MovieChat Forums > The Lady Vanishes (1938) Discussion > One of my favorite movies

One of my favorite movies

posted 8 years ago by Mr_Ectoplasma
7 replies | jump to latest

So atmospheric, some light comedy, suspense, mystery— one of Hitchcock's best. I also love The 39 Steps. His early work gets overlooked in my opinion by the films he made in America.

[–] Rex16 8 years ago

Just finished watching it. Highly entertaining. Michael Redgrave was unexpectedly...debonair, I think is the word? The only pre-Hollywood Hitchock I'd seen earlier was "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1934). My impression is that his English films are a bit more leisurely paced but are a lot more lighthearted and less psychologically twisted than his later films. I'll probably watch "The 39 Steps" soon.

[–] Mr_Ectoplasma 8 years ago

Oh yes, they are way more leisurely paced, sometimes even subtly goofy. I didn't even realize this— I, like most people, always associated him with his later horror films, but I took a class on his films when I was an undergraduate and we watched all of his early stuff, including this and The 39 Steps. I wasn't a fan of North by Northwest and still am not, but that's a whole other story. North by Northwest is basically a reworking of The 39 Steps, by the way.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] tedge-2 7 years ago

I recommend Hitchcock's "The Girl Was Young", aka "Young and Innocent": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029811/combined Completely delightful. Completely satisfying.

[–] jd-276 7 years ago

Interesting. What is Nova Pilbeam like in it? I saw her in The Man Who Knew Too Much and couldn't really make up my mind. She was already an experienced actor by then but you wouldn't have known from her filmography.

[–] bazt-93964 7 years ago

Disagree. And Redgrave is no Robert Don't.

[–] Rex16 7 years ago

I think Robert Donat is handsomer than Redgrave but Redgrave is the more charismatic and capable actor.

It's interesting to compare the two in their respective Hitchcock films, because another point of comparison later in their careers is their "schoolmaster" roles in "Goodbye Mr Chips" (Donat) and "The Browning Version" (Redgrave). Donat's performance won him the Best Actor in 1939 and is considered iconic, but I found that it sometimes bordered on caricature, whereas Redgrave's portrayal is far more nuanced and in-depth.