The Lady Vanishes – 1979

A Hammer film presented by The Rank Organisation and released by Rank Film Distributors Limited Copyright MCMLXXlX Rank Film Productions Limited – All rights reserved
MPAA Approved Certificate
All characters and events in this picture are fictitious. Any similarity to actual events or persons living or dead is purely coincidental and unintentional
This motion picture is protected under the laws of the United States and other countries and its unauthorised duplication distribution or exhibition may result in civil liability and criminal proceedings
Filmed at Pinewood Studios, London, England and on location in Austria with the (co-operation of the Austrian Federal Railways
Processed at Rank Film Laboratories 97 mins
Storyline
As war looms in Europe, a group of travellers gathers at a hotel in Bavaria. While they are waiting for their train, American Amanda Kelly drinks a bit too much and does an impersonation of Hitler, which does not go down well with the Nazi stormtroopers looking on. A scuffle breaks out, during which Amanda receives a hefty blow on the head. Later, aboard the train and feeling somewhat the worse for wear, she has breakfast with Miss Froy, a cheerful British nanny, and the two become friends. Then, after she has slept off her ‘illness’, Amanda tries to find Miss Froy again. But, now it seems that she has vanished and, even worse, her fellow passengers insist that the lady never existed!
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Crew
Function | Credited | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Productions | |||
Click a link for more info | Credited | Uncredited | Total | ||||||
2nd Unit Camera | John Harris | 53 | 15 May 1925 | 3 Jul 2012 | 87 | 2 | 2 | ||
Art Direction | Bill Alexander | 49 | 6 Jan 1930 | 93 | 1 | 1 | |||
Ast. Director | Michael Dryhurst | 41 | 1 Mar 1938 | 85 | 1 | 1 | |||
Ast. Director | Michael Mertineit | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Ast. Editor | Nicholas Gillott | 34 | 27 Mar 1945 | 78 | 1 | 1 | |||
Ast. Editor | Albert Schwinges | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Background Process | Don Hansard | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Based on screenplay by | Frank Launder | 73 | 28 Jan 1906 | 23 Feb 1997 | 91 | 1 | 1 | ||
Based on screenplay by | Sidney Gilliat | 71 | 15 Feb 1908 | 31 May 1994 | 86 | 1 | 1 | ||
Camera Operator | Chic Waterson | 54 | 5 Jun 1924 | 30 Oct 1997 | 73 | 1 | 1 | ||
Casting Director | Allan Foenander | 49 | 17 Jul 1929 | 1 Jun 2021 | 91 | 1 | 1 | ||
Casting Director | Irene Lamb | 9 | 9 | ||||||
Chief Hairdresser | Stephanie Kaye | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Continuity | Kay Rawlings | 61 | 1 Jan 1918 | 1 Jul 1981 | 63 | 3 | 3 | ||
Costume Designer | Emma Porteous | 42 | 26 Jun 1936 | 86 | 1 | 1 | |||
Director | Anthony Page | 43 | 21 Sep 1935 | 87 | 1 | 1 | |||
Director of Photog. | Douglas Slocombe | 66 | 10 Feb 1913 | 22 Feb 2016 | 103 | 2 | 2 | ||
Dubbing Mixer | Ken Barker | 61 | 1 Jan 1918 | 13 Feb 2001 | 83 | 10 | 10 | ||
Editor | Russell Lloyd ADE, GBFE | 63 | 16 Jan 1916 | 21 Jan 2008 | 92 | 1 | 1 | ||
Executive Producer | Alex Winitsky | 54 | 27 Dec 1924 | 14 Nov 2019 | 94 | 1 | 1 | ||
Executive Producer | Michael Carreras | 51 | 21 Dec 1927 | 19 Apr 1994 | 66 | 82 | 3 | 85 | |
Executive Producer | Arlene Sellers | 57 | 7 Sep 1921 | 5 Mar 2004 | 82 | 1 | 1 | ||
Furs designer | Ossie Clarke | 36 | 2 Jun 1942 | 6 Jun 1996 | 54 | 1 | 1 | ||
