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''The Lady Vanishes'' is a 1938 British
mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' *Mystery, a seahorse that SpongeBob SquarePants adopts in the episode " My Pre ...
thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...
directed by
Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...
, starring
Margaret Lockwood Margaret Mary Day Lockwood, CBE (15 September 1916 – 15 July 1990), was a British actress. One of Britain's most popular film stars of the 1930s and 1940s, her film appearances included ''The Lady Vanishes'' (1938), '' Night Train to Munich ...
and
Michael Redgrave Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave (20 March 1908 – 21 March 1985) was an English actor and filmmaker. Beginning his career in theatre, he first appeared in the West End in 1937. He made his film debut in Alfred Hitchcock's ''The Lady Vanishes'' ...
. Written by
Sidney Gilliat Sidney Gilliat (15 February 1908 – 31 May 1994) was an English film director, producer and writer. In the 1930s he worked as a scriptwriter, most notably with Frank Launder on ''The Lady Vanishes'' (1938) for Alfred Hitchcock, and '' Nig ...
and
Frank Launder Frank Launder (28 January 1906 – 23 February 1997) was a British writer, film director and producer, who made more than 40 films, many of them in collaboration with Sidney Gilliat. Early life and career He was born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, ...
, based on the 1936 novel ''
The Wheel Spins ''The Wheel Spins'' (a.k.a. ''The Lady Vanishes'') is a 1936 mystery novel by British writer Ethel Lina White. Plot Iris Carr, a young English society woman, is staying at a small hotel in ‘a remote corner of Europe’. Her friends leave on ...
'' by
Ethel Lina White Ethel Lina White (2 April 1876 – 13 August 1944) was a British crime fiction, crime writer from Abergavenny, Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire, Wales. She was best known for her novel ''The Wheel Spins'' (1936), on which the Alfred Hitch ...
, the film is about an English tourist travelling by train in continental Europe who discovers that her elderly travelling companion seems to have disappeared from the train. After her fellow passengers deny ever having seen the elderly lady, the young woman is helped by a young musicologist, the two proceeding to search the train for clues to the old lady's disappearance. ''The Lady Vanishes'' was filmed at the
Gainsborough Studios Gainsborough Pictures was a British film studio based on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, east London. Gainsborough Studios was active between 1924 and 1951. The comp ...
in
Islington, London Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...
. Hitchcock caught Hollywood's attention with the film and moved to Hollywood soon after its release. Although the director's three previous efforts had done poorly at the box office, ''The Lady Vanishes'' was widely successful, and confirmed American producer
David O. Selznick David O. Selznick (born David Selznick; May 10, 1902June 22, 1965) was an American film producer, screenwriter and film studio executive who produced ''Gone with the Wind (film), Gone with the Wind'' (1939) and ''Rebecca (1940 film), Rebecca'' (1 ...
's belief that Hitchcock indeed had a future in Hollywood cinema.Spoto 1992, p. 71. The
British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
ranked ''The Lady Vanishes'' the 35th best British film of the 20th century. In 2017, a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for '' Time Out'' magazine saw it ranked the 31st best British film ever. It is one of Hitchcock's most renowned British films, and the first of three screen versions of White's novel as of January 2021.


