Where did Miss Froy disappear to? Was she ever real or just a figment of Iris’ imagination? Why on earth would anyone want to harm a little old lady who seems so pleasant and harmless?

Here in the hotel we meet the pretty young socialite Iris Henderson (played by Margaret Lockwood) who has spent some “girly” time with her friends and is returning home alone to England to be married who accidentally meets the elderly Miss Froy (Dame May Whitty) when Gilbert (Michael Redgrave) is behaving quite selfishly by insisting on having some local dancers dance for him to help with his music research. Iris and Miss Froy bond over their mutual need to complain to the hotel management about the noise from upstairs that Gilbert is causing who just carries on wanting a couple of local dancers to dance for him despite being advised that it is disturbing people who wish to get to sleep. We also meet another British couple Mr and Mrs Todhunter (Cecil Parker & Linden Travers) who are not actually married but pretending to be on honeymoon.

I found the character of Miss Froy portrayed as rather eccentric and one couldn’t help but smile at the rather old-fashioned but wise way in which she spoke to the much younger character of Iris with whom her character bonds so easily. Michael Redgrave played Gilbert so easily that one really wanted to give his character a sedative to calm him down at the start of the film but he’s so likeable that one can’t help being charmed by his bubbly nature as the film progresses. I personally found Margaret Lockwood’s character to be the main star of the film – as with many of Hitchcock’s movies where there is a strong female character around whom the plot focuses, in this film the central character is Iris. She is dead pan during the first half hour which is mostly comedic, so much so that you have to chuckle at her somewhat. She’s very feminine during the romance scenes and extremely credible when things get a bit scary too. Not taking anything away from Redgrave who looked and played his part to perfection too.

I’ve not read the 1936 novel The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White on which this film was based but I understand that there are some major plot differences. As I’ve not read the book I can’t judge whether this is a good or bad thing for the film but I really enjoyed the film which was adapted for the screen by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder. The cinematography was by Jack E Cox and the film runs for just over 90 minutes. The film is entirely in black and white and it was released on DVD in 2003 with a Universal rating (suitable for all ages). The music direction for the film was by Louis Levy - I haven't written separately about the music but felt it was wholly appropriate for the film and suspenseful enough where required whilst not taking over from the drama of the scenes.

I would be happy to give The Lady Vanishes a strong 8 out of 10. It is certainly a very enjoyable thriller with elements of comedy and a bit of romance and it is definitely a film that is staying in my permanent DVD collection. I would hope the film would appeal to all those who enjoy old black and white films although some might find the overt “British-ness” of some of the characters rather dated.