The Lady Vanishes (2013 film)
| The Lady Vanishes | |
|---|---|
Promotional poster
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| Genre | Drama |
| Based on |
The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White |
| Screenplay by | Fiona Seres |
| Directed by | Diarmuid Lawrence |
| Starring | |
| Theme music composer | John Lunn |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Ann Tricklebank |
| Cinematography | Peter Greenhalgh |
| Editor(s) | David Head |
| Running time | 87 minutes |
| Production company(s) | BBC |
| Distributor | BBC |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC One |
| Original release |
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The Lady Vanishes is a 2013 British television mystery thriller film directed by Diarmuid Lawrence, and a co-production of the BBC and Masterpiece Films. It is based on the novel The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White (1876–1944). It stars Selina Cadell in the key role of the disappearing Miss Froy, Tuppence Middleton as the young Iris Carr (who discovers the disappearance, but is not taken seriously), and Tom Hughes and Alex Jennings as Max Hare and the Professor, the two fellow English passengers who come to her aid. It was watched by 7.44 million when it was broadcast on 17 March 2013 on BBC One.
The film is less a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1938 film of the same name than a new interpretation of the novel, one based far more closely on it. It depicts a young English socialite, Iris Carr, travelling by train across 1930s Europe, returning to England from Croatia. She is alarmed by the mysterious disappearance of an English governess, Miss Froy, also travelling on the train. She enlists the help (initially given somewhat reluctantly) of the handsome young Max Hare, and his former Oxford Professor, who are travelling together on the train, for reasons unstated. The setting of the remake is the luxury express passenger train from Croatia to Trieste, rather than in the original fictional country. An entire 1930s luxury passenger train interior, complete with sleeping carriages, a dining car, and a passenger bar and lounge car, were all recreated in Budapest for the production of the film. As in the book (but unlike the 1938 version of the film), Miss Froy is merely what she appears, and not a British agent of MI6. The motive for her kidnap is not her secret intelligence service operations, but the fact that she witnessed a suspected murderer under circumstances that would have invalidated his alibi for the murder.
The film was made in 2012, and the credits list 2012 (MMXII - in Roman numerals, as per current BBC practice) as the film's date. The closed preview screening of the film was held in December 2012. However, the television release of the film was on Sunday 17 March 2013. While the BBC listed the film's date as 2012, based on the production date, other sources have listed it as 2013, based on the general release date.
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