Join adventurous Iris Henderson (Margaret Lockwood) and many more in one of the best movies located largely on a train. A mysterious ride awaits. Will someone have to pull the emergency brake?
Interlude
This is my first rating and review for this category. I start with one of Hitchcock´s British gems. All of his sound movies will be covered in future posts, but only one at a time. They will not appear in a chronological or any other order. Once I´m in the mood to write about the works of my favorite director, a new post is on it´s way. Get excited as we start with one of his best movies, before he went to Hollywood.
‘The Lady Vanishes (1938)’ is a mystery thriller with comedic elements and had it´s cinematic debut on the 7th of October 1938 in London with a runtime of 1 hour and 37 minutes. Based on Ethel Lina White´s novel ‘The Wheel Spins’ both screenwriters Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder did a great job in transferring the original source into a suitable screenplay.
The production company was Gainsborough Pictures, which is mostly known for publishing British melodramas in the 1940s and the film was shot at Islington Studios on a set with a length of 90 feet (approximately 27.50 metre). Production and studio are at the same spot and located in London near the Regent´s Canal.
Besides it´s famous director and a great story, the film benefits from a perfectly matched cast. You will know the characters and a lot of in depth information by heart, after reading the complete post.
Mandrikan Melting Pot
A bachelorette party, cricket, folk dances and conspiracies in a fictive Central European country?
This sounds a bit crazy at first, but as the hectic hotel manager Boris (Emile Boreo) states at the beginning of the story in Italian, French, German and English, in exactly this order, the variety gets very clear:
“Ladies and gentlemen! I´m very sorry! The train is a little bit off-hold and if you wish to stay in my hotel you have to register immediately.”
While a large crowd of people desperately tries to snatch the last free rooms, we are introduced to young Iris Henderson played by leading actress Margaret Lockwood. All new arrivals have to wait as Boris interrupts his work as concierge to bring Iris and her friends upstairs. Sally Stewart´s role as Julie was a direct cast, but Googie Withers portrayal of Blanche was just possible due to permission of her contract owner Excelsior Film Productions LTD.
Their evening is all about ‘Saying farewell’ to Iris bachelorette life, before returning home to England for marriage. It seems to be the right spot for partying in the thirties as it´s not the first time the girls were here:
“Nice to see you too Boris. You haven´t changed a bit since last Friday.”
Hitchcock presents bare legs and short night gowns in the girls room. He also did a similar thing three years prior during ‘The 39 Steps (1935)’ when beautiful Madeleine Carroll sits in a room at a Scottish tavern showing her legs and feet. It´s a popular Hitchcock thing to provoke the authorities by exploring the limits of what is permissible, but the British Board of Film Censors (BBFC) was merciful to him in this case.
Margaret Lockwood, sitting in the middle, was only 21 years old during her five months of filming in 1937, but her movie character Iris definitely did a lot of amazing stuff: “I Iris Matilda Henderson. A spinster of no particular parish do hereby solemnly renounce my maidenly pass and do declare that on Thursday next the 26th, being in my mind right, I shall take the veil … and the orange blossom and change my name to Lady Charles Fatheringale… I have no regrets … I´ve been everywhere and done everything. I´ve eaten caviar at Cannes. Sausage rolls at the docks. I played Baccarat at Biarritz and darts with the rural dean. What is there left for me but … marriage.”
Two very British gentlemen are also forced to stay in the scenic sanctuary overnight. Their names? Charters and Caldicott (Basil Redford and Naunton Wayne). Their mission? Staying out of trouble, getting home to London in time for a cricket test match and, most importantly, talking about the only sport mentioned in this sentence. The duo didn´t appear in Ethel Lina White´s book and was created by the screenwriters Gilliat and Launder.
Charters and Caldicott´s callous and exaggerated British manner turned out to be just the right portion of comedy. Some examples in the hotel are: Sharing a room with a native maid, taking a call not meant for them to obtain cricket trivia from London, wearing fancy suits to dine in a ‘primitive’ environment or eating the last bite of cheese from an old lady´s plate. This comedic inserts are very entertaining, but after first starting to watch ‘The Lady Vanishes (1938),’ I thought to myself: “Are they only appearing for comic relief and creating laughs or are they actually getting to do anything?”
