NationMaster - Encyclopedia: The Lady Vanishes

The Lady Vanishes is a 1938 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, adapted by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder from the novel The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White. Image File history File links The_Lady_Vanishes_DVD_cover. ... Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (13 August 1899 â€“ 29 April 1980) was a British film director and producer, a master of the suspense thriller genre. ... Ethel Lina White (1876 - 1944) was a British crime writer. ... Margaret Lockwood with Michael Redgrave in The Lady Vanishes (1938) Margaret Lockwood, CBE (15 September 1916 - 15 July 1990) was a British actress. ... Michael Redgrave and Margaret Lockwood in The Lady Vanishes (1938) Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave, KBE (March 20, 1908 â€” March 21, 1985) was an English actor and the son of the Australian silent film star Roy Redgrave and the actress Margaret Scudamore. ... Paul Lukas (May 26, 1887 - August 15, 1971) was a Hungarian actor. ... Dame May Whitty (June 19, 1865 - May 29, 1948) was a British theater and cinema actress. ... MGM logo Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or MGM, is a large media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of cinema and television programs. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_States. ... November 1 is the 305th day of the year (306th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 60 days remaining. ... 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... December 25 is the 359th day of the year (360th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 6 days remaining. ... 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed. ... Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (13 August 1899 â€“ 29 April 1980) was a British film director and producer, a master of the suspense thriller genre. ... Sidney Gilliat (February 15, 1908 – May 31, 1994) was a British film director, producer and writer. ... Frank Launder (January 28, 1906â€”February 23, 1997) was a British writer, director and producer, who made more than 40 films, usually in collaboration with Sidney Gilliat. ... Daniel Defoes Robinson Crusoe; title page of 1719 newspaper edition A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended fictional narrative in prose. ... Ethel Lina White (1876 - 1944) was a British crime writer. ...

In an "uncivilized" Alpine region of pre-World War II Europe, a motley group of tourists eager to get back to England is delayed by an avalanche blocking the railway tracks. Among the passengers are Gilbert (Michael Redgrave), a young musicologist who has been studying the folk songs of the region; Iris (Margaret Lockwood), a young woman of independent means who has spent a holiday with some friends but is now going home alone to be married; and Miss Froy (Dame May Whitty), an elderly lady who has worked some years abroad as a governess. Also in the cast were Paul Lukas, Cecil Parker, Linden Travers, Naunton Wayne, Basil Radford, Mary Clare, Googie Withers, Catherine Lacey, and Sally Stewart. The West face of the Petit Dru above the Chamonix valley near the Mer de Glace. ... Combatants Allies: Poland, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, France/Free France, United States, China, Canada, India, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Greece, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, Bulgaria, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Burma, Slovakia Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8... A tourist boat travels the River Seine in Paris, France Tourism can be defined as the act of travel for the purpose of recreation, and the provision of services for this act. ... A Himalayan avalanche. ... Michael Redgrave and Margaret Lockwood in The Lady Vanishes (1938) Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave, KBE (March 20, 1908 â€” March 21, 1985) was an English actor and the son of the Australian silent film star Roy Redgrave and the actress Margaret Scudamore. ... Musicology is reasoned discourse concerning music (Greek: Î¼Î¿Ï…ÏƒÎ¹ÎºÎ· = music and Î»Î¿Î³Î¿Ï‚ = word or reason). In other words: the whole body of systematized knowledge about music which results from the application of a scientific method of investigation or research, or of philosophical speculation and rational systematization to the facts, the processes and the... Folk music, in the original sense of the term, is music by and of the people. ... Margaret Lockwood with Michael Redgrave in The Lady Vanishes (1938) Margaret Lockwood, CBE (15 September 1916 - 15 July 1990) was a British actress. ... Dame May Whitty (June 19, 1865 - May 29, 1948) was a British theater and cinema actress. ... A governess is a female employee from outside of the family who teaches children within the family circle. ... Paul Lukas (May 26, 1887 - August 15, 1971) was a Hungarian actor. ... Cecil Parker (1897–1971) was a British character and comedy actor with a distinctive husky voice, who usually played supporting roles in his 91 films made between 1933 and 1969. ... Florence Linden Travers (1913 - 2001) eight years older than her brother Bill Travers was born in Houghton-le-Spring, County Durham. ... Naunton Wayne (1901-1970) was a British character actor, born in Llanwonno, South Wales. ... Basil Radford (25 June 1897 Chester, England - 20 October 1952 London, England) was a British character actor who featured in many British films of the 1930s and 1940s. ... Googie Withers (born March 12, 1917 in Karachi, Pakistan) is a British actress. ... Catherine Lacey (1904 - 1979) was a British actress who made her film debut in 1938 as the secretive nun who wears high heels in the Alfred Hitchcock film The Lady Vanishes (1938). ...

