THE LADY VANISHES is a 1979 remake of Alfred Hitchcock's much more famous (and better) 1938 film with the same title. The '79 THE LADY VANISHES is now best known as being the last theatrically-released feature that Hammer Films was involved in during the 20th Century.
The head of Hammer, Michael Carreras, had tried to get THE LADY VANISHES off the ground for a number of years before it was finally made. It was one of Carreras' many quixotic attempts to still make Hammer relevant in the 1970s. The main result of the picture is that it put Carreras and Hammer into even more financial hot water than they were already in, and it hastened the end of Carreras' involvement with the company.
It's hard to understand why Carreras was so determined to get the project made to begin with. I believe he was influenced by the major success of the 1974 MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, and he was hoping to put together a package on a similar scale, with an all-star cast, European locations, and a story based on well-known source material. But remaking a Hitchcock film--and one of his best at that--will only engender comparisons to the original, and those comparisons are bound to fall short.
The screenplay for the 1979 THE LADY VANISHES, credited to George Axlerod, is based directly on the script for the 1938 version--so much so that it contains a lot of the same dialogue, and even some of the same camera setups. The major difference in the '79 version is that it changes the two main characters from being British to American (most likely in an attempt to cast big stars in the roles to appeal to a mainstream audience).
So instead of the 1938 version's Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave as two somewhat quirky but realistic English folk, the '79 version has Cybill Shepherd as flighty rich girl Amanda Kelly and Elliott Gould as Robert Condon, who works for LIFE magazine. The duo find themselves on a train leaving Bavaria in August 1939, when world tensions are at their height. On the train Amanda befriends the kindly Miss Froy (Angela Lansbury). After taking a nap Amanda discovers that Miss Froy is nowhere to be found--and everyone else on the train denies the woman even existed. Amanda tries to get help from Robert Condon, who thinks she's a ditzy blonde, and a Dr. Hartz (Herbert Lom), a distinguished-looking man who is more than he seems. Amanda's search for Miss Froy develops into an international incident that threatens all the passengers on the train.
The '79 THE LADY VANISHES is a handsomely-mounted production, with picturesque Austrian locations, excellent cinematography by Douglas Slocombe, and a fine music score by Richard Hartley. (The train used in the production is quite impressive too.) It's not bad--but it lacks a certain spark, a certain element that would make it memorable. If you want an example of what a great director like Hitchcock can bring to a story, just compare the 1938 and 1979 versions of THE LADY VANISHES.
The '79 version was directed by Anthony Page, who mainly worked in television. He does a serviceable job, but the '79 version has a lot of talky scenes to it, and there's also a lack of pace. The '38 version certainly had plenty of light humor, but there was also a definite underlying sense of peril throughout. You don't get that with the '79 version.
The lack of peril is mostly due to the performances of Cybill Shepherd and Elliott Gould. Like the movie itself, they're not bad....but they feel out of place in the whole affair. Shepherd is supposed to be a Carole Lombard-like madcap heiress, but for most of the film she comes off as snotty and unlikable. (Shepherd would get a much better handle on screwball-type antics in her later MOONLIGHTING TV series.) In the '38 version, Margaret Lockwood's search for Miss Froy has a tense desperation to it. When Shepherd's Amanda goes looking for Froy, she acts shrill and annoying. Another reason it's hard to take her Amanda seriously is that she spends the entire film wearing a satin evening dress and high heels. She looks gorgeous, but to a guy like me her wardrobe is a bit distracting at times.
Elliott Gould does somewhat better in his role. I expected him to be a loudmouth "ugly American" type, but he tones down his usual eccentricities for the most part. Still, the idea that his Condon and Amanda could wind up being attracted to each other is too far-fetched, and their supposed comic byplay falls flat for the most part.
Angela Lansbury's Miss Froy is more livelier than May Witty's in the '38 version....as a matter of fact, you have more faith in this Froy's ability to handle Nazis than you do in the two main leads. The great character actor Herbert Lom gives the best performance as the mysterious Dr. Hartz. Lom's assured, skillful way with the character gives this version some much-needed weight. Arthur Lowe and Ian Carmichael play Charters & Caldicott, and while they're alright, they just can't match the legendary status of the original duo played by Naunton Wayne and Basil Radford.
Among the supporting cast are genre notables Vladek Sheybal (FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE) and Wolf Kahler (RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK). Star Wars fans will glimpse William Hootkins and Jeremy Bulloch in the early part of the film.
When THE LADY VANISHES was released in 1979, it failed to make much of an impact, either financially or critically. It got almost no attention whatsoever in America (I was a kid at the time, and I don't remember hearing or seeing anything at all about it). Elliott Gould and Cybill Shepherd were not exactly big box-office stars at the time, and this became another late-era Hammer project that didn't accomplish much of anything. The '79 THE LADY VANISHES isn't a terrible film, but it belongs on the endless list of unnecessary remakes. One wishes that Hammer and Michael Carreras had shot their last bolt on something fresh, exciting, and original.