Alfred Hitchcock announced a call to arms in a brilliant and amusing thriller, "The Lady Vanishes."
The lady in question is Miss Froy (Dame May Witty), a splendid eccentric innocent old governess (in reality a British secret agent), who is kidnapped by the smooth Dr. Hartz (Paul Lukas), really the master enemy spy...
Involved in the rescue are Gilbert (Michael Redgrave), a sincere young musicologist trying on using up unwisely his life on unfruitful pursuits; Iris Henderson (Margaret Lockwood) a pretty girl who is returning to London to sacrifice herself on the altar of nobility - she has accepted to marry a weedy little English count; and a hilarious sporting couple, Chalders and Caldicott (Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne), whose only concern and topic conversation is the cricket match--will they make it back in home for the "big game."
Other characters include Percy (Cecil Parker), the pompous lawyer who is constantly afraid that his affair with Linden Travers will be discovered... Above all he does not want to be involved... He is the voice of pacifism and self-control... While the others fight it out with the enemy, he rushes from the coach waving a white handkerchief... He is shot, and dies never understanding why...
Hitchcock (and you never know with him) creates a multi-sided movie (superb, suspenseful, brilliantly funny), extending the power of stereotypes by caricaturing itself, making the audience express with laughter, and in a way they forget that they have just accepted some unpleasant tasting medicine...
The lady in question is Miss Froy (Dame May Witty), a splendid eccentric innocent old governess (in reality a British secret agent), who is kidnapped by the smooth Dr. Hartz (Paul Lukas), really the master enemy spy...
Involved in the rescue are Gilbert (Michael Redgrave), a sincere young musicologist trying on using up unwisely his life on unfruitful pursuits; Iris Henderson (Margaret Lockwood) a pretty girl who is returning to London to sacrifice herself on the altar of nobility - she has accepted to marry a weedy little English count; and a hilarious sporting couple, Chalders and Caldicott (Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne), whose only concern and topic conversation is the cricket match--will they make it back in home for the "big game."
Other characters include Percy (Cecil Parker), the pompous lawyer who is constantly afraid that his affair with Linden Travers will be discovered... Above all he does not want to be involved... He is the voice of pacifism and self-control... While the others fight it out with the enemy, he rushes from the coach waving a white handkerchief... He is shot, and dies never understanding why...
Hitchcock (and you never know with him) creates a multi-sided movie (superb, suspenseful, brilliantly funny), extending the power of stereotypes by caricaturing itself, making the audience express with laughter, and in a way they forget that they have just accepted some unpleasant tasting medicine...