Location Manager | Dusty Symonds | 35 | 3 May 1944 | 79 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
Location Manager | Christian Jungbluth | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Make-up Supervisor | Neville Smallwood | 57 | 11 Apr 1922 | Nov 2004 | 82 | 1 | 1 | ||
Music Composer | Richard Hartley | 34 | 28 Jul 1944 | 78 | 1 | 1 | |||
Musical Director | Philip Martell | 71 | 6 Oct 1907 | 11 Aug 1993 | 85 | 104 | 1 | 105 | |
Novel by | Ethel Lina White | 103 | 1876 | 1944 | 67 | 1 | 1 | ||
Producer | Tom Sachs | 50 | 10 Apr 1929 | 94 | 8 | 1 | 9 | ||
Production Designer | Wilfred Shingleton | 65 | 24 Jan 1914 | Jun 1983 | 69 | 1 | 1 | ||
Screenplay | George Axelrod | 56 | 9 Jun 1922 | 21 Jun 2003 | 81 | 1 | 1 | ||
Sound Editor | Alfred Cox | 54 | 1925 | 2005 | 80 | 21 | 4 | 25 | |
Sound Mixer | Peter Handford | 60 | 21 Mar 1919 | 6 Nov 2007 | 88 | 1 | 1 | ||
Stunt Arrangements | Peter Brayham | 42 | 12 Jul 1936 | 7 Dec 2006 | 70 | 1 | 1 | ||
Theme composer | Les Reed | 43 | 24 Jul 1935 | 15 Apr 2019 | 83 | 1 | 1 | ||
Wardrobe Supervisor | Jackie Cummins | 2 | 2 | ||||||
Uncredited | |||||||||
Construction Engineer | Peter Fern | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Construction Manager | Tony Graysmark | 38 | 1941 | 82 | 1 | 1 | |||
First Camera Ast. | David Wynn-Jones | 34 | 1 Aug 1944 | 78 | 1 | 1 | |||
Focus Puller | Robin Vidgeon | 39 | 12 Aug 1939 | 83 | 1 | 1 | |||
Gaffer | Steve Birtles | 64 | 12 Nov 1914 | 2003 | 88 | 13 | 14 | 27 | |
Make-up | Jill Carpenter | 4 Mar 2015 | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||
Producer | Mark L. Rosen | 32 | 6 Feb 1947 | 15 Aug 2012 | 65 | 1 | 1 | ||
Production Ast. | Sally Shewring | 39 | 1 Mar 1940 | 83 | 1 | 1 | |||
Re-Recording Mixer | John Hayward | 2 | 2 | ||||||
Second Ast. Director | Andrew Montgomery | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Second Ast. Editor | Joe Gallagher | 26 | 27 Mar 1953 | 70 | 1 | 1 | |||
Sound Second Unit | Malcolm Davies | Feb 2019 | 2 | 2 | |||||
Special Unit Photog. | Michael J. Jacobs | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Still Photog. | Keith Hamshere | 33 | 1 Jan 1946 | 77 | 1 | 1 |
Cast
Character | Actor | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Productions | |||
Credited | Uncredited | Total | |||||||
1st Killer | Klaus-Dieter Reents | 36 | 15 Mar 1943 | 27 Aug 1996 | 53 | 1 | 1 | ||
2nd Killer | Dan Van Husen | 34 | 30 Apr 1945 | 31 May 2020 | 75 | 1 | 1 | ||
Amanda | Cybill Shepherd | 29 | 18 Feb 1950 | 73 | 1 | 1 | |||
Baroness | Jean Anderson | 71 | 12 Dec 1907 | 1 Apr 2001 | 93 | 1 | 1 | ||
Baroness's Maid | Jacki Harding | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Baroness's Manservant | Garry McDermott | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Bellboy | Pierre Franckh | 26 | 1 May 1953 | 69 | 1 | 1 | |||
Caldicott | Ian Carmichael | 58 | 18 Jun 1920 | 5 Feb 2010 | 89 | 1 | 1 | ||
Charters | Arthur Lowe | 63 | 22 Sep 1915 | 15 Apr 1982 | 66 | 2 | 2 | ||
Dining Car Waiter | Jonathan Hackett | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Dr Hartz | Herbert Lom | 61 | 11 Sep 1917 | 27 Sep 2012 | 95 | 3 | 3 | ||
Evelyn Barnes | Rosalind Knight | 45 | 3 Dec 1933 | 19 Dec 2020 | 87 | 1 | 1 | ||
Frau Kummer | Barbara Markham | 68 | 9 Aug 1910 | 19 Dec 1983 | 73 | 1 | 1 | ||
German Officer | Peter Schratt | 47 | 4 Apr 1932 | 4 Mar 1996 | 63 | 1 | 1 | ||
Helmut | Wolf Kahler | 39 | 3 Apr 1940 | 83 | 1 | 1 | |||
