“The Lady Vanishes” A classic suspense romantic comedy with plenty of humor *Note! Contains spoilers.

*This article touches on the core of the story, so we recommend reading it after watching the movie.

“The Lady Vanishes” synopsis

Miss Froy, an old woman, suddenly disappears on an express train bound for London from the fictional European country of Bandolika. Iris and Gilbert ask the other passengers about her whereabouts, but they all say, "That old woman never boarded the train in the first place." In fact, behind the scenes, there was a big conspiracy swirling around...

Index

• “The Missing Lady of Paris”
• Sophisticated comedy
• Suspense, not mystery
• Outstanding direction for the dining car scene

“The Missing Lady of Paris”

By the way, do you know the urban legend of "The Missing Lady of Paris"? The setting is Paris in 1889. This year was the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution, and a World's Fair was being held to commemorate it. A mother and daughter come to the Palace Hotel in Paris to see the world's fair. However, as soon as the mother arrived at the hotel, she became unwell, and when she went to the hotel doctor, he told her that the situation was serious, and that she should see another doctor.

The girl hurriedly catches a carriage and goes in search of a doctor. After much struggle, when he returned to the hotel with the doctor, his mother was nowhere to be found. When I asked the hotel staff about this, I got an unbelievable response. "I don't know of such a woman. You are staying alone." When asked about the hotel doctor who examined her mother, she insisted, "I've never met a woman like that." Suddenly, her mother disappeared from the streets of Paris. It is truly a mystery, like a spirited away mystery.

“The Lady Vanishes” preview

In fact, this mother and daughter were returning from India, and the mother had contracted the plague. As soon as she checks into the hotel, she takes her last breath, but when this fact is made public, Paris, which is crowded with people at the World's Fair, descends into chaos. Therefore, the hotel imposed a gag order, and all the people involved agreed to pretend that the mother never existed in the first place.

Alfred Hitchcock revealed in an interview with Peter Bogdanovich that this urban legend was heavily inspired by the story of The Lady Vanishes. The original title of this work is "The Lady Vanishes". An old woman, Miss Froy (Mae Whitty), suddenly disappears on an express train bound for London from the fictional European country of Bandolika. Iris (Margaret Lockwood) and Gilbert (Michael Redgrave) ask the other passengers about her whereabouts, but they all say, ``That old lady never boarded the train in the first place.'' In fact, behind the scenes, there was a big conspiracy swirling around...

Orson Welles said he saw this movie 11 times. François Truffaut has declared it one of his favorite Hitchcock films. Haruo Mizuno created ``Siberian Express'', a play on the title of this movie. Among Hitchcock's brilliant filmography, ``The Lady Vanishes'' is a masterpiece suspense film that deserves special mention.

Sophisticated comedy