London is on the line! Charters (Basil Redford) and Caldicott (Naunton Wayne) are graving for cricket news.
Miss Froy is the vanishing character mentioned in the film title and portrayed by an actress which knows her stuff: Dame May Whitty played on the theater stage with success for nearly 25 years and became famous for her supporting roles in British and Hollywood movies in the 1930s and 1940s. She also appeared in another Hitchcock movie: ‘Suspicion (1941)’ starring Joan Fontaine and Cary Grant. By the way: I didn´t use the word ‘Dame’ for the purpose to generalize women as often done in Noir Films of the 40s or referring to ‘a hot dame.’ According to Charters and Caldicott she´s an ‘old hen.’ That is correct and completely fine with me in terms of her age and appearance. The word ‘Dame’ at the beginning of a female name denotes a title received for the most excellent accomplishments for the British Empire. May Whitty achieved her title in 1918 for performing the art of acting in field hospitals during World War I to motivate the troops.
At first Miss Froy seems to be nothing more than the obvious: An old English lady with a polite attitude to everyone she meets. Harmless, mountain loving and with a weakness for music. Her most noticeable interactions at the hotel are conversations with Charters and Caldicott about the people living here and a small chat with Iris about noise upstairs. She also gave a tip to a musician for his performance, directly beneath her room window one or two floors down.
Miss Froy (Dame May Whitty) is a woman with principles: “You should never judge a country by it´s politics.”
Remember the noise I mentioned a few sentences prior? Which occurred one floor up and Iris and Miss Froy were talking about it? This is were the leading actor Michael Redgrave appears for the first time. There are two meanings in this remark: The first is exactly what the sentence tells us. Folk player Gilbert Redman is speaking his first lines in the film. So now you might ask “What´s the second meaning?” It´s also Redgrave´s first role in a motion picture ever with one small exception. He has a short appearance in Hitchcock´s World War I spy movie ‘Secret Agent (1936).’
Michael Redgrave´s first leading role (left): Folk player Gilbert Redman makes some locals dance in ‘The Lady Vanishes’, but it was not his movie debut. He played an army officer (right) who delivers a message to his superior two years prior in ‘Secret Agent (1936).’ This film was also directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Music isn´t his only craftsmanship. In a later conversation with Iris on the mysterious train trip, Gilbert tells her that he also works on a book about folk dancing. So he travels around to make experiences and pick up stories. The scene in Iris room is a remarkable example for how well the cast interacts. They get to know each other slowly with kind of a double black mail. Iris bribes the manager to do everything to stop the noise above and Gilbert settles uninvited in her room to get his original domicile back. Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave are made to perform together. Which they also did in a film directed by Carol Reed: ‘The Stars Look Down (1940)’
If someone hadn´t read the advertisements or movie posters back then and went into a theater with pure curiosity couldn´t probably determine, on the basis of the scenes presented above, that a mystery thriller is displayed on screen. This will change drastically after the voice of a passionate singer and guitarist (uncredited actor Roy Russell played many small roles in his career) is muted by two strangling hands. In the dark nearby Miss Froy´s room window. Did someone just stop him from singing? Or was he silenced forever? But why? Was Miss Froy´s coin throw not a tip, but meant as a sign for the guitar player that she heard enough? If yes what exactly did she snap up?
A melody with a great scope? Or a tune with completely different purposes? The voice of actor Roy Russell resounds through the Mandrikan mountains. To whom belong the strangling hands? Maybe Hitchcock himself gave it a try?
The Train of Disbelief
The story literally picks up speed on the next morning. Many people bustle around the train station to make a getaway to their desired destinations.
Iris has a lively conversation with her friends. It soon becomes clear that she is traveling back to London alone.
She and her room neigbor Miss Froy are meeting again when the old lady suddenly walks away and loses her glasses as a result. Iris attempts to return them, but she is stopped by a falling flower pot made of stone.
The heavy object was pushed from a window above and lands on her head with full power. Is the attack meant for Iris or Miss Froy?
