The Lady Vanishes

1979

Action / Comedy / Mystery / Romance / Thriller

5
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 44% · 6 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 44% · 500 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.0/10 10 3289 3.3K

spy secret agent search for witnesses train

Plot summary

On the eve of World War II, zany heiress Amanda Kelly travels by train to Switzerland. While passing through Germany, she meets a sweet elderly lady, who suddenly vanishes. Distraught, she questions her fellow passengers who claim that the woman was never there. Unsure if it's all in her mind or if there's a more sinister plot afoot, Amanda teams up with photographer Robert Condon to discover the truth.

Director

Anthony Page Photo
Anthony Page

Top cast

Elliott Gould Photo
Elliott Gould as Robert Condon
Rosalind Knight Photo
Rosalind Knight as Evelyn Barnes
Angela Lansbury Photo
Angela Lansbury as Miss Froy
Vladek Sheybal Photo
Vladek Sheybal as Trainmaster
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
912.49 MB
1280*546
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
24 fps
1 hr 39 min
Seeds 45
1.65 GB
1920*818
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
24 fps
1 hr 39 min
Seeds 62

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by 6 / 10

A perfectly acceptable - if pointless - remake

There was no need for this movie to be made (but that is true for most remakes). The original is a classic and generally considered the best of Hitchcock's early British films. But if you forget about the comparisons and let this remake stand on its own, it's actually pretty decent: good-looking, beautifully scored, and well-cast, even in the secondary roles. The two leads are likably goofy (they do bring a 70's flavor to these 30's characters, which may or may not be to your taste), and male viewers will be glad to know that Cybill Shepherd spends the entire running time wearing a white dress that reveals her sexy back, arms and shoulders. If I can point one flaw in this movie, it's that the script doesn't build enough ambiguity - even people who don't know the story won't think for a moment that it could all be "in Cybill's head". But it's clear that the intention here was to create a light comedy-mystery, not a suspense classic. (**1/2)
Reviewed by 6 / 10

The hindsight effect.

It's an unpopular and even downright blasphemous idea to remake a great Alfred Hitchcock classic. It is now, and it definitely was in the late 70s, when the Master of Suspense himself was still alive. "The Lady Vanishes" flopped at the box office, received harshly negative reviews, was the symbolical last effort of Hammer Studios, and still isn't very appreciated nowadays based on the other user-comments around here.And yet, I personally feel that "The Lady Vanishes" deserves a bit more recognition and praise, and this for the plain and simple fact that I found it very amusing. The plot is still compelling four decades later, the cast is tremendous, Cybill Shepard never looked more gorgeous than here in her white dress, and random conversations about cricket were never as funny.Reverting to comparisons between this version and Hitchcock's classic is inevitable, though. The 1979 update is undeniably weaker for two reasons. First, because here there never is any doubt whether there was a Miss Froy who suddenly vanishes from the train departing from Bavaria. Shepard's character Kelly is very certain of herself and doesn't allow anyone to convince her otherwise, and it also doesn't help that we follow Miss Froy (Angela Lansbury) throughout the entire "Sound of Music" reminiscent opening credit sequences as she walks down a mountain and checks into a hotel. Secondly, there's the hindsight effect. What I mean by this is that Hitchcock's original was made and released in 1938; - slightly more than a year before the outbreak of WWII. Hitch made fabulous use of the contemporary political tensions and social unrest, and it greatly benefitted the atmosphere of his film. Anthony Page, like every other director since 1945, is forced to approach the plot with hindsight and that simply cannot be as intense.Never mind the negativity, though, and enjoy "The Lady Vanishes" with all its misplaced comedy and unspectacular action. Cybill's best line: "despite your ridiculous haircut, I'm falling for you". Because, let's face it, Elliot Gould's hair is quite silly.
Reviewed by 7 / 10

Unfairly maligned, brilliant Lansbury

The story is silly -- well, preposterous really, but it's great fun.I agree that the Shepherd and Gould are a bit tiresome and overdone, but in fact, on the whole, they're fun too.The best feature of the film is Angela Lansbury. She is brilliant as the nanny, catching every nuance with perfection, and should have had some kind of award for her performance.The cricket fans are good and Gerald Harper is also convincing and chilling as the hard-hearted adulterer.It is refreshing to see a film where there are no computer effects, and where real locations are used. I don't think we'll see too many films made this way again.
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