Brecht

Criterion has just released Georg Wilhelm Pabst’s 1931 film of Weill and Brecht’s “The ThreePenny Opera”. It’s on my list.

Oh, and Cl, “The Lady Vanishes” is on their coming soon list. And Kc, “Kind Hearts and Coronets” is on Criterion. Alec Guinness in top form.

Location, location, location

I rewatched "Vertigo" last night and was struck not so much by the story, which I found clever but ponderous, but by the importance given to the location. Rick, you mentioned that you like "Vertigo" because you like San Francisco, and that's a good reason to like it. The city is as much a character in the movie as Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak. The location was one of the things I liked best about "The Lady Vanishes," too. Alpine, scenic. Storybookish and sinister. Cosmopolitan and provincial all at once, like San Francisco. And location was a big draw in "The Man Who Knew Too Much," too. Morocco and London. And the Americana of "Psycho." The French Riviera of "To Catch a Thief." On and on. And the locations are not just scenery. They're integral to the story.

I read this when I was looking up somethng about "Vertigo": According to Herbert Coleman, Vertigo's associate producer, Hitchcock often picked a location and then developed a story to be filmed there. He liked to show a familiar location and introduce a twist of malice. When he first saw San Francisco, he said it would be a good place for a murder mystery, and he chose a French novel, "D'Entre les Morts" (From Among the Dead).

Hitchcock's men

I like this description of Michael Redgrave from our big film book: "His debut was the prancing musicologist in Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes, a lively study of the ingenious idiot hero, too seldom investigated by Hitchcock."

We talked a little about Hitchcock's leading ladies (cl, I meant to ask you what you thought about Doris Day). Do you have a favorite Hitchcock "hero"? Or maybe another way to phrase that is simply Cary Grant or Jimmy Stewart?

fancy camera work

One of many things I love about Hitchcock movies is the use of terrific camera work -- a scene so clever or well-shot that I stop to appreciate it regardless of how engrossed I am in the storyline. The best example would be the "Strangers on a Train" scene where Farley is playing a tennis match, and you see the crowd's gaze moving left to right, following the ball, all except for Bruno, who's staring at Farley. Creepy.

In "The Lady Vanishes," I thought the standout moment was when the noise in the train picks up, and Miss Froy slowly traces her name on the train window. Iris had just woken up, and Miss Froy was babbling about her million Mexicans, and all that context made me think on first viewing that the scene was just a dream. It was an interlude into the surreal part of the film, and I found the camera work to be clever.

Cricket or bust!

Ever-useful Wikipedia entry on Caldicott and Charters:
"In 'The Lady Vanishes,' the pair are hilariously singleminded cricket fans, rushing back to England to see the last days of a test match. They proved so popular with audiences that they recurred in the Gilliat-and-Launder films 'Night Train to Munich' (1940, also starring Margaret Lockwood) and 'Millions Like Us' (1943), and in the BBC radio serials 'Crook's Tour' (1941, made into a film later that year) and 'Secret Mission 609' (1942).

Do you suppose the filmmakers anticipated the pair's reception and thus left in so many scenes with them at the beginning of the movie? Because the lagging start easily could have been fixed by taking out the recurring scenes where they share a room with the maid. Erin said earlier that "LV" was like watching three distinct movies, so maybe stock insular Englishmen were a better fit for a different kind of film. Consider the comparative setup for the illicit lovers -- their backstory was set up quickly and effectively before the story went back to the lead developments.

Margaret Lockwood

Based on a few comments in earlier posts, are we in agreement that Margaret Lockwood didn't measure up as Iris? I'd credit her with at least becoming a more sympathetic character as the movie evolved, since she was such an arrogant, spoiled heiress to begin with. Maybe that bump on the head triggered her personality makeover. Or since this is a movie wherein nobody is who they seem (a governess as a spy, a high-heel-clad agent as a nun), maybe we're supposed to extend Iris the same benefit of the doubt.

Lockwood was all right. She depended a little too much on intense, aren't-I-lovely stares that made her come across more as an ingenue than an actress.

And I wonder whether Hitchcock would have cast her if he'd made the call. Given his proclivity for cool blondes, Lockwood might not have made the cut.

Dame May Whitty

I thought Dame May Whitty was another charming addition to the cast as the missing Miss Froy. I love all of her ramblings about Mother Mountain and Father Mountain, the tea a million Mexicans drink and all that. She might have been channeling Miss Marple -- that foxy sleuth who only seems dithery and amiable.

She was nominated for two Oscars for supporting actress, one for "Mrs. Miniver" and one for "Night Must Fall." The only other film she's appeared in that I've seen is "Suspicion." Sadly, I saw that such a long time ago that I don't remember her, but I'll rent it again.

Boyish Charm

What I liked best about our film was Michael Redgrave’s character. I think he stole all of his scenes fair and square. Margaret Lockwood was clever enough to bring a pretty face to the contest, but not clever enough to hold her ground.

One of my favorite Redgrave performances was as the school teacher Crocker-Harris in Anthony Asquith’s 1951 “The Browning Version”. It is out on Criterion—I recommend it to all.

Prewar tensions

Another point from “The Art of Hitchcock”:
“As in ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’ and ‘The 39 Steps,’ the politics are again vague, but here the reason was as much the restrictions of British censorship as much as the writers’ deliberate ambiguity: In 1937 and 1938, English films had to maintain a steadfast neutrality about events in Germany and about German expansion throughout Europe. But this requirement paradoxically freed ‘The Lady Vanishes.’ Instead of serving a specific politic, the film became a tightly woven tale in which all appearances are deceiving and characters are sprung free for new relationships.”

Rate it

I hope you enjoyed “The Lady Vanishes,” which was described in one article I read as “a comic thriller” – a unique Hitchcock product. I rated it an 8 (rather than a 9 or 10) largely because of slow pacing at the start of the film. I’d even go so far as to say that the movie takes on a different identity when the main characters finally board the train (or at least until we see the street singer strangled). Prior to that, it felt like we were watching the setup to some screwball romantic comedy. The mystery-thriller doesn’t begin until some 20 minutes into the film – in other Hitchcock pictures I’ve seen, the plot develops immediately, or there’s a heart-pounding prequel (James Stewart, “Vertigo”) that entrances the audience from the get-go.

That said, the movie’s actually just 97 minutes. Did it feel long to you, or did you have a similar reaction to the beginning?

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?

Christy's pick

We haven't done Hitchcock yet, so here's an enjoyable early film from the master of suspense.