The Lady Vanishes / Classics

I saw this film in boarding school, projected on to a canvas screen decades after it was made. It had me from the title and still does. Looking at it now with its evocative music and astonishing opening scene shot in what appears to be Lilliput but is in effect an 'aerial' shot of a model village...and a pretty creaky one at that, I feel again the sense of pride and anticipation I always feel at the opening credits.

Set in a fictional European country with Gobbledegook language, its only problem is a brittle and high powered romance between the two leading characters which is dated but the extraordinary pre War moral convictions are fascinating. For years I thought it was shot during the War but this is 1938 Europe and nothing is ever going to be the same again.

Hitchcock is at his best here and you will see Googie Withers as a vivacious friend of the bride before the real intrigue begins and the hair on the back of your neck starts to prickle. And if you think the film is too neatly divided into popular opinions of the War represented by various figures, remember that this was a year before the actual fighting began and no one had any idea what the outcome would be.

Dame May Witty plays 'The Lady'and I will introduces her only as an elderly woman on her way home to England. She proves to be a person of unimagined resourses. I grew up with women who had done dangerous and strenuous work during World War 11 who wore their accomplishments with the same everyday good humour that Dame May Witty does in this surprising portait. Oh tell me if there would ever be a film written about intrigue and physical courage today - with a stout elderly woman at its core?