Synopsis

When the train resumes its journey, Iris and Miss Froy strike up a conversation, while the remaining passengers in the compartment appear not to understand a word of English. Iris lapses into unconsciousness (the result of an earlier encounter with a falling flowerpot meant for Miss Froy). When she reawakens, the governess has vanished. Iris is shocked to learn that the other passengers claim Miss Froy never existed. Even the other English travellers deny ever seeing her, for their own reasons.

Everyone, including a foreign doctor, declares that she must be hallucinating due to her accident. Unconvinced, Iris starts to investigate, joined only by a skeptical Gilbert, with whom she eventually falls in love. They discover that Miss Froy is being held prisoner in a sealed-off compartment supposedly occupied by a seriously ill patient on his way to an operation. They manage to free Miss Froy, but the train is diverted to a side track, where a shootout ensues. Miss Froy intimates to Gilbert and Iris that she is in fact a British spy assigned to deliver some vital information (the famous Hitchcock MacGuffin) to the Foreign Office in London; after entrusting her message, encoded in a folk song, to Gilbert, she flees under cover of the shootout. Michael Redgrave and Margaret Lockwood in The Lady Vanishes. ... Michael Redgrave and Margaret Lockwood in The Lady Vanishes. ... An hallucination is a sensory perception experienced in the absence of an external stimulus, as distinct from an illusion, which is a misperception of an external stimulus. ... // A shootout is a gun battle between armed groups or opposing factions. ... Spy and secret agent redirect here; for alternate use, see Spy (disambiguation) and Secret agent (disambiguation). ... A MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin or Maguffin) is a plot device that motivates the characters and advances the story, but has little other relevance to the story itself. ... The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom abroad. ... London is the capital city of England and of the United Kingdom, and is the most populous city in the European Union. ...

After managing to restart the train and make their own escape from the villains, Gilbert and Iris return to London with the message. At the Foreign Office, Gilbert, driven to joyful distraction - Iris has accepted his proposal - discovers that he can't recall the tune. Fortunately, Miss Froy has also made good her escape, and was able to complete her task herself.

It must be noted that the plot of Hitchcock's film differs considerably from White's novel. In The Wheel Spins, Miss Froy really is an innocent old lady looking forward to seeing her octogenarian parents and witnesses a murder shortly before boarding the train. Interestingly, the Hitchcock version retains the murder - a man singing outside the hotel is strangled prior to the train's departure. However, there is no indication that Ms. Froy or anyone else witnesses the murder, and the film provides no explanation. However, after it is revealed that Ms. Froy is a spy who is carrying a secret message encrypted in musical notes, it becomes clear that the murdered singer at the beginning of the movie was most likely conveying the message to Ms. Froy. In White's novel, the wheel keeps spinning: The train never stops, and there is no final shootout.

It has often been stated that the action of the movie is set in Nazi-controlled Austria immediately before the outbreak of the Second World War, although the film itself is set in the fictional country of Bandrika. Basil Radford in The Lady Vanishes This is a screenshot of a copyrighted website, video game graphic, computer program graphic, television broadcast, or film. ... Basil Radford in The Lady Vanishes This is a screenshot of a copyrighted website, video game graphic, computer program graphic, television broadcast, or film. ... National Socialism redirects here. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Map of the Land of Oz, the fictional country in the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Map of the fictional island of Sodor used in the Thomas the Tank Engine stories Fictitious countries used in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four A guidebook produced about the fictional country MolvanÃ®a...

