The Lady Vanishes

Alfred Hitchcock's 1938 thriller follows English tourist Iris Henderson (Margaret Lockwood), one of several tralevers temporarily stranded in Bandrika, home via train. Priot to boarding the train Iris recieves a head injury but is looked after by an eldery English woman who she befriended the previous night. However, after the effects of her head injury subside she is unable to find Mrs. Froy (May Whitty) or anyone onboard the train who remembers seeing her. Convinced something odd is going on, and finding no other help avaiable, she accepts the help of the obnoxious Gilbert Redman (Michael Redgrave) who she had a run-in at the hotel.

While mostly humoring her, Gilbert eventually grows to believe Iris' unbelievable story as true eventually leading the pair to uncovering what really happened to Mrs. Froy, the reasons why other members of the train were gaslighting Iris, and preventing the culprits from attempts to remove Mrs. Froy from the train.

The biggest hit of Hitchock's early career in Britain, the film is still considered one of his best. While I think the characters could have boarded the train eariler without such lead up, it's hard to find fault with the building tension that starts once Iris awakes on the train to find everyone questioning what she knows to be true.

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• Title: The Lady Vanishes
• IMDb: link