The Lady Vanishes is a 1938 British mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave. Written by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder, based on the 1936 novel The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White, the film is about an English tourist travelling by train in continental Europe who discovers that her elderly travelling companion seems to have disappeared from the train. After her fellow passengers deny ever having seen the elderly lady, the young woman is helped by a young musicologist, the two proceeding to search the train for clues to the old lady's disappearance.
Theatrical release poster
From left, Catherine Lacey, Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave with the bandaged patient
Hitchcock cameo near the film's end
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 feature films, many of which are still widely watched and studied today. Known as the "Master of Suspense", Hitchcock became as well known as any of his actors thanks to his many interviews, his cameo appearances in most of his films, and his hosting and producing the television anthology Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–65). His films garnered 46 Academy Award nominations, including six wins, although he never won the award for Best Director, despite five nominations.
Hitchcock, c. 1960s
William Hitchcock, probably with his first son, William, outside the family shop in London, c. 1900; the sign above the store says "W. Hitchcock's". The Hitchcocks used the pony to deliver groceries.
Petrol station at the site of 517 High Road, Leytonstone, where Hitchcock was born; commemorative mural at nos. 527–533 (right)
Hitchcock (right) during the making of Number 13 in London