Cheap The Lady Vanishes - Criterion Collection (DVD) (Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave) (Alfred Hitchcock) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Lady Vanishes - Criterion Collection

A Cinematic Masterpiece
There's one thing that movies can do better than any other artistic medium. It's having you experience something from a character's point of view, and then having every other character in the movie say it never happened. Your empathy as a viewer is at its highest pitch: you saw what happened with your own eyes, and so you see it through the character's eyes as well, but then everyone denies it. This is the central scene on the train in THE LADY VANISHES. Nothing, absolutely nothing, in my opinion, is more cinematic than this. When the idea is used to trick the viewer (as in THE USUAL SUSPECTS), it's not as good (although still it's pretty good, because again it uses film in the most empathetic way possible). And when the trickery is fair--as in THE SIXTH SENSE--it can be superb. I rank THE LADY VANISHES right up there with VERTIGO, PSYCHO, and REAR WINDOW, as Hitchcock's greatest gifts to us, the moviegoers of the world. I would even add SHADOW OF A DOUBT to this pantheon. The thing I admire most about Hitchcock is that he was attracted to stories that showed what film could do as an art form. His best movies, in their different ways, display this for us. The movies I've mentioned would not be as good as novels or plays--and this is saying a great deal. It's a test, as a matter of fact, of what separates the film as an art medium from other artistic forms. The two directors who knew this best were Alfred Hitchcock and Walt Disney. It would be so terrific if someone were to come along someday who could be said to be their equal. Bottom line: THE LADY VANISHES is one of the best movies you will ever see, but please, it works at a slower pace than today's movies, so let it sink in for you, don't be in a hurry, EXPERIENCE it!

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The best of the British Hitchcocks
The train trip is inherently dramatic, a perfect venue for Hitchcock's brand of sophisticated comedy and suspense. Politically, the movie is an anti-isolationist diatribe, but as with most Hitchcock movies, the mechanism for suspense is second to the suspense itself. Michael Redgrave and Margaret Lockwood make an excellent team as they begin, in the classic screwball style, despising each other, and then, thrown together along the rails of Europe to outwit the clever fascists who have abducted the superannuated spy played by Dame May Whitty, they fall easily in love. The wonderful script gives the two much opportunity to flirt and bicker wittily. Truffaut said of The Lady Vanishes that each time he attempted to study its craft and direction, he became so caught up in the story itself, that it became nearly impossible to divert himself long enough analyze its form. It is a seamless, exciting, richly satisfying movie with a phalanx of marvelous character actors, including the droll pair of Radford and Wayne as the cricket-obsessed travellers skeptical of the apparent mystery. They get the best laughs. Overall, The Lady Vanishes ranks with any of Hitchcock and is most comparable to the fun and thrills of North by Northwest, but it's my personal favorite of all his great work (except maybe for Psycho).

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No "North by Northwest," but good early Hitchcock
This is early Hitchcock and you can see the talent that was already there. He made this story into a great suspense film, even though there were quite a few implausibilities. It's an odd film, though, in that it mixes a rather dark story (woman disappearing on a train) with an almost slapstick feel at times. This caught me off guard, and sometimes subverted the tension Hitchcock was trying to create. But it's a very witty film, quite fast-paced once it gets going, and very suspenseful. Definitely a fine example of early Hitchcock and an interesting look at turn-of-the-century Scotland.
Also, since this is a Criterion edition, the special features are excellent. Even more impressive, considering that the movie was made in 1935. They include an original press book that you can zoom in on and read, as well as commentary.