Movies From the Hat IV – #7 – Craig’s Pick – The Lady Vanishes (1938)

This is my 2466th Review

Thanks to Craig of Cinecal Reviews for this recommendation.

Here are his thoughts on the film.

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“Never climb a fence if you can sit on it.” – Gilbert

Number of Times Seen – 1 (30 Aug 2016)

Brief Synopsis – A young woman traveling on a train across Europe meets an elderly woman who mysteriously disappears during the trip that no one seems to have seen and she enlists the help of a fellow passenger to find the missing woman.

My Take on it – Two years ago this month, Zoe of Sporadic Chronicles of a Beginner Blogger and I co-hosted a Hitchcock blogathon and despite both of us reviewing numerous titles, I have been quite lax in successfully trying to watch more and more of his films since then.

Thankfully, Craig chose this film for me to watch because I doubt of I would have ever gotten to it without his suggestion.

I was completely entranced by it as soon as it started because of the dynamic cast of characters that we are introduced to.

We get to know enough about each of them to get an informed idea as to how they fit in to the story and what in their lives currently motivate them.

As things move forward, the mystery begins to unfold and knowing those tidbits about the characters helps us really understand many of the decisions made by them along the way.

This helped make things feel more realistic fr me because I can relate to the fact quite easily that people make informed decisions based on what they will think benefits them during the specific time and place.

The cast is fun and engaging to watch the entire time and I didn’t get bored at all, as a matter of fact, I became more and more intrigued as things happen.

The dialogue is superb and was mesmerized by the discussions between the characters throughout the film.

This movie is further proof as to how great a Director Hitchcock was and is quite easy to see even in the years before he became famous of this films.

Bottom Line – Great Hitchcock film because the mystery works really well. Liked how we were introduced to each character and learn enough about them to help understand why they act the way they do.  Shows how complicated everyone’s lives can be and how they based decisions on so many different factors in life.  Great cast!  Superb dialogue. Further proof that Hitchcock was always a genius even during the beginning years.  Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – In an interview with Peter Bogdanovich, Alfred Hitchcock revealed that this film was inspired by a legend of an Englishwoman who went with her daughter to the Palace Hotel in Paris in the 1880s, at the time of the Great Exposition. The woman was taken sick and they sent the girl across Paris to get some medicine in a horse-vehicle, so it took about four hours. When she came back she asked, “How’s my mother?” “What mother?” “My mother. She’s here, she’s in her room. Room 22.” They go up there. Different room, different wallpaper, everything. And the payoff of the whole story is, so the legend goes, that the woman had bubonic plague and they dared not let anybody know she died, otherwise all of Paris would have emptied. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy

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