Plot

After visiting the fictional country of Bandrika, English tourist Iris Henderson is returning home to get married, but an avalanche blocks the railway line. The stranded passengers are forced to spend the night at a hotel. In the same predicament are
Charters and Caldicott Charters and Caldicott started out as two supporting characters in the 1938 Alfred Hitchcock film ''The Lady Vanishes''. The pair of cricket-obsessed characters were played by Naunton Wayne and Basil Radford. The characters were created by Fra ...
,
cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
enthusiasts anxious to see the last days of a Test match in
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
, and Miss Froy, a governess and music teacher. Miss Froy listens to a folk singer in the street, but he is strangled to death by an unseen murderer. That evening, Iris is bothered by a loud noise from the room above hers. It is caused by Gilbert Redman, an
ethnomusicologist Ethnomusicology is the multidisciplinary study of music in its cultural context. The discipline investigates social, cognitive, biological, comparative, and other dimensions. Ethnomusicologists study music as a reflection of culture and investiga ...
who plays the clarinet for local folk dancers. She attempts to get him removed from the room but fails after he confronts her. The next morning at the railway station, Miss Froy drops her glasses near Iris and her friends. When Iris tries to return Miss Froy's glasses, she is hit on the head by a large planter dropped from above. Miss Froy helps her onto the train. As she waves goodbye to her friends, Iris faints and then comes to in a compartment with Miss Froy and several strangers. Also on board are Charters and Caldicott, Gilbert, and lawyer Eric Todhunter with his mistress, who is passing herself off as "Mrs. Todhunter". Iris joins Miss Froy in the dining car for tea. Miss Froy gives a package of her favourite tea to the waiter and says she only drinks this brand. Soon after they return to their compartment, Iris falls asleep. When she wakes up, Miss Froy has vanished. The other passengers in the compartment, several other passengers and train staff deny ever seeing her. Todhunter pretends not to remember her to avoid drawing attention to his liaison with his mistress. Gilbert agrees to help Iris searches for Miss Froy. Brain surgeon Dr. Hartz says Iris may be suffering from "concussion-related hallucinations". Fearing that any delay would make them miss the cricket match, Charters and Caldicott also claim not to remember Miss Froy. Angry at her lover for his reluctance to pursue a divorce, Todhunter's mistress admits to seeing Miss Froy. At the first stop, Dr. Hartz's patient, whose head is completely covered in bandages, is brought aboard on a stretcher and accompanied by an apparently deaf-mute nun. A woman dressed exactly like Miss Froy, Madame Kummer, appears in her place and claims to have helped Iris after she was struck on the head. After Todhunter tells his mistress his wife would never agree to a divorce, she says that Madame Kummer was the woman she saw. Iris briefly doubts her own memory, but while in the dining car with Gilbert, she recalls having tea with Miss Froy and sees where the woman wrote her name on the window. She pulls the emergency brake and faints again. Gilbert still believes Iris is hallucinating, but when one of the cooks tosses trash out the window, Gilbert sees a tea package wrapper briefly stick to a corridor window and recognizes the special brand Iris told him was Miss Froy's favourite, convincing him of her existence. While continuing their search, Iris and Gilbert find Miss Froy's glasses in the baggage car. However, they are attacked by magician Signor Doppo, who was in Iris's compartment. They lose the glasses in the struggle, and Doppo escapes. Iris notices that the nun accompanying Dr. Hartz's patient is wearing high heels, and they suspect that "patient" has been replaced by Miss Froy. Dr. Hartz takes them to the dining cars for a drink and accompanies them back to a compartment, where he admits that the patient is Miss Froy, that he is involved in the conspiracy and that they have been drugged. However the false nun, revealed to be a British woman in costume, did not put the drug into their drinks out of loyalty to her fellow countrymen. Gilbert and Iris escape, free Miss Froy and replace her with Madame Kummer. When the train stops near the border, Dr. Hartz discovers the switch. He has part of the train diverted onto a branch line, where soldiers wait. Gilbert and Iris inform their fellow passengers what is happening. A uniformed soldier boards and requests that they all accompany him. They knock him out and take his pistol. Another soldier fires, wounding Charters in the hand. During the ensuing gunfight, Miss Froy tells Gilbert and Iris that she must get away as she is actually a British spy. Just in case, she gives them a message (encoded in a tune) to deliver to the
Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United ...
in
Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It ...
— the same tune that the murdered street musician performed for her. Miss Froy then runs into the forest, and those on the train don't know whether or not she is shot. Todhunter attempts to surrender, waving a white handkerchief, but is shot dead. Gilbert and Caldicott commandeer the locomotive, but the knocked-out soldier wakes up and threatens the rest of the guests. The false nun escapes through a side door and switches the tracks but is shot in the leg. However, Gilbert and Caldicott manage to pull her up into the train before she is left behind. In London, Charters and Caldicott discover the Test Match has been cancelled due to flooding. Seeing her fiancé from a distance at the station, Iris jumps into a cab with Gilbert, who kisses her. They arrive at the Foreign Office, but in the waiting room Gilbert realizes he cannot remember the vital tune. As they are led into the office, Gilbert and Iris hear it. The doors open, revealing Miss Froy playing the tune on a piano.


