About the film

“The Lady Vanishes,” which came out in 1938, is based on a novel by Ethel Lina White. The screenplay is by Sidney Gilliat, who also worked with Alfred Hitchcock on “Jamaica Inn.” It was remade in 1980 with Cybill Shepherd and Elliott Gould as the leads and Angela Lansbury as Miss Froy. (She would be a good Miss Froy, but the video cover image of Cybill fleeing a train in a torn white dress says “STOP: Do not pass go” to me.)



Right now I’m reading “The Art of Alfred Hitchcock,” by Donald Spoto, which reports that though “The Lady Vanishes” was the crossover hit that helped bring Hitchcock from the U.K. to Hollywood, the film was set up to be made under another director – the script was written, cast announced and most preproduction under way. Nonetheless, it feels like a Hitchcock-brand film to me. Would anyone else have guessed this movie had a different stamp on it?