your friend is totally gone. On top of that when you ask a few party-goers if they say your pal leave, they all tell you your friend never existed in the first place. Maybe you're crazy? maybe they are all crazy? are they just gaslighting you or have you somehow stumbled into the twilight zone?
that's exactly what this movie is about.
based on the 1936 novel The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White, The Lady Vanishes is a 1938 British mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave. Iris Henderson has been vacationing in Mandrika, a small European country, and decides to return to London. Just prior to her departure, she meets and befriends the elderly Miss Froy, a governess who will be travelling on the same train. Once aboard, they share the same compartment and go to the dining car for tea. A short later while however, Iris is not only unable to locate Miss Froy, but no one will even admit to having seen her. She's convinced there is a conspiracy, but Dr. Hart suggests she may be delusional owing to a bump on the head she received just before their departure. She does have one ally in the form of a musician, Gilbert, and works together to resolve the mystery.
The Lady Vanishes was originally called The Lost Lady, and Irish director Roy William Neill was assigned by producer Edward Black to make it. A crew was dispatched to Yugoslavia to do background shots, but when the Yugoslav police accidentally discovered that they were not well-portrayed in the script, they kicked the crew out of the country, and Black scrapped the project. A year later, Hitchcock could not come up with a property to direct to fulfil his contract with Black, so he accepted when Black offered The Lost Lady to him. Needless to say, this movie was nowhere near a passion project for Hitchcock, but regardless this is easily the most unique and enjoyable movie I have seen from the 1930s.
going into this movie, I certainly had my expectations/preconceived notions. I figured this would be one of those train-bound horror flicks ALA HORROR EXPRESS, and boy oh boy was I wrong. the whirlwind that is the first 30 minutes of this movie centers around a comically overcrowded hotel, and several of its wacky residents. Miss Froy a governess and music teacher, soon to be married Iris Henderson and her gal pals, and my personal favourite Charters and Caldicott as the totally straight and definitely not gay cricket enthusiasts. despite the chaos of this movie setting this opening feels wonderfully whimsical and light-hearted, as if I have known these wonderfully charming characters all of my life. having that foundation of strong characters makes the mystery of this movie a lot more engrossing, as this movie goes from carefree fun to deeply engrossing mystery
but before we get into all that, the totally straight and definitely not gay cricket enthusiasts deserve a bit more conversation. Played by Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne, two fine stage actors who reprised these characters in subsequent movies and BBC radio programs, Charters and Caldicott follow a long tradition of comedy duos of older men in British Music Hall, vaudeville and stage performances. Charters and Caldicott are not sissy sidekicks, the most common gay male characterization allowed in American movies of the time (such as Edward Everett Horton’s roles in the Ginger Rodgers-Fred Astaire movies). They are not villains or minor characters, nor are their attributes confined to mere stereotypes. it's honestly one of the best pieces of representation I have ever seen, and really highlights the importance of less is more style characters.
anyways... what was I saying? ah yes the classic disappearing Nana shtick, right
The rest of this movie could easily be described as exactly what I hoped BULLET TRAIN would be. Its a film that puts the characters and mystery ahead of cheap action scenes and spectacle, and it is easily one of my favorite movies i have ever seen. its actually quite a bummer that Hollywood would rather white wash and remove the soul from and increidble novel instead of remaking an already classic piece of film history.
long live Mrs. Froy
10/10
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