Cast

*
Margaret Lockwood Margaret Mary Day Lockwood, CBE (15 September 1916 – 15 July 1990), was a British actress. One of Britain's most popular film stars of the 1930s and 1940s, her film appearances included ''The Lady Vanishes'' (1938), '' Night Train to Munich ...
as Iris Henderson *
Michael Redgrave Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave (20 March 1908 – 21 March 1985) was an English actor and filmmaker. Beginning his career in theatre, he first appeared in the West End in 1937. He made his film debut in Alfred Hitchcock's ''The Lady Vanishes'' ...
as Gilbert *
Paul Lukas Paul Lukas (born Pál Lukács; 26 May 1894 – 15 August 1971) was a Hungarian actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor, and the first Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, for his performance in the film ''Wat ...
as Dr. Hartz *
May Whitty Dame Mary Louise Webster, (née Whitty; 19 June 1865 – 29 May 1948), known professionally as May Whitty and later, for her charity work, Dame May Whitty, was an English stage and film actress. She was one of the first two women entertainers t ...
as Miss Froy (credited as Dame May Whitty) *
Cecil Parker Cecil Parker (born Cecil Schwabe; 3 September 1897 – 20 April 1971) was an English actor with a distinctively husky voice, who usually played supporting roles, often characters with a supercilious demeanour, in his 91 films made between 1 ...
as Mr. Todhunter *
Linden Travers Florence Lindon-Travers (27 May 1913 – 23 October 2001 Ronald Bergan ), known professionally as Linden Travers, was a British actress. Early life and career Travers was born in Houghton-le-Spring, City of Sunderland, County Durham, the ...
as "Mrs." Todhunter *
Naunton Wayne Naunton Wayne (born Henry Wayne Davies, 22 June 1901 – 17 November 1970), was a Welsh character actor, born in Pontypridd, Glamorgan, Wales. He was educated at Clifton College. His name was changed by deed poll#Use for changing name, deed po ...
as Caldicott *
Basil Radford Arthur Basil RadfordAdam Greaves, "Radford, (Arthur) Basil (1897–1952)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, May 201available online Retrieved 3 August 2020. (25 June 189720 October 1952) was an English chara ...
as Charters *
Mary Clare Mary Clare Absalom (17 July 1892 – 29 August 1970) was a British actress of stage, film and television. Biography Daughter of George Alfred Absalom, Clare was educated at Wood Green secondary school, first worked in an office but a loan ...
as Baroness * Emile Boreo as Hotel Manager *
Googie Withers Georgette Lizette "Googie" Withers (12 March 191715 July 2011) was an English entertainer. She was a dancer and actress, with a lengthy career spanning some seventy-three years in theatre, film, and television. She was a well-known actress and ...
as Blanche * Sally Stewart as Julie * Philip Leaver as Signor Doppo * Selma Vaz Dias as Signora Doppo *
Catherine Lacey Catherine Lacey (6 May 1904 – 23 September 1979) was an English actress of stage and screen. Stage Lacey made her stage debut, performing with Mrs Patrick Campbell, in ''The Thirteenth Chair'' at the West Pier Brighton on 13 April 1925. He ...
as The Nun * Josephine Wilson as Madame Kummer * Charles Oliver as the Officer * Kathleen Tremaine as Anna


Production


Development

''The Lady Vanishes'' was originally called ''The Lost Lady'', and Irish director
Roy William Neill Roy William Neill (born Roland de Gostrie, 4 September 1887 – 14 December 1946) was an Irish-born American film director best known for producing and directing almost all of the Sherlock Holmes (1939 film series), Sherlock Holmes films starr ...
was assigned by producer Edward Black to make it. A crew was dispatched to
Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...
to do background shots, but when the Yugoslav police accidentally discovered that they were not well-portrayed in the script, they kicked the crew out of the country, and Black scrapped the project. A year later, Hitchcock could not come up with a property to direct to fulfil his contract with Black, so he accepted when Black offered ''The Lost Lady'' to him.


Writing

Hitchcock worked with the writers to make some changes to tighten up the opening and ending of the story, but otherwise the script did not change much. As was the case with several of Hitchcock's films, he collaborated with his wife
Alma Reville Alma Lucy Reville, Lady Hitchcock (14 August 1899 – 6 July 1982) was an English screenwriter and film editor. She was the wife of film director Alfred Hitchcock. She collaborated on scripts for her husband's films, including ''Shadow of a Doub ...
on the script. The plot of Hitchcock's film differs considerably from White's novel. In ''The Wheel Spins'', Miss Froy really is an innocent lady looking forward to seeing her octogenarian parents; she is abducted because she knows something (without realizing its significance) that would cause trouble for the local authorities if it came out. Iris's mental confusion is due to sunstroke, not a blow to the head. In White's novel, the wheel keeps spinning: the train never stops, and there is no final shoot-out. Additionally, the supporting cast differs somewhat; for instance, in the novel, the Gilbert character is Max Hare, a young British engineer building a dam in the hills who knows the local language, and there is also a modern-languages professor character who acts as Iris's and Max's interpreter who does not appear in the film. The cricket-obsessed characters
Charters and Caldicott Charters and Caldicott started out as two supporting characters in the 1938 Alfred Hitchcock film ''The Lady Vanishes''. The pair of cricket-obsessed characters were played by Naunton Wayne and Basil Radford. The characters were created by Fra ...
were created especially for the film and do not appear in the novel. The plot has clear references to the political situation leading up to the Second World War. The British characters, originally trying their hardest to keep out of the conflict, end up working together to fight off the jack-booted foreigners, while the lawyer who wishes to negotiate with the attackers by waving a white flag is shot and killed.