Two of the supporting characters, the hilariously singleminded cricket fans Caldicott and Charters (played by Naunton Wayne and Basil Radford), proved so popular with audiences that they starred in a movie of their own, Crook's Tour (1939), and appeared in two more Gilliat-and-Launder-scripted movies, Night Train to Munich (1940) (also starring Margaret Lockwood), Millions Like Us (1943) and Passport to Pimlico (1949) (although they are re-named Straker and Gregg). They were resurrected again for a BBC television series, Charters & Caldicott, in 1985, starring Michael Aldridge as Caldicott and Robin Bailey as Charters. For the insect, see Cricket (insect). ... Naunton Wayne (1901-1970) was a British character actor, born in Llanwonno, South Wales. ... Basil Radford (25 June 1897 Chester, England - 20 October 1952 London, England) was a British character actor who featured in many British films of the 1930s and 1940s. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Night Train to Munich is a thriller film made in 1940. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ... Margaret Lockwood with Michael Redgrave in The Lady Vanishes (1938) Margaret Lockwood, CBE (15 September 1916 - 15 July 1990) was a British actress. ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... A British comedy film Passport To Pimlico (Ealing Studios made in 1948). ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ... The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC, sometimes also known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world, founded in 1922. ... This article is about the year. ... Michael Aldridge (September 9, 1920 - January 10, 1994) was a British actor born at Glastonbury, Somerset, England, United Kingdom. ... Robin Bailey (born 5 October 1919 Hucknall, Nottingham - died January 14, 1999 London of respiratory fairlure) was a British actor. ...

Trivia

Roy William Neill was a film director known for directing several of the Sherlock Holmes films starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. ... Since its first use in 1851, a cameo role or cameo appearance has been a brief appearance in a play (or later, a movie) that stands out against the general context for its éclat or dramatic punch. ... Victoria station may refer to: London Victoria station Manchester Victoria station Victoria tube station Victoria Station, a restaurant chain which uses real train boxcars as dining rooms. ...

Remake

The Lady Vanishes was remade in 1979. It was directed by Anthony Page and adapted by George Axelrod. It stars Elliott Gould as Robert (Gilbert), Cybill Shepherd as Amanda (Iris), Angela Lansbury as Miss Froy, Herbert Lom, Arthur Lowe and Ian Carmichael. In film, a remake is a newer version of a previously released film or a newer version of the source (play, novel, story, etc. ... This page refers to the year 1979. ... George Axelrod (June 9th, 1922 - June 21st, 2003) was an American screenwriter, producer, playwright and film director. ... Elliot Gould on the cover page of TIME magazine. ... Cybill Lynne Shepherd Cybill Lynne Shepherd (born February 18, 1950 in Memphis, Tennessee) is an American actress and singer, best known as the character Maddie Hayes on the groundbreaking ABC show Moonlighting. // Early success Named after her Grandfather Cy and Father Bill, at age sixteen Cybill Shepherd won the 1966... Lansbury on the cover of a book based on her character in the TV series, Murder, She Wrote Angela Brigid Lansbury, CBE (born October 16, 1925) is an Oscar-nominated English-American actress. ... Herbert Lom [Czech IPA: xÉ›rbÉ›rd lom] is an international film actor. ... Arthur Lowe (September 22, 1915â€”April 15, 1982) was a British actor. ... Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter Wimsey Ian Carmichael OBE (born 18 June 1920) is a British film, stage and television actor. ...

