Friday Night Movie – The Lady Vanishes

A bit of Alfred Hitchcock for you all as this week’s Friday Night Movie offering. This film, made in 1938 concerns a trainload of passengers leaving a central European country who have to be de-trained and put up in an inn due to an avalanche on the railway line.

The passengers, who have to be put up in the only hotel in the area are forced to get ‘up close and personal’ with each other until they can board their train again. When they get on board a young woman, Iris Henderson, holidaying before returning to the UK to get married notices that a middle aged woman, a Governess called Miss Froy, is missing. Miss Henderson is sure that Miss Froy is missing as they had shared a compartment together before the train had to make its unscheduled stop.

There now follows a classic Hitchcock mystery as Miss Henderson tries in vain to get other passengers to corroborate her story that Miss Froy is missing. Suspiciously, none of the other passengers seem to be interested in helping Miss Henderson corroborate her story or find Miss Froy.

Miss Henderson starts to believe that she may be mistaken about Miss Froy’s disappearance as Miss Henderson got a bump to the head before boarding the train and thinks she may be suffering from amnesia. Miss Henderson is running out of options for help and has to turn for assistance to another passenger, a musicologist called Gilbert, who Miss Henderson had had a none too pleasant encounter with at the inn the previous evening. Miss Henderson and Gilbert believe that there is a conspiracy afoot and try to find out what is going on and what has happened to the harmless looking Miss Froy.

A classic Hitchcock suspense film that I first saw many years ago. I hope you enjoy it.