Both women catch the train quickly after this incident. Iris waves her friends ‘Goodbye’ before an odd thing happens and she blacks out:
Iris faints fast after the crush on her head. The whirling effects in this scene (left) are intense and remind me of Hitchcock´s psychological thriller ‘Vertigo (1958).’ (right)
She wakes up sitting in a compartment with several strangers. The only exception is Miss Froy, which has taken care of her after the fatal blow. They decide to visit the dinning car for a pot of tea for two and some small talk.
This doesn´t take long and Iris takes a nap once they return to their cabin. Her subconscious mind naturally awaits to recgocnize the old governess on the opposite seat, after leaving the sleeping state.
The first thing she sees is … nothing? Just an empty seat. Miss Froy is gone? Questioning the other passengers in her compartment hasn´t helped. A grotesque woman (Baroness Athona played by actress Mary Clare), with a snake-tongued accent, gives her to understand twice that “There has been no English lady here.” No one seems to saw her. But how is this possible? Iris is confused and her complicated search for the truth begins.
Imagine that you put a lot of paper slips into a lottery drum and label each one with a different Hitchcock movie title before doing that. Afterwards, you draw five slips randomly and read the titles out loud. You would have a high chance to stumble over a very specific and reappearing movie characteristic on all five slips: One of the main characters has to prove her or his innocence for doing something another person did and no one on their journey believes them until very late in the movie. ‘The Lady Vanishes (1938)’ on the other hand has an interesting twist to this often proclaimed ‘Hitchcock scheme’. Iris wants to prove that Miss Froy really exists and no one takes her seriously for various reasons, but most of them know that she is actually telling the truth.
Iris wanders around the corridors and rooms to ask for Miss Froy´s whereabouts. She meets very different people on her Q&A trip. Two of them are the Todhunter´s. A married couple which clearly falls under the category ‘Opposites do not attract each other.’ Mr. Todhunter (English actor Cecil Parker) does not want to be involved in such matters, due to his ambitions to become a judge. He lies to Iris stating that he haven´t seen her and an old English woman in tweet passing their compartment. His wife ‘Mrs.’ Todhunter (Linden Travers) first admits seeing them, but retracts her statement later. I didn´t add the two inverted commas on the beginning and end of ‘Mrs.’ Todhunter. It´s from the opening credits and explains their relation status in it´s entirety: Complicated. She is talking about divorce, while her husband conducts monologues about his career.
Dr. Egon Hartz´s reason for ‘not believing her’ is very simple. He´s the leader of an organization, which has the goal to abduct Miss Froy. Once it becomes clear to him, that Iris will not be convinced easily, he watches her closely. Hungarian actor Paul Lukas plays the role of an eager and overly curious physician magnificently. Especially his often repeated line with an overdrawn Eastern European English slang “Most interesting!” sticks. Paul Lukas won an Oscar five years later for his leading part as German engineer Kurt Muller in ‘Watch on the Rhine (1943).’
Even the train crew is biased or probably bribed by Hartz´s criminals. This goes so far that a waiter shows a false receipt of her tea break with Miss Froy: ‘Tea for one.’
Gilbert accompanies Iris on her quest to find Miss Froy, after they meet again in a wagon at the end of the train. He seems to be the only one playing on her team, but he isn´t fully convinced also. Is Gilbert pretending to believe her because he has a crush on the young, dark haired beauty? Iris bad luck doesn´t help either. After a chit chat with him at the fabled tea table, where Iris also sat with ‘the missing valuable object’, she notices Miss Froy´s writing on the fogged-up window pane. “Look!” But before anyone can try to move their eyes in this direction, the train drives into a tunnel. When the train escaped the darkness, the lettering has suddenly disappeared.
The window screams: “Read me!” Margaret Lockwood´s and Michael Redgrave´s characters are having a lively conversation.
After Iris second black out, over the shock that really no one seems to believe her, Dr. Hartz does another pull to persuade her. Again with no success. Gilbert also doesn´t know how to handle her anymore and decides to light his pipe for a short break in the passage of the wagon. Suddenly, enlightenment comes to him in the truest sense of the word. It´s a small paper strip thrown out the window with the rubbish. ‘Harriman´s Herbal Tea’ is surely one hell of a tea as the packets advertising says that ‘One million Mexicans drink it.’ Gilbert finally believes her entirely as this is exactly the brand Iris drank with Miss Froy on their chat in the dinning wagon and she told Gilbert about it earlier.