Hotel Manager | Heinz Winter | 53 | 28 May 1925 | 17 Mar 1991 | 65 | 1 | 1 | ||
Miss Froy | Angela Lansbury | 53 | 16 Oct 1925 | 11 Oct 2022 | 96 | 1 | 1 | ||
Mrs Todhunter | Jenny Runacre | 32 | 18 Aug 1946 | 76 | 1 | 1 | |||
Nun | Madlena Nedeva | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Party Guest | Helen Lambert | 43 | 1936 | May 2016 | 80 | 1 | 1 | ||
Party Guest | Jeremy Bulloch | 34 | 16 Feb 1945 | 17 Dec 2020 | 75 | 1 | 1 | ||
Party Guest | William Hootkins | 30 | 5 Jul 1948 | 23 Oct 2005 | 57 | 2 | 2 | ||
Party Guest | Jillianne Foot | 22 | 1 Jan 1957 | 66 | 1 | 1 | |||
Party Guest | John Alkin | 32 | 17 Jan 1947 | 76 | 1 | 1 | |||
Porter | Uli Steigberg | 56 | 8 Feb 1923 | Sep 1987 | 64 | 1 | 1 | ||
Robert | Elliott Gould | 40 | 29 Aug 1938 | 84 | 1 | 1 | |||
Rose Flood Porter | Madge Ryan | 60 | 8 Jan 1919 | 9 Jan 1994 | 75 | 1 | 1 | ||
Signal Box Man | Bruno Thost | 43 | 23 Apr 1936 | 28 Aug 2019 | 83 | 1 | 1 | ||
Station Master | Claus Fuchs | 36 | 16 Apr 1943 | 79 | 1 | 1 | |||
Todhunter | Gerald Harper | 50 | 15 Feb 1931 | 92 | 1 | 1 | |||
Trainmaster | Vladek Sheybal | 56 | 12 Mar 1923 | 16 Oct 1992 | 69 | 1 | 1 | ||
Waiter | Edgar Wenzel | 59 | 12 Sep 1919 | 1980 | 60 | 1 | 1 |
Production
FILMING BEGAN | 16 September 1978 | |
UK RELEASE | 5 May 1979 | |
STUDIO | Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England | |
LOCATION | Feistritz im Rosenthal, Karawanken Mountains, Carinthia, Austria | |
Klagenfurt - Rosenbach Railway Line, Carinthia, Austria | ||
London, England |
Footnotes
Remaking any classic film is dangerous, but remaking Hitchcock can be regarded as verging on the suicidal and, although Rank had some success the previous year with “The Thirty-Nine Steps”, “The Lady Vanishes” was a disaster, mauled by the critics and ignored by the paying public. It spelt the end of the road for Michael Carreras and very nearly for Hammer as well, which would have gone under had Roy Skeggs not returned to rescue the Company from oblivion. From now on, though, there would be no more feature films and the ‘new’ Hammer concentrated on works for television, notably the series “Hammer House of Horror” and “Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense”. Fortunately for us, however, a fine legacy of their many classics remains.
Elliott Gould’s films include “The Night they Raided Minsky’s” (1968), “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice” (1969), “M*A*S*H” (1970), “Capricorn One” (1977), “The Naked Face” (1984) and “The Player” (1992).
Cybill Shepherd later starred in her popular comedy show “Cybill”.
Angela Lansbury’s films include “The Picture of Dorian Gray” (1945, for which she was Oscar-nominated), “Samson and Delilah” (1949), “The Court Jester” (1956), “Blue Hawaii” (1961), “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” (1971) and “Death on the Nile” (1978). In recent years, she has concentrated on her role as Jessica Fletcher in the long-running series “Murder, She Wrote”.
Ian Carmichael is one of Britain’s most popular comedy actors. His films include “Private’s Progress” (1956), “Brothers in Law” (1956), “Lucky Jim” (1957), “I’m All Right, Jack” (1959), “School for Scoundrels” (1960) “Heavens Above!” (1963), “The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins” (1971) and Amicus’s “From Beyond the Grave” (1973).
Details were complied viewing the actual film.
Source of viewing copy – The Hammer Graveyard Collection