The Lady Vanishes (1938)

An English girl (Margaret Lockwood) on her way back to England via train to get married becomes friendly with an elderly governess (Dame May Whitty). When she wakes up after a nap, she inquires into the whereabouts of her traveling companion, only to be told the woman doesn't exist! Attempts to get others to believe her prove fruitless until a young musicologist (Michael Redgrave) decides to assist her in her investigation. The apex of Alfred Hitchcock's British period easily demonstrates why the anonym Master Of Suspense was quickly conferred upon Hitchcock. Most of his strengths and none of his weaknesses are on view here. The brisk pacing, the sly wit, the subtle double entendres, romance and mayhem and quickly etched characterizations from the leads down to the smallest supporting roles. I don't know that Redgrave has ever been as appealing on film again. Remade in 1979 but not as skillfully. With Paul Lukas, Googie Withers, Cecil Parker, Linden Travers and as the prototypical cricket obsessed Englishmen, Naunton Wayne and Basil Radford whose characters proved so popular that they appeared in three other films.