Exactly the kind of confirmation Gilbert (Michael Redgrave) has been missing: Harriman´s Herbal Tea. This brand isn´t existing for real, but it´s common for Mexicans that they drink tea with herbs.
Do you want to see a very grumpy face? Say “Hi!” to Madame Kummer, the villains group shady replacement for the real Miss Froy. British actress Josephine Wilson´s face expressions are priceless.
When looks could kill. Iris (Margaret Lockwood) first person view of gloomy Madame Kummer (Josephine Wilson).
Hitchcock’s Political Allusions, A Nun in High Heels and a Pre James Bond
‘The Lady Vanishes (1938)’ was released for the first time on the 7th of October 1938 as mentioned before. Eight days prior, on the 30th of September 1938, Great Britain´s prime minister Neville Chamberlain stood in front of Downing Street number 10 and said in a speech addressed to the British population: „Peace for our time!“ Shortly before, he had visited Adolf Hitler in Munich for peace consultations. This meeting and more importantly the fake commitment´s Hitler made and Chamberlain agreed to are widely regarded as England’s greatest diplomatic failure in their entire history. Do you know what happened approximately eleven months later? On the 3rd of September 1939 to be exact: England declared war to Germany.
You might ask, why I did this little history class? If you put in enough interpretation, you can say that publishing this movie was an indirect response from Hitchcock to Chamberlain´s statement. Of course this wasn´t planned as no one could know what the outcome of the Chamberlain / Hitler meeting would be. But that the film aired just some days after Chamberlain´s statement is a nice coincidence. Hitchcock isn´t so conceited as a leading statesman and placed numerous allusions in the movie which say something like: “Hey fellow Britons! Start thinking for a moment before believing anything what this dictator says. We are heading straight for a second world war.” Keep in mind that the film was shot in 1937. Hitchcock packaged his opinion in the movie for the whole world to see. Or better expressed: He shows the actions of various European powers in his characters. But how?
The villains ruthlessness mostly stands for two fascistic regimes of that time: Germany (Hitler) and Italy (Mussolini). Dr. Hartz stated that ‘he´s from Prague’ which would be Czechoslovakia. It´s pretty sure that the diplomatic censorship bit Hitchcock´s neck in case making the major villain a German, so he improvised and choose a Czech. Signor Doppo (Philip Leaver) said to Iris and Gilbert: “I´m an Italian citizen! My wife and child! … And the lady in the corner … Baroness Athona …!” Gilbert replies: “Oh yes! I met her husband. He presented prizes of the folk dance festival…” Then he turns to Iris and says: “Minister of Propaganda.” But the next quote is the most bittersweet piece of cake the English people had to swallow. Gilbert to Dr. Hartz: “…The brain specialist? Yes, yes you flew to England the other day and operated on one of our cabinet ministers … Tell me! Have you find anything?” Hartz answers: “A slight celebral contusion.” Gilbert smiles: “Oh well that´s better than nothing.” In other words: “The British cabinet must have brain damages not to see that Germany tricks them into a war.” Madame Kummer´s nationality isn´t mentioned, but it should be pretty certain that she´s meant to be a German.
Hitchcock clearly alludes to England´s embarrassing situation: Dr. Hartz (Paul Lukas) and Signor Doppo (Philip Leaver) have the knowledge lead over Iris (Margaret Lockwood) and Gilbert (Michael Redgrave). The same advantage Hitler and Mussolini had over England during the same time period.
The British characters don’t come off very well at first. But Iris and Gilbert are there to pull the cart out of the mud. Or aren´t they? The train ride holds the first real confrontations in store for them. There´s a bizarre fighting scene in the baggage car which for my taste drifts a bit too much into the slapstick corner. The English ‘Probably soon couple’ fights with the Italian guy Signor Doppo over the first piece of evidence: Miss Froy´s spectacles. The reference to Sherlock and Watson is nice to look at and peppered with good dialogues for the leading woman and man. Nevertheless, the southern enemy slips away with the first piece of solid evidence.
