The Lady Vanishes (1938)

Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Paul Lukas, Dame May Whitty

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Available to stream on Amazon Prime

Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave’s search for a missing old lady on a train leads to encounters with spies and, inevitably, to romance.

Dame May Whitty, Margaret Lockwood, and Michael Redgrave

Why we love it: A classic from Hitchcock's British period, this film starts out slowly, but the story, suspense, and cast of characters build as the train moves through 1930’s Central Europe. It's a delightful espionage film with a little bit of everything -- comedy, romance, and suspense.

Cecil Parker, Linden Travers, Naunton Wayne, Basil Radford, Dame May Whitty, Margaret Lockwood, and Michael Redgrave in The Lady Vanishes

Fun Facts:

• This was Michael Redgrave's first major film appearance and the launch of his film career. He was a well-known stage actor and had some difficulty during filming because movie acting was so different from stage acting. There is a short fight scene in the middle of the movie which Redgrave said would have been rehearsed for at least three weeks in the theatre, but Hitchcock told him that he only had three minutes in front of the camera.

• After The 39 Steps, Hitchcock wanted Robert Donat to play the lead in several of his other films, including this one, but Donat's chronic ill health and asthma prevented him from taking the part.

• This was the end of Hitchcock's British period and the work he did for Gainsborough Studios. After this film, he moved to the US and soon signed a contract with David O. Selznick.

Michael Redgrave, Margaret Lockwood, and Paul Lukas

• There is less music in this movie than in any other Hitchcock film, but the music that is included is crucial to the plot. The main tune is in fact the MacGuffin.

• The movie was filmed at Islington Studios in only five weeks and with a fairly limited budget.

• Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne play a comic cricket-obsessed English duo -- Charters and Caldicott. The characters were so popular with audiences that they appeared in several other films after this one.

Naunton Wayne and Basil Radford as Caldicott and Charters in The Lady Vanishes

For reviews and articles from the time, go to the Fan Magazine Reviews page.

Featured Cocktail:

White Lady

This cocktail is sometimes called a Chelsea Sidecar because of its similarity to a Sidecar, with gin instead of brandy. According to Wikipedia, it was named by British soldiers to honor an English woman who helped them escape from Turkey during World War I. Impersonating a Turkish washer woman dressed all in white, she hid the soldiers in a laundry trolley.

2 oz (60 ml) gin

1½ oz (45 ml) Cointreau

1 Tbsp (15 ml) lemon juice

egg white

Shake all ingredients except egg white with ice. Strain to eliminate the ice. Add the egg white and shake without ice. Strain into chilled cocktail glass.

Cheers to the Classics!