The setting of the film is essentially similar to the earlier film, but is openly set in Germany in the months immediately before the Second World War. Amanda is a rich and much-married, but now divorced, American woman, and heiress to a large fortune. Robert is an American photographer and journalist. Miss Froy is a secret agent, who has been living as a governess to a rich and influential German family. The action takes place on the train travelling through the Bavarian country towards the Swiss border. Most of the passengers make it safely into Switzerland, after a shootout with their Nazi pursuers. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Bavarian can either when used as an adjective, refer to the German state of Bavaria; or refer to the Bavarian or Austro-Bavarian language, a group of closely related dialects spoken in parts of Bavaria, most of Austria and the South Tyrol. ... National Socialism redirects here. ...

Other films set on trains

Murder on the Orient Express is a 1974 feature film, based on the 1934 novel by Agatha Christie and featuring Hercule Poirot. ... Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (September 15, 1890 â€“ January 12, 1976), was an English crime fiction writer. ... North by Northwest is a 1959 MGM thriller by Alfred Hitchcock and is generally considered one of his best works. ... Strangers on a Train is a film released in 1951 by Warner Bros. ... Twentieth Century was the title of several incarnations of a screwball comedy plot featuring an egomaniacal Broadway producer who makes a shopgirl into a star, then tries to win her back after she abandons him. ... The horrified guests watching their host on TV Death, Deceit and Destiny Aboard the Orient Express is a 2000 thriller film about a group of international terrorists who, a few days before the start of the new millennium, lure a group of very rich celebrities and businesspeople on board the... Silver Streak is a 1976 comedy film starring Gene Wilder, Jill Clayburgh, Richard Pryor, Patrick McGoohan and Ned Beatty and directed by Arthur Hiller. ... Night Train to Munich is a thriller film made in 1940. ... A 2002 Penguin Books paperback edition From Russia with Love, published in 1957, is the fifth James Bond novel written by Ian Fleming. ... The James Bond 007 gun logo James Bond, also known as 007 (pronounced double-oh seven), is a fictional British spy created by writer Ian Fleming in 1953. ... Horror Express (1950) is a jumbled horror film staring Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Telly Savalas. ... In the 1995 action film Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, a sequel to Under Siege, Casey Ryback, a retired NAVY Seal, foils a mad scientists plot to hijack a satellite weapon. ...