Shortly after that, my favorite supporting actress in this film shows up for the first time. Catherine Lacey plays a mysterious nun and looks over Dr. Hartz´s patient. But who exactly is the person lying on the bench? And more importantly: Why is a nun wearing high heels? The British actress is the only character which changes sides later and joins her country women and men. Catherine Lacey has something in common with Michael Redgrave. It´s also her debut in a major motion picture.
The Nun without a name (Catherine Lacey) shows us her high heels and her… crucifix. If you watch Hitchcock´s movies carefully (and I´m sure you do) you´ll notice that close up up feet of women are visible on screen pretty often.
After Dr. Hartz drugged Iris and Gilbert, to get the snoopers finally out of the way, he diabolically admits: “Yes the patient is Miss Froy. She will be taken of the train at Morsken in about three minutes. She will be removed to the hospital there and operated on. Unfortunately the operation will not be successful … Oh I should perhaps have explained … the operation will be performed … by me.” After locked up they have to act quick before getting unconscious! Which would be Iris third time in this picture. So Gilbert decides to reach the opposite compartment deathly-brave and climbs out of the window. Another train rushes by while this happens. This scene always reminds of James Bond or later agent movies. ‘The Lady Vanishes (1938)’ is clearly ahead of it´s time.
Gilbert (Michael Redgrave) climbs out of the window to finally retrieve Miss Froy. The Nun (Catherine Lacey) prepared the drugs, but left out the anesthetic. This is what made Miss Froy´s rescue possible and added an ally to their cause.
From Baffling Battles and Tremendous Tunes
The title is solved: ‘The Lady Appeared.’ So what does Hitchcock have in store now?
Dr. Hartz has a bitter pill to swallow when he unwraps the face of that mummy-like body and notices that it´s Madame Kummer and not Miss Froy. He sets everything in motion and instructs some soldiers at the station to uncouple most of the wagons. The only car remaining is the one with our British crowd and the train itself. As the steam engine stops in a wooded area, we approach the showdown.
In the last quarter of the film, Hitchcock is not stingy with further political remarks to the British Empire. Take Charters for example, the cricket duo´s nearly bald head. Shortly after Gilbert gave one of Dr. Hartz officers a very ‘oxfordish’ hit with a chair, Charters furiously asks “Why you did that?” Gilbert replies: “That was a trick to get us off the train.” Charters answers: “Thinking like this might cause a war. I´m going outside … tell them what occurred. It´s up to us to apologize and put the matter right.” Right at the moment when he steps out of the wagon, one of the besiegers shoots him in the hand. The unteachable Mr. Todhunter isn´t that ‘lucky’. He remarks before leaving the train: “You idiots now just inviting death… I´ve had enough … Just because I had the sense to try and avoid being murdered I´m accused of being a pacifist. All right … I´d rather be called a rat than die like one … Think for a moment. If we give ourselves up they don´t murder us in cold blood … They´re bound to give us a trial.” His own wife couldn´t stop him and the misuse of a white handkerchief as a piece flag won´t save him either. One of the villains shoots to kill.
Eric Todhunter (Cecil Parker) dies over false hope and wrong expectations.
Hitchcock does a similar thing as mentioned above, but more drastic. He clearly tells his British audience the following: “You really believe anything Nazi Germany says? False promises about peace? Don´t be such fools! This will get you killed sooner or later!”
The thrilling fight and train chase chapter is shot extraordinary well. Hitchcock continues to refine methods and schemes established with prior movies like ‘The 39 Steps (1935)’ (which has a similar tone) or ‘Secret Agent (1936)’ (which is a bit darker). Many of the scenes in ‘The Lady Vanishes (1938)’ were an exercise area or a kind of foundation stone for one of the best agent / chase movies of all time: Hitchcock´s smashing hit ‘North by Northwest (1959).’
There´s a nice key scene which comes along as a short interlude to the shooting. Miss Froy takes her guardians Iris and Gilbert away from the precarious situation to tell them what it´s all about. She reveals her spy status even if it´s ‘such a grim word’ as stated by herself and shares an important information with them. The English government waits desperately to get this news and Miss Froy wants to double the chances that it will arrive. The information is nicely packed. Miss Froy: “It´s a tune … it contains … encoded of course … the vital clause of a secret pact between two European countries.” Which countries could that possibly be? I think you know the answer. Gilbert can memorize anything since he grew up with music. At least that´s what he tells Miss Froy. Sharp your ears and hum along.
