Here's another fun thing. I got a copy of Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes from the library. As it turned out, the disc that actually held the movie on it was damaged and wouldn't play on my VCR. But I found the movie on Dailymotion so was still able to watch it.
The main story is pretty exciting and clever. Not only, per the title, is someone kidnapped. She disappears, and no one but the heroine will even credit that she was there. One interesting factor is that most people aren't in on the conspiracy. They just don't want to get involved.
The side characters of Charters and Caldicott were so popular that, even though Hitchcock never used them again, they got their own film series. You can see why.
2 comments:
You got to see one of our very favourites of Hitchcock's movies. It was beautifully put together and among the characters who all have their own reasons for not wanting to recall ever having seen Miss Froy the two guys who just want to get home to see the big cricket match are perfect. I didn't know they featured in films made later but I can well understand why they were.
The nun wearing high heels was a great clue. What's very interesting about The Lady Vanishes too is just how it continues to get more intense as the story goes on. The lead characters were wonderful.
Alfred did love trains, didn't he?
It's an interesting thing. The situation is weird, the other passengers give her no help at all, and while some of them are in on the conspiracy, some are just taking the path of least resistance. So you have to continually readjust with how paranoid you want to be. It is somewhat unusual for a couple of comedy characters to be spun off of what is at least nominally a dramatic movie, but I guess they really struck a nerve.
The fake nun is a cool character too. She actually is in on the conspiracy, but seems pretty sincere when she switches sides. And Iris and Gilbert are a classic "hate each other at first" couple.
Yeah, he did like trains, all right. I can see why, from a filmmaking perspective.
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