What filmmaking techniques does The Lady Vanishes use?

CineCode breaks down 5 techniques in The Lady Vanishes (1938): Epistemic Horror, Paranoid Ensemble, Single-Location Cinematography, Chekhov's Gun and The MacGuffin.

Who directed The Lady Vanishes?

Alfred Hitchcock directed The Lady Vanishes, released in 1938. CineCode also covers The 39 Steps (1935), Rebecca (1940), Suspicion (1941), Saboteur (1942), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Lifeboat (1944).

What films are similar to The Lady Vanishes?

Films that share techniques with The Lady Vanishes include The Thing (1982), The 39 Steps (1935), Parasite (2019), Inception (2010).

Mystery · Thriller · Comedy

The Lady Vanishes

Alfred Hitchcock, 1938

On a train across Europe, a young Englishwoman makes friends with a kind old governess, falls asleep and wakes up to find her gone. Everyone on board insists the old lady was never there. It's one of Hitchcock's funniest British films and one of his tightest. Watch how he makes a single train feel like a whole world full of liars.

1 Psychology 3 Narrative 1 Cinematography

At a glance

The Lady Vanishes is a 1938 mystery, thriller and comedy film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. This breakdown covers 5 techniques (1 psychology, 3 narrative and 1 cinematography), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, The Thing uses several of the same techniques.

Psychology

Epistemic Horror

Making the fear come from being unable to know what is real. The character can't trust their own records, memories or senses, and that is scarier than any physical threat.

How this film uses it

Iris was hit on the head before boarding, and a doctor on the train says she's imagining things. Then another woman shows up wearing Miss Froy's clothes and claims to be the lady she means. Even Iris starts to doubt herself, and you start to doubt with her.

Where to see it

Madame Kummer appears. A woman dressed exactly like Miss Froy sits in her seat and says she was the one helping Iris all along.

Narrative

Paranoid Ensemble

Making any member of a group a possible hidden enemy, so every face could be lying. You study the characters for clues the same way they study each other.

How this film uses it

Almost every passenger denies seeing Miss Froy, each for a different reason. The cricket fans don't want to miss their match, and the lawyer is hiding an affair. Some are villains and some are just selfish, so you can't trust anyone.

Where to see it

The search of the train. Iris goes from compartment to compartment, and passenger after passenger says no old lady was ever there.

Cinematography

Single-Location Cinematography

Shooting almost the whole film in 1 confined place. Set design and camera movement keep it visually interesting, and the space itself takes on meaning as the story goes on.

How this film uses it

Most of the film happens on one train, which was built on a set at Gainsborough Studios in London. Hitchcock keeps the corridors narrow and the compartments crowded. Iris has nowhere to go, and the suspects are always within arm's reach.

Where to see it

The baggage car. Iris and Gilbert find Miss Froy's glasses among the luggage and end up fighting the magician Doppo.

Narrative

Chekhov's Gun

Showing an object or detail early on that becomes important later. The idea is that nothing gets screen time unless the story is going to use it.

How this film uses it

Miss Froy mentions that she only drinks one brand of tea, and she writes her name on the dining car window. Both seem like small talk. Later, these tiny details are the only proof that she existed.

Where to see it

The tea wrapper. A cook throws rubbish out of the train, and Miss Froy's tea wrapper sticks to the window right in front of Gilbert.

Narrative

The MacGuffin

Giving the characters an object, secret or goal that everyone chases. What it actually is barely matters, because its job is to set the characters against each other.

How this film uses it

Miss Froy turns out to be a spy carrying a coded message in a folk tune. You never learn what the message says. All that matters is that the tune gets to London.

Where to see it

The Foreign Office. Gilbert forgets the tune in the waiting room, then hears it played on a piano and finds Miss Froy at the keys.

Questions

The Lady Vanishes: quick answers

What filmmaking techniques does The Lady Vanishes use?: CineCode breaks down 5 techniques in The Lady Vanishes (1938): Epistemic Horror, Paranoid Ensemble, Single-Location Cinematography, Chekhov's Gun and The MacGuffin.
Who directed The Lady Vanishes?: Alfred Hitchcock directed The Lady Vanishes, released in 1938. CineCode also covers The 39 Steps (1935), Rebecca (1940), Suspicion (1941), Saboteur (1942), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Lifeboat (1944).
What films are similar to The Lady Vanishes?: Films that share techniques with The Lady Vanishes include The Thing (1982), The 39 Steps (1935), Parasite (2019), Inception (2010).

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