"The Lady Vanishes" (1938) Run Times, Comments Etc.

"The Lady Vanishes" (produced 1937, released 1938)

This classic comic thriller should be in every Hitchcock fan's
collection IMHO. [Spoilers follow!]

Between WW1 and WW2 Europe was a dangerous place. Germany had been
forced at the end of WW1 into a peace treaty that now is thought to
have been grossly unfair. It crippled the German economy and
humiliated the German people in a way that lead to WWII.

By 1937, while this film was in production, Germany was getting ready
for war but much of the world did not see danger. Germany and Italy
were already flexing muscles against their neighbours. The Spanish
Civil War was raging while all of Europe was on edge and waiting.
Secret alliances were forged, as countries scrambled to protect their
security and spies were everywhere.

British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain was attempting to
establish peaceful relations with Hitler and Mussolini through a
policy of appeasement. President Roosevelt appealed to Hitler and
Mussolini to find peaceful solutions to these European problems.

Chamberlain championed the Munich Pact in 1938, the same year this
film was released. The agreement with Hitler attempted to settle the
questions surrounding Czechoslovakia. The agreement gave the
Sudeten, a valuable part of Czechoslovakia to Germany. After the
agreement, Chamberlain said "I believe it is peace in our time."
The peace was short-lived.

In March, 1938, Germany occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia.
Chamberlain had guaranteed Poland protection against attack. When
Hitler's troops invaded Poland, Britain declared war against Germany
and WW1 was underway.

The film, "The Lady Vanishes", much like the more overt warnings to
the US in "Foreign Correspondent", points out how naive both the
average British subject and English politicians like Chamberlain were
in their view of European matters.

The first part of the movie is relatively mundane but is full of fast
paced gags, humorous situations, moral judgements and the complex
character relationships that Hitchcock so often brings us.

When an avalanche blocks their train, an unusual group of stranded
travellers are forced into a cramped hotel. In typical Hitchcock
fashion, we are presented with the strangeness of being in a foreign
country where things are done differently from what we are accustomed.
There is time for flirtatious behaviour, a potential romance and even
a murder before they continue their journey by train.

Iris (Margaret Lockwood) befriends a seemingly very ordinary elderly
English governess -- Miss Froy (Dame May Whitty). Miss Froy
disappears suddenly on the train and Iris searches for her. Iris
finds that everybody on the train denies that the governess even
existed.

As so often happens in Hitchcock films, all is not what it seems.
Iris, like Roger Thornhill in "North by Northwest" (1959), finds
herself suddenly thrust into the world of danger and spies, where she
is not believed. Through many twists and turns, Iris struggles. A
love/hate relationship much like Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll's
in "The Thirty-Nine Steps" develops between her and her new companion,
Gilbert (Michael Redgrave).

In the end, Iris and Gilbert find romance, rescue Miss Froy and thwart
the enemy agents.

I own both the Criterion and the LaserLight DVD R1 versions of this
movie.

One thing I noticed tonight is that the Criterion DVD version is about
10 seconds longer than the LaserLight version. On this group or
another one I recall a comment that the LaserLight version was missing
a bit of the scene in the maid's room. Does anyone know what is
missing from the LaserLight version to make it 10 seconds shorter?

My times from the start of the Title to the end of the credits are:

LaserLight 1:35:00 = 95 minutes
Stated run time on box 94 minutes.

Criterion: 1:35:10 = 95 minutes, 10 seconds.
Stated run time on box 97 minutes.

Do you have any other versions and what are the actual run times?

For those who have seen both versions, I am wondering what you think
of them?

Quite frankly, I think that the LaserLight version is EXTREMELY good
value for money and that the Criterion version is not THAT much better
a product to justify the extra cost in this case. For some other
movies, I agree that the Criterion version is the only one to have.

On this Criterion disk, it shows the difference between the unrestored
print and their final version. It is incredible how terrible the
print was before they restored it. They mention removing 7000 dust
marks and scratches.

HOWEVER, the LaserLight print is relatively good in my opinion and not
anywhere near as bad as Criterion illustrates on their examples.

The Criterion version also has a commentary by film historian, Bruce
Edger that didn't impress me.

Considering that the LaserLight disk can be purchased in "used"
condition for as little as $2.61 US and that the Criterion even in
"used" condition sells on eBay for ten times as much or more, I think
that the LaserLight version of this disk is the far better buy.

If you are short of funds, try the LaserLight version.

Your opinions, reviews or comments about these and other versions of
Hitchcock movies will be appreciated. Please post them.

Best wishes,

Vic Evans (marmalade_man[NOSPAM]@yahoo.com

On Sun, 16 Nov 2003 06:49:31 GMT, marmalade_man[NOSPAM]@yahoo.com (Vic
Evans [Marmalade_man]) wrote:

>"The Lady Vanishes" (produced 1937, released 1938)
>
I made an error in the original post that is corrected below.

>I own both the Criterion and the LaserLight DVD R1 versions of this
>movie.
>
>One thing I noticed tonight is that the Criterion DVD version is about
>10 seconds longer than the LaserLight version.

On this group or another one I recall a comment that the Criterion
version was missing a bit of the scene in the maid's room.

However, I now notice that the LaserLight version is 10 seconds
shorter than the Criterion version. It may be missing the same
segment or other material.

Does anyone know what the differences are?

Why is the LaserLight 10 seconds shorter?

>My times from the start of the Title to the end of the credits are:
>
>LaserLight 1:35:00 = 95 minutes
>Stated run time on box 94 minutes.
>
>Criterion: 1:35:10 = 95 minutes, 10 seconds.
>Stated run time on box 97 minutes.
>
If Bruce C. is still reading this group or anyone else here now, I
ask:

Do you have any other versions and what are the actual run times?

>For those who have seen both versions, I am wondering what you think
>of them?

I still think that the LaserLight of this film is of very good
quality. It is the best buy for your money and a definite purchase if
you are a bit short of funds IMHO.
Best wishes,

Vic Evans (marmalade_man[NOSPAM]@yahoo.com