External links

Categories: 1938 films | British films | Films based on mystery books | Films directed by Alfred Hitchcock | Public domain films The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about actors, films, television shows, television stars, video games and production crew personnel. ... Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (13 August 1899 â€“ 29 April 1980) was a British film director and producer, a master of the suspense thriller genre. ... The Pleasure Garden is a 1925 film, and the debut feature of Alfred Hitchcock. ... The Mountain Eagle was Alfred Hitchcocks second silent film as director, released in 1926, following The Pleasure Garden. ... The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog often just called The Lodger was a 1927 silent film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. ... Downhill is a 1927 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. ... Easy Virtue is a 1928 silent film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. ... The Ring is a 1927 English, silent, black and white film directed and written by Alfred Hitchcock. ... The Farmerâ€™s Wife is a silent movie, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and released in 1928. ... Champagne is a 1928 silent film by film director Alfred Hitchcock, based on an original story by English writer and critic Walter C. Mycroft. ... The Manxman is a 1929 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. ... Blackmail (1929), directed by Alfred Hitchcock, was one of the first British films with sound. ... Juno and the Paycock is a play by Sean OCasey, the second of his well-known Dublin Trilogy. It was first staged at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1924. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Skin Game is a 1931 film by Alfred Hitchcock, based on a play by John Galsworthy. ... Mary is a 1931 Alfred Hitchcock film based on Clemence Danes novel & Herbert Juttkes book. ... Number Seventeen is a 1932 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock based on a stage play by J. Jefferson Fargeon. ... Rich and Strange is a 1932 film direced by Alfred Hitchcock during his time in the British film industry. ... Waltzes from Vienna is a 1933 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. ... The Man Who Knew Too Much was a 1934 suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. ... The 39 Steps is a 1935 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on the adventure novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan. ... Secret Agent is a 1936 British film directed by Alfred Hitchcock based on a novel by W. Somerset Maugham. ... Sabotage is a 1936 British film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, which tells the story of Carl Verloc (played by Oscar Homolka), a terrorist from an unnamed European country, who conducts a series of attacks in London. ... Young and Innocent (U.S. title: The Girl Was Young) is a British film (1937) directed by Alfred Hitchcock starring Nova Pilbeam, Derrick De Marney and John Longden. ... Jamaica Inn is a film made by Alfred Hitchcock adapted from Daphne du Mauriers novel of the same name, in 1939, the first of three of du Mauriers works that Hitchcock adapted. ... Rebecca is a 1940 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock as his first American project. ... Foreign Correspondent is a 1940 film which tells the story of an American reporter who becomes involved in espionage in England during the onset of World War II. It stars Joel McCrea, George Sanders, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall, Albert Bassermann and Robert Benchley. ... For other uses see Mr. ... Suspicion (1941) is a film noir directed by Alfred Hitchcock starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine as a married couple. ... Saboteur is a 1942 Universal film directed by Alfred Hitchcock with a screenplay written by Peter Viertel and Joan Harrison. ... Shadow of a Doubt is a 1943 film noir which tells the story of a young woman who thinks that her uncle might be a serial killer. ... Lifeboat is a 1944 World War II movie, directed by Alfred Hitchcock from a story written by John Steinbeck. ... Aventure Malgache is a 1944 French language propaganda short film made by Alfred Hitchcock for the British Ministry of Information. ... Bon Voyage is a 1944 French language propaganda short film made by Alfred Hitchcock for the British Ministry of Information. ... DVD cover of the Criterion Collection release Spellbound (1945), a movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock, tells the story of the new head of a mental asylum who turns out not to be what he claims to be. ... Notorious was a 1946 thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock. ... The Paradine Case was a 1947 courtroom drama movie, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, produced by David O. Selznick. ... Rope (1948) is an Alfred Hitchcock classic film notable for its single location covered in long takes, many of which appear to be continuous shots. ... Under Capricorn is a 1949 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock based on a novel by Helen Simpson. ... Stage Fright DVD cover Stage Fright is a 1950 Warner Bros. ... Strangers on a Train is a film released in 1951 by Warner Bros. ... I Confess is a 1953 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock starring Montgomery Clift as Fr. ... Dial M for Murder (1954) is a U.S. film directed by Alfred Hitchcock starring Grace Kelly and Ray Milland as a married couple. ... Rear Window (1954) is a motion picture directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on Cornell Woolrichs short story It Had to Be Murder (1942). ... To Catch a Thief is a 1955 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis and John Williams. ... The Trouble with Harry is an American black comedy film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, which was released on October 3, 1955 in the United States. ... The Man Who Knew Too Much is a 1956 suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart and Doris Day. ... The Wrong Man poster The Wrong Man is a 1956 film by Alfred Hitchcock which stars Henry Fonda and Vera Miles. ... Vertigo is a 1958 psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. ... North by Northwest is a 1959 MGM thriller by Alfred Hitchcock and is generally considered one of his best works. ... Psycho is a 1960 suspense film, based on the novel by Robert Bloch, which describes the events surrounding the encounter of an embezzler and the profoundly disturbed motel proprietor Norman Bates. ... The Birds (1963) is a horror film by Alfred Hitchcock, roughly based on a short story by Daphne Du Maurier with the same name. ... Marnie is a 1964 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock based on a novel by Winston Graham. ... Torn Curtain DVD cover Torn Curtain is a 1966 thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring his trademark characters and camera techniques. ... Topaz, director Alfred Hitchcocks 51st movie, filmed between 1968 and 1969, was adapted from a book by Leon Uris. ... Frenzy (1972) is a crime thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and is the second last feature film of his extensive career. ... Family Plot is a 1976 Universal motion picture directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Karen Black, Bruce Dern, Barbara Harris and William Devane, with Cathleen Nesbitt. ...