The Lady Vanishes (TV Movie 2013)

The Lady Vanishes (TV Movie 2013). The Lady Vanishes: Directed by Diarmuid Lawrence. With Charles Aitken, Paolo Antonio Simioni, Beatrix Biro, Marta Bolfan. While traveling by train, a young socialite is befriended by a charming yet enigmatic older woman. However, when the woman disappears, the other passengers deny she ever existed.

“Based on the 1938 Hitchcock thriller of the same name (which I havenu0026#39;t seen), this looked like rather a good whodunnit. The cast if full of young up-comers and old stalwarts, many of whom seem to be doing the rounds in British TV at the moment. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe premise: a beautiful young socialite, Iris Carr, is making her way back to England by train after a Balkans holiday and finds herself befriended by a kind older lady who calls herself Mrs Froy. Disorientated by a fall at the station earlier, Iris drifts off to sleep, only to find on awakening that Mrs Froy has disappeared and nobody else seems to have seen her – in fact they donu0026#39;t believe she existed in the first place. Of course there are only two possible outcomes: the woman isnu0026#39;t real and Iris is barking mad, or she has genuinely disappeared and thereu0026#39;s some sort of conspiracy going on. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eUnfortunately the final hour dedicated to resolving the mystery is slow-paced, boring and ultimately all a bit predictable. Apart from Sandy McDade and Tuppence Middleton, all the other characters are stereotypes who get to do very little with their screen time. Middleton is superb, tackling Irisu0026#39;s transition from petulant snobbery to concern and brave determination with aplomb, but the plodding script canu0026#39;t keep up with her enthusiasm. Itu0026#39;s definitely a Sunday afternoon movie, and one you can watch with Grandma – just donu0026#39;t expect edge-of-your-seat thrills.”