Casting

At first, Hitchcock considered
Lilli Palmer Lilli Palmer (; born Lilli Marie Peiser; 24 May 1914 – 27 January 1986) was a German actress and writer. After beginning her career in British films in the 1930s, she would later transition to major Hollywood productions, earning a Golden Glob ...
for the female lead, but went instead with Margaret Lockwood, who was at the time relatively unknown but was under contract to Gainsborough and being built into a star by Edward Black. Lockwood was attracted to the heroines of
Ethel Lina White Ethel Lina White (2 April 1876 – 13 August 1944) was a British crime fiction, crime writer from Abergavenny, Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire, Wales. She was best known for her novel ''The Wheel Spins'' (1936), on which the Alfred Hitch ...
's stories, and accepted the role. Michael Redgrave was also unknown to the cinema audience, but was a rising stage star at the time. He was reluctant to leave the stage to do the film, but was convinced by
John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud ( ; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Britis ...
to do so. As it happened, the film, Redgrave's first leading role, made him an international star. However, according to
Robert Osborne Robert Jolin Osborne (; May 3, 1932 – March 6, 2017) was an American film historian, author, actor and the primary television host for the premium cable channel Turner Classic Movies (TCM) for over twenty years. Prior to hosting at TCM, Os ...
, host of
Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcas ...
, Redgrave and Hitchcock did not get along; Redgrave wanted more rehearsals, while Hitchcock valued spontaneity more. The two never worked together again. Alfred Hitchcock can be seen at Victoria Station, wearing a black coat and smoking a cigarette, near the end of the film. The film marks the first appearance of the comedy double-act Charters and Caldicott (played by Naunton Wayne and Basil Radford).


Filming

The film was shot at
Islington Studios Islington Studios, often known as Gainsborough Studios, were British film studios located on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, London between 1919 and 1949. The studi ...
,TC
Overview
/ref>
Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Bush is a suburb of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Although primarily residential in character, its ...
and on location in
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
at
Longmoor Military Camp Longmoor Camp is a British Army camp close to the A3 road, A3 and A325 road, A325 roads in and around the settlements of Longmoor, Hampshire, Longmoor, Liss (England), Liss and Liphook in Hampshire, England. The main street of the Longmoor part o ...
, the site of the
Longmoor Military Railway The Longmoor Military Railway (LMR) was a British military railway in Hampshire that was built by the Royal Engineers from 1903 to train soldiers on railway construction and operations. The railway ceased operation on 31 October 1969. Route ...
. It was the first film to be made under an agreement between
Gaumont-British The Gaumont-British Picture Corporation was a British company that produced and distributed films and operated a cinema chain in the United Kingdom. It was established as an offshoot of France's Gaumont (company), Gaumont. Film production Gaumo ...
and
MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...
, in which Gaumont provided MGM with some of their Gainsborough films for release in the UK, for which MGM would pay half the production costs if MGM decided to release the film in the US. In the case of ''The Lady Vanishes'', however,
20th Century-Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film production and distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Com ...
handled the American release. Filming was briefly interrupted by an electricians' strike. Elisabeth Weis contends that Hitchcock's use of sound in ''The Lady Vanishes'' uses the "classical style" – that is, that the director eschews
expressionistic Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radi ...
sounds in favour of sounds heard in a realistic context. For example, when Iris faints on the train, rather than extraneous noises to denote delirium, only the sound of the train is heard. Another striking use of sound is how evil things are often heard before they are shown. The evil Dr. Hartz often is first heard before he appears on screen, representing an aural intrusion "not so much an invasion of privacy as of security".