Alfred Hitchcock described this tune in a famous interview with French director François Truffaut in just one sentence: “So that´s the real fantasy.” Or in other words: A Mac Guffin. But a great one.
Back to Good ol´ London
So who will save the day in the end? A fearless (still high heeled?) nun. Catherine Lacey´s character opens a track barrier in a hail of enemy bullets. She succeeds, but gets shot in the back. The passage over the border is finally clear. There´s an awkward scene right before a stock footage ferry comes on screen which refers to Iris, Gilbert, Charters and Caldicott´s crossing to England: Main villain Dr. Hartz and his accomplice Baroness Athona are blabbering something in an unrecognizable language, while they are watching the train moving further and further away. Dr. Hartz adds: “… or as they say in English … ‘Jolly Good Luck to them.’ ” The baroness even seems relaxed and smokes a cigarette. Story wise it feels displaced as they tried everything to abduct Miss Froy and did other more than questionable things. Hitchcock´s intention is not quite clear. One explanation could be another warning to the British people: “They will lie and even pretend to have positive feelings for you. But there are nothing but murderers and saboteurs.” Maybe the scene is meant to be an ironic side kick?
Gilbert is still humming the precious tune, while they arrive at the Victoria Station in London. It´s also time for Hitchcock´s famous cameo routine. He walks around the station and smokes a big cigar. The director also devotes himself once again to the subject of marriage. Iris finally says ‘Goodbye’ to a stuffy life perspective with her boring (ex) fiancé Charles and devotes to adventurous Gilbert instead. The cool movie guy beats the lame movie guy. This was already common practice in the 1930s and might not always be the right choice related to the story. For ‘The Lady Vanishes (1938)’ it feels just right and gives the movie a proper romantic ending. Shortly before the young couple wants to ‘deliver’ the encoded tune at the foreign office Gilbert suddenly forgot the rhythm! He tries to remember, but is humming the weeding march instead.
The last scene is also my favorite. Sudden, but calm piano music floods the room. Gilbert flicks his fingers. There it is! The tune! Miss Froy survived and reached the foreign office just before they did. Reunited at last.
Miss Froy has survived and plays the encoded tune on the piano. Everyone holds their breath. Even Iris and Gilbert. Just until the old dame notices that her friends arrived and reunion joy takes over.
Rating:
Do you remember the Hitchcock / Truffaut interview I mentioned earlier? There´s a Hitchcock quote that serves as a perfect introduction to the rating for ‘The Lady Vanishes (1938).’ The following words are his original ones: “If we want to go back to our old friends the plausibels, I want to know why a message had to be in the hands of an old lady, which anybody could knock over. I don´t know why they didn´t send the message by pigeon and why they did have to go to this elaborate to change her over on the train … have another woman ready to change clothes … shot a whole coach away into the woods…” Of course he says the whole thing with a big wink of the eye. The plausibility doesn´t matter at all. At least not for this movie. It´s pure entertainment with a focus on characters and plot.
If I wanted to categorize movies on a personal level ‘The Lady Vanishes (1938)’ would be on the shelf ‘Comfy Movies.’ I´ve seen this film five times by now and surely will return for the great atmosphere. I imagine sitting in the mountain reservoir with a good beer in my hand invisible to the rest or in a dark corner of the train and watch it all happening. It´s ‘Feel Good’ all over. Margaret Lockwood´s natural performance encouraged me to look further into her work which is always a good thing to expand your knowledge. For example ‘Night Train to Munich (1940)’ starring her and Rex Harrison. Most of the story takes place on a train too.
I can really recommend this film to every Hitchcock fan, but also to anyone interested in British film material of the 30s or a good humorous spy movie. Many of the elements that Hitchcock revolutionized in his work years prior evolved in terms of technique and quality. He kind of invented the genre of ‘Spy and Agent Movies’ and it´s clearly one of his best British films.
Complete rating for ‘The Lady Vanishes (1938)’:
‘The Lady Vanishes (1938)’ climbed ‘Close To The Top’ on the ‘Rating Mountain:’
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