IMDb > The Lady Vanishes (1938)
The Lady Vanishes
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The Lady Vanishes (1938) More at IMDbPro »

Videos (see all 2)
The Lady Vanishes (1938) -- While traveling in continental Europe, a rich young playgirl realizes that an elderly lady seems to have disappeared from the train.
The Lady Vanishes (1938) -- MyMovies.Net - Trailer (WMP)

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Overview

User Rating:
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 10% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Ethel Lina White (story)
Sidney Gilliat (screenplay) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for The Lady Vanishes on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
1 November 1938 (USA) more
Tagline:
Spies! Playing the game of love - and sudden death!
Plot:
While traveling in continental Europe, a rich young playgirl realizes that an elderly lady seems to have disappeared from the train. full summary | full synopsis
Awards:
1 win more
NewsDesk:
(5 articles)
Glorious 39 | Film review
 (From The Guardian - Film News. 21 November 2009, 4:06 PM, PST)

Hammer Horror to Ink Books With Blood
 (From Atomic Popcorn. 14 October 2009, 6:13 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
Delightful comedy thriller, the best of Hitchcock's British films more (136 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
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Additional Details

Runtime:
96 min
Country:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Full Range Recording System)
Certification:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Although he uses the fictitious Bandrikan language when speaking to his staff, at the end of the phone conversation in which he conveys Iris's room service order for "champagne", Boris, the harassed hotel manager, exclaims, "Oy vey is mir", a Yiddish expression meaning "woe is me." more
Goofs:
Continuity: After Gilbert wakes Iris from her drugged state/faint her engagement ring is missing. In the next cut when they are standing her ring reappears. more
Quotes:
'Mrs.' Margaret Todhunter: [having been given the choice between a double or two single rooms, Eric Todhunter has hastily chosen the two singles] You might at least have asked which one I preferred.
Eric Todhunter: Please Margaret, a double room in a place like this?
'Mrs.' Margaret Todhunter: You weren't so particular in Paris last fall.
Eric Todhunter: That was different then, the exhibition was at its height.
'Mrs.' Margaret Todhunter: I realise that now. There's no need to rub it in!
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Clara et les Chics Types (1981) more
Soundtrack:
Colonel Bogey March more

FAQ

How does the movie end?
A Note Regarding Spoilers
Is it true that the story is based on an actual incident?
more
48 out of 65 people found the following comment useful.
Delightful comedy thriller, the best of Hitchcock's British films, 26 September 2004
Author: DrLenera

The Lady Vanishes is a wonderful piece of fluff, the culmination of Hitchcock's British period, after which he started to explore more serious themes in his American films. Of course the basic plot is absurd, centering around the most ridiculous way to get a secret message through one can think of, and why did.....o well, never mind, it's the handling that matters, and Hitchcock achieves a near perfect balance here of humour and suspense that he only really matched on one other film, North By Northwest.

The film spends 20 or so minutes just introducing it's characters, but they are all so great, especially the two men so obsessed with returning to a cricket match that a case of disappearance and possibly murder is relatively unimportant, that it hardly matters, while Michael Redgrave and Margaret Lockwood simply sparkle as the main couple who of course initially can't stand each other. Once on the train, the ensuring mystery and sleuthing are riveting,and full of fantastic little details- the name on the window, the nun with high heeled shoes, the fight amidst a magician's paraphenalia The final shootout is excellently staged and still quite exciting. The laughs are constant, with some helarious lines, but they never detract from the suspense. Of course there's those shoddy model shots, but hell, this is a film from 1939!

Hitchcock had countless classics to come, including such complex masterpieces as Vertigo and Rear Window, but the delightful, hugely enjoyable The Lady Vanishes is a little masterpiece of it's own.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
The bandaged body? *spoiler* potato2
I am still in shock - of how boring this movie is PiranianRose
Other train movies? oana5874
Two twits in bed together jawebster2000
Other Michael Redgrave movie recommendations? uncarsenal
You know it's a British film... davegaramond
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