The Lady Vanishes

I haven't seen the original but I watched this with 1 hour delay on two channels simultaneously, I was at home with a cold at the time and feeling very sorry for myself. Anyway, if you would just put the two leads aside for a moment (although Eliot Gould was SO cute in the movie and Cybil Shepperd did the visual pun of Marilyn Monroe on the air vent very well when she gets out of the train...) The thing I really liked about this film were the characters of Charters and Caldicott - they made me laugh hysterically - there they are drinking tea - understating this understating that - then suddenly.....they are really terrific minor characters. I would love a whole film on those two. Very affectionate look at English manners. ARTHUR LOWE MADE ME FORGET HOW ILL I FELT!

There's a strong tendency to compare Hitchcock's version of "The Lady Vanishes" with the 1979 version starring Elliot Gould, Cybill Shepherd, and Angela Lansbury. There's no need to do so. Both have the same title but entirely different moods. This doesn't make one "better" or "worse" than the other. They just should be judged on their own merits.

Both are thrillers, one more somber and tense, and the latter version more of a melodramatic mystery with comedic touches.

What I would suggest is that the viewer simply watch both versions, recognizing the strong and weak points of each. Both are enjoyable, but to interject a personal note, I tend to lean toward this 1979 version for its tone that's more like other mystery films such as "Charade" or "North By Northwest".

Enjoy them both as different cinematic expressions and let others worry about comparisons.

Its inevitable that this would be compared to Hitchcock's 1938 original but for me there are many pleasures to be had in this elegant comedy-thriller. Douglas Slocombe's Panavision photography is wonderful and the playing of all involved is beautifully poised. George Axelrod's reworking of Sidney Gilliat's screenplay adds a nice screwball touch with his one-liners and Ian Carmichael and Arthur Lowe as the cricket-obsessed British tourists add humanity to their chauvinistic bullishness. And as a self-confessed Angela Lansbury fan I of course relished her depiction of Miss Froy. On a big cinema screen this looks terrific.

Hammer's lamentable remake of a Hitchcock classic and unsurprisingly the studio's last picture – at least until their recent reinvention as a purveyor of horror fare. THE LADY VANISHES is an odd film indeed, one that veers unevenly between comedy, mystery and thrills and never really succeeds in any of those fields: the comedy's unfunny, the mystery's obvious and the thrills muted. It doesn't help that the lead actress – Cybill Shepherd – is horribly miscast, giving a performance so awful that some viewers may turn off because of her alone.

Then again, Shepherd may not be entirely at fault – I struggle to think of an alternative actress who could have brought her shrill, screechy character to life. I generally enjoy films set aboard trains, planes, boats etc. but this one never makes good use of the location and the constant moving between carriages and compartments becomes repetitive in the extreme (although a late stage train-climbing stunt sequence is breathtakingly good).

Elliott Gould seems distinctly embarrassed by his presence here and can do nothing with his character, while Angela Lansbury seems to think she's still in BEDKNOBS & BROOMSTICKS and gives a patronising turn. It's left to the Arthur Lowe and Ian Carmichael to supply some genuine humour, although sadly their characters are ill-utilised and kept off-screen for the most part. THE LADY VANISHES marks an ignoble end for a once-fine studio and languishes today as a deservedly forgotten oddity.

It's an unpopular and even downright blasphemous idea to remake a great Alfred Hitchcock classic. It is now, and it definitely was in the late 70s, when the Master of Suspense himself was still alive. "The Lady Vanishes" flopped at the box office, received harshly negative reviews, was the symbolical last effort of Hammer Studios, and still isn't very appreciated nowadays based on the other user-comments around here.

And yet, I personally feel that "The Lady Vanishes" deserves a bit more recognition and praise, and this for the plain and simple fact that I found it very amusing. The plot is still compelling four decades later, the cast is tremendous, Cybill Shepard never looked more gorgeous than here in her white dress, and random conversations about cricket were never as funny.

Reverting to comparisons between this version and Hitchcock's classic is inevitable, though. The 1979 update is undeniably weaker for two reasons. First, because here there never is any doubt whether there was a Miss Froy who suddenly vanishes from the train departing from Bavaria. Shepard's character Kelly is very certain of herself and doesn't allow anyone to convince her otherwise, and it also doesn't help that we follow Miss Froy (Angela Lansbury) throughout the entire "Sound of Music" reminiscent opening credit sequences as she walks down a mountain and checks into a hotel. Secondly, there's the hindsight effect. What I mean by this is that Hitchcock's original was made and released in 1938; - slightly more than a year before the outbreak of WWII. Hitch made fabulous use of the contemporary political tensions and social unrest, and it greatly benefitted the atmosphere of his film. Anthony Page, like every other director since 1945, is forced to approach the plot with hindsight and that simply cannot be as intense.

Never mind the negativity, though, and enjoy "The Lady Vanishes" with all its misplaced comedy and unspectacular action. Cybill's best line: "despite your ridiculous haircut, I'm falling for you". Because, let's face it, Elliot Gould's hair is quite silly.