7.9/10
38,210
189 user 120 critic

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.

Director:

Writers:

(based upon the story: "The Wheel Spins" by), (screen play) (as Sidney Gilliatt) | 1 more credit »
Reviews
Popularity
3,832 ( 4,396)
1 win & 1 nomination. See more awards »
Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

The 39 Steps (1935)
Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.8/10 X  

A man in London tries to help a counterespionage agent. But when the agent is killed and the man stands accused, he must go on the run to both save himself and also stop a spy ring which is trying to steal top secret information.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll, Lucie Mannheim
Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8/10 X  

A young woman discovers her visiting uncle may not be the man he seems to be.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten, Macdonald Carey
Spellbound (1945)
Film-Noir | Mystery | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

A psychiatrist protects the identity of an amnesia patient accused of murder while attempting to recover his memory.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov
Suspicion (1941)
Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.4/10 X  

A shy young heiress marries a charming gentleman, and soon begins to suspect he is planning to murder her.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Cedric Hardwicke
Sabotage (1936)
Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.1/10 X  

A Scotland Yard undercover detective is on the trail of a saboteur who is part of a plot to set off a bomb in London. But when the detective's cover is blown, the plot begins to unravel.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: Sylvia Sidney, Oskar Homolka, Desmond Tester
Crime | Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.9/10 X  

A man and his wife receive a clue to an imminent assassination attempt, only to learn that their daughter has been kidnapped to keep them quiet.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: Leslie Banks, Edna Best, Peter Lorre
Action | Romance | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

On the eve of World War II, a young American reporter tries to expose enemy agents in London.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall
Saboteur (1942)
Thriller | War
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.2/10 X  

Aircraft factory worker Barry Kane goes on the run across the United States when he is wrongly accused of starting a fire that killed his best friend.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: Priscilla Lane, Robert Cummings, Otto Kruger
Notorious (1946)
Drama | Film-Noir | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8/10 X  

A woman is asked to spy on a group of Nazi friends in South America. How far will she have to go to ingratiate herself with them?

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains
Rebecca (1940)
Drama | Mystery | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.2/10 X  

A self-conscious bride is tormented by the memory of her husband's dead first wife.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders
Jamaica Inn (1939)
Adventure | Crime
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.3/10 X  

In Cornwall in 1819, a young woman discovers that she's living near a gang of criminals who arrange shipwrecks for profit.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: Maureen O'Hara, Robert Newton, Charles Laughton
Crime | Mystery | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7/10 X  

Man on the run from a murder charge enlists a beautiful stranger who must put herself at risk for his cause.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: Nova Pilbeam, Derrick De Marney, Percy Marmont
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
...
Miss Froy (as Dame May Whitty)
...
Linden Travers ...
Naunton Wayne ...
...
Mary Clare ...
Emile Boreo ...
Hotel Manager
...
Blanche
Sally Stewart ...
Julie
Philip Leaver ...
Signor Doppo
Selma Vaz Dias ...
Signora Doppo (as Zelma Vas Dias)
...
The Nun (as Catherine Lacy)

Comic-Con 2017: All Aboard the IMDboat

Entertainment news, trailer drops, and photos abound at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con. Check out IMDb’s coverage, featuring Kevin Smith as our host, celebrity interviewer, and captain of the IMDboat, July 20 to 22.

Browse Our Guide to Comic-Con

Edit

Storyline

Passengers on a scheduled train out of the mountainous European country of Mandrika are delayed by a day due to an avalanche, and thus get up close and personal with each other out of necessity in the only and what becomes an overcrowded inn in the area. Once the train departs, the one person who it is uncertain is on the train is a middle aged English governess named Miss Froy. Iris Henderson, who was vacationing in Mandrika with girlfriends before heading back to England to get married, is certain that Miss Froy was on the train as they were in the same compartment and they had tea together in the dining car, but all those people who can corroborate her story don't seem to want to do so. Iris' thoughts are easily dismissed as a possible concussion as Iris was hit over the head just before boarding the train. Iris will take anyone's help in finding Miss Froy, even that of an Englishman named Gilbert, a musicologist with whom she had a not so pleasant encounter at the inn the evening ... Written by Huggo

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

Comedy! Chills! Chuckles! in a Mystery Express! See more »

Genres:

Mystery | Thriller

Certificate:

See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Country:

Language:

| | |

Release Date:

2 January 1939 (UK)  »

Also Known As:

Ha-Geveret Ne'elmet  »

Company Credits

Production Co:

 »
Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

(British Acoustic Film Full - Range Recording: at Islington, London)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

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. See more »

Goofs

Just after the train starts out, we see it on a high bridge; behind the locomotive and tender are a van, four passenger cars, and another van. Just after the lady vanishes, an exterior view along the side of the train shows at least five passenger cars, and we were told that there have been no stops. See more »

Quotes

Iris Henderson: Did you notice the nun in there with the patient?
Gilbert: No, not really...
Iris Henderson: Nuns don't wear high heels.
See more »

Crazy Credits

Closing credits: The Characters in "THE LADY VANISHES" were played by: See more »

Connections

Referenced in Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's (1997) See more »

Soundtracks

Colonel Bogey March
(1914) (uncredited)
Music by Kenneth Alford
Hummed by Michael Redgrave
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

 
An early view into Hitch's genius
6 March 2005 | by (United States) – See all my reviews

From 1938, The Lady Vanishes is clearly where Hitch was getting comfortable in his trade. Starting slowly, it soon revs up with mystery and intrigue. But I think that was the whole point. A seemingly innocuous day can lead itself into adventure.

Starting in some remote European village, a woman meets a little old lady. Getting on the train the next day, the old lady vanishes without a trace while she is asleep. When she asks about the lady, people say that there was no old lady. The mystery then ensues as our leading lady tries to uncover the plot behind a woman she knows was there.

The main aspect of this movie is the everyday humor that is applied. The two English fellows who are only looking for the latest cricket scores, score themselves some remarkable laughs. Our hero that comes to the leading woman's assistance is funny and charming himself. The time spent at the beginning in the hotel may seem to be off topic, making a viewer wonder where the mystery is, but the point is that the viewer becomes acquainted with the characters and are much more believable to the viewer. Again, I think Hitch was showing us our next door neighbors and how they can rise up against unusually dangerous circumstances. I think my analysis of Hitch would be his championing the moral fiber of everyman. I think that is why Hitchcock films still stand today as some of the best ever made.

This movie receives my major recommendation. Not done yet. I got more to view and review. What fun!


32 of 41 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?