Music as the McGuffin: My First Full Movie Bicycle Generator JVC CRT 27 inch screen: The Lady Vanishes, 90 minutes

I didn't realize this was Hitchcock's big first hit  that proved himself worthy to get a try out in Hollywood.

 Stopped watching when a creepy musician walked into a young woman's room and threatened to ruin her reputation. Checked wiki and found out he was her love interest. Gross.

Well I managed to bicycle for the full movie - 1 hour 37 minutes - and I only had the DVD plugged into the generator. So I actually increased the charge into the generator! So I know for sure that the bicycle generator is working - even against a load - the percentage increased. Pretty awesome.

 In Alfred Hitchcock's most quick-witted and devilish comic thriller, the beautiful Margaret Lockwood, traveling across Europe by train, meets a charming spinster (Dame May Whitty), who then seems to disappear into thin air. The younger woman turns investigator and finds herself drawn into a complex web of mystery and high adventure. Also starring Michael Redgrave, The Lady Vanishes remains one of the great filmmaker's purest delights.

https://hilineelectronics.com/digitrex-dvd-836-dvd-player-with-2-karaoke-microphones-hdmi-usb/

Wow - the DVD player that I got at a thrift store - it's still for sale NEW! The model is only 7 years old.... but I did not get the "remote" so I could not program the DVD player to work for the high image quality with the "component" cords....

 THE LADY VANISHES is one of Hitchcock's most thoroughly delightful films combining equal parts cheerful romance, comic wit, and thrilling suspense. It all clicks in time to the rhythm of the train speeding along its track. The film also accurately conveys - though not too overtly - the political climate of a pre-war Europe. This balances the lighter tone of the story with an ominous premonition of what was looming on the world's horizon in 1938.

a youtuber reviews the Lady Vanishes

Maybe I can get a remote for this DVD player? Or maybe just get another thrift store DVD player with a remote. There's TONS of DVD players in thrift stores.

But the second level is what makes this film so astonishing. It was made in 1938 in England. At the time, appeasement was the official policy of the British government and most of the British press. In fact, the film censorship board would not even allow the words "German" or "Nazi" to be used in connection with bad guys. The film nonetheless manages to suggest the utter evil of Nazism and show the utter bankruptcy of appeasement. What's most intriguing, the film cleverly shows a variety of people who just don't want to get involved in any nastiness, for one reason or another, but who have true British hearts of gold and come through wonderfully once a fight proves unavoidable.

Anyway even with just the RCA Composite cables - it's still a great image.

 Margaret Lockwood is simply fabulous in what many consider to be Hitchcock's finest British film.

And to bicycle for the full movie - I could not be in a higher gear - maybe if I get a new V-belt, since I cut the belt and it's not a clean cut. Also I put tape around the DC motor shaft - to keep the belt from sliding off. So sometimes the belt rides up and comes back down. So I lose efficiency - and I'm not sure it could handle a higher speed.

 The greatest visual artist of the 20th century was not Picasso or Matisse; the greatest visual artist of the 20th century was a London greengrocer's son by the name of Alfred Hitchcock. This view is based not merely on the massive quantity of impressions that he was able to generate in a lifetime devoted to film but, more importantly, based on the quality and vision of those images.

Anyway this is a great movie -

There really isn't much info online about that DVD player. So...

 Their unhygienic use of sugar served in an open sugar bowl with no spoon (Use your fingers please !) and transformed into pawns on a table to demonstrate a cricket match, has to bring a smile on our lips.

Yes but the British lady asked to make sure her tea is BOILED first - so it should still be hot enough to sanitize the sugar....

Someone does a review of the Lady Vanishes

OK they did a remake - I suppose it's worth watching - but I just want to soak in the original classic.

 Hitchcock at his best. He weaves his storyline in and out, up and down, even removing the script from the table and leaving you, out there to hang, with your thoughts, your surprises, even left to forget what he has written and to guess yourself to infinity. This is brilliant work at a most early date. He is most brilliant, even before he was well known.

Criterion film gurus cover the Lady Vanishes

Brenton Film 10 months ago

Nice promo, but what idiot cropped it to widescreen?

Exactly! I got to watch it in the original 4:3 ratio as the JVC maintains the 4:3 ratio.

 But I soon found that it was remastered in the original 4:3 aspect ratio, not the full screen 1.77 listed in your Product Details, which should be changed.

  Well everybody but Gilbert, a wild boy clarinet player (that mad monk clarinet thing the every be-bop-less 1930s mother warned their daughters against and which should have made Iris very wary but you know how boy-girl things go in the movies). He finally believed her and they began a search of the train but see here is where the thing got tricky

OldEarthChaos 5 years ago

Orson Welles never saw a film more than once; but he saw this film 9 times.... and I can see why! It's one of Hitch's best!!!!!

There you go!

 What makes The Lady Vanishes truly worth while is watching the surprising amount of sexual chemistry between the two leads - Iris Henderson, played by the genteel Margaret Lockwood, and the charismatic Gilbert Redman, sportingly portrayed by stage performer Michael Redgrave (The Lady Vanishes being his motion picture debut) - unfold.

What amazes me is that the copyright on this movie is still protected - the full movie is NOT allowed on youtube!!

 This movie is available for free download at the Internet Archives

Someone did an "edit" that covers the film's storyline (but leaves out the "romance on rails" stuff)

Oh it's called 90 to 5 - 90 minutes edited to 5 minutes - clever.

OK now we get Hitchcock Aficiondos giving their Lady Vanishes commentary.

 Music as the McGuffin!

 but Hitch's involvement of music into this entire film. Yep, it is a broad (and perhaps cheat) third scene, but from the beginning opening scenes a certain tune is flaunted in front of us as maybe just a mere theme music, but as the film continues we learn it is much, much more. Like the name on the window, the missing woman, the confused passengers, the music has a double meaning. It not only represents the mood of the film, but it also sends another message. What is that? Oh, I'm not telling, but Hitch smartly includes it whenever possible. Listen to the scenes, each one, there is a hint of this music throughout - almost including you within the overall story. "The Lady Vanishes" is not just a movie to watch, but also one that should be listened to. The score (if it can be called that) carries nearly more meaning than the characters. That, again, is the power of Alfred Hitchcock.

 -must have seen it a hundred times and never tire of it.

My old film critic buddy has his film critic buddy mention this movie:




The book that inspired the movie!

It's worth noting that Brentwood Entertainment has a decent (though not the best) copy of this. It's slightly faded, but not enough to obscure it, and has no major flaws except for a wobbly opening song. Even the sound is a bit muffled, but effectively clean and listenable.

YEP!! That's the copy I watched!

A French review of Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes - fascinating

Truffaut said of The Lady Vanishes that each time he attempted to study its craft and direction, he became so caught up in the story itself, that it became nearly impossible to divert himself long enough analyze its form.