Reception


Critical reception

When ''The Lady Vanishes'' opened in the UK it was an immediate hit, becoming the most successful British film to that date. It was also very successful when it opened in New York. In a contemporary review, the ''
Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...
'' described the film as an "out of the ordinary and exciting thriller", praising Hitchcock's direction and the cast, especially Michael Redgrave, Paul Lukas and
Dame May Whitty Dame Mary Louise Webster, (née Whitty; 19 June 1865 – 29 May 1948), known professionally as May Whitty and later, for her charity work, Dame May Whitty, was an English stage and film actress. She was one of the first two women entertainers t ...
. The film has retained its popularity; in his review for the BBC, Jamie Russell gave the film four out of five stars, calling it a "craftily sophisticated thriller" and a "cracking piece of entertainment". ''
Leslie Halliwell Robert James Leslie Halliwell (23 February 1929 – 21 January 1989) was a British film critic, encyclopaedist and television rights buyer for ITV, the British commercial network, and Channel 4. He is best known for his reference guides, '' Fi ...
'' gave it four of four stars: "Superb, suspenseful, brilliantly funny, meticulously detailed entertainment." In his review for ''BFI Screenonline'', Mark Duguid wrote that the film was "arguably the most accomplished, and certainly the wittiest of Hitchcock's British films, and is up there with the best of his American work". Duguid singled out the young writing partnership of Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, noting:
Pauline Kael Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael often defied the conse ...
wrote: "Alfred Hitchcock's murder mystery...is directed with such skill and velocity that it has come to represent the quintessence of screen suspense." The American film critic and historian
Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic, film historian, and author. He is known for his book of film capsule reviews, '' Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'', published from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film criti ...
gave the film four out of four stars in his ''
Movie Guide ''Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'' was a book-format collection of movie capsule reviews that began in 1969, was updated biannually after 1978, and then annually after 1986. The final edition was published in September 2014. It was originally calle ...
'': "Delicious mystery-comedy; Hitchcock at his best..." and included it in his list of 100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century. ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' called the film "one of the greatest train movies from the genre's golden era", and a contender for the "title of best comedy thriller ever made" . The film frequently ranks among the best British films of all time. On ''
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
'', it has a score of 98 out of 100, based on reviews from 17 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". In 2016,
Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...
ranked the film at No. 82 on their list of "The 100 best British films". In 2022, '' Time Out'' magazine ranked the film at No. 54 on its list of "The 100 best thriller films of all time".


Awards and honours

''The Lady Vanishes'' was named Best Picture of 1938 by ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''. In 1939, Hitchcock received the
New York Film Critics Circle Award The New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) is an American film critic Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: Academic criticism by film scho ...
for Best Director, the only time Hitchcock received an award for his directing.


Spin-offs

The cricket-obsessed
Charters and Caldicott Charters and Caldicott started out as two supporting characters in the 1938 Alfred Hitchcock film ''The Lady Vanishes''. The pair of cricket-obsessed characters were played by Naunton Wayne and Basil Radford. The characters were created by Fra ...
were created for the film, but became popular in their own right, and appeared in a series of films, radio programmes and a much later TV series.


Copyright status and home media

''The Lady Vanishes'' is copyrighted worldwide. Hitchcock's British films were
public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...
in the United States for a while. They have been heavily bootlegged on home video. Despite this, various licensed releases have appeared on Blu-ray, DVD and video on demand worldwide from the likes of Network Distributing in the UK and
The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of art film, arth ...
in the United States.


See also

*
BFI Top 100 British films In 1999, the British Film Institute surveyed 1,000 people from the world of British film and television to produce a list of the greatest British films of the 20th century. Voters were asked to choose up to 100 films that were " culturally British ...


References

;Citations ;Bibliography * * ;Further reading * * . * *


External links

* * * * *
''Alfred Hitchcock Collectors' Guide: The Lady Vanishes'' at Brenton Film

''The Lady Vanishes''
essay by Michael Wilmington at the
Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of arthouse film distributo ...

''The Lady Vanishes Revisited''
essay by Robin Wood at the Criterion Collection
''The Lady Vanishes: All Aboard!''
essay by
Geoffrey O'Brien Geoffrey O'Brien (born 1948) is an American poet, editor, book and film critic, translator, and cultural historian. In 1992, he joined the staff of the Library of America as executive editor, becoming editor-in-chief in 1998. Biography O'Brien ...
at the Criterion Collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Lady Vanishes, The 1938 1938 films 1930s British films 1930s comedy thriller films 1930s English-language films 1930s mystery thriller films 1930s spy thriller films British black-and-white films British comedy thriller films British mystery thriller films British spy films English-language spy thriller films English-language mystery thriller films English-language comedy thriller films Films about missing people Films about kidnapping Cricket films Films about music and musicians Fiction about cryptography Films about magic and magicians Films based on British novels Films based on mystery novels Films set in Europe Films set in fictional countries Fictional-language films Films set on trains Films shot in London Films shot in Hampshire Films directed by Alfred Hitchcock Films with screenplays by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat Films scored by Charles Williams (composer) Films scored by Louis Levy Gainsborough Pictures films