I think the strength of character depends on how well you can stand up against the consensus. When the opinion of everyone around you is one and yours is diametrically opposite and that causes everyone to doubt your sanity, then you'd have to have some serious chops to hold your own.
Clearly the story has all trademark Hitchcock ingredients. A train traveling through Central Europe, carrying a group of sinister looking (read: German) individuals. A plucky young woman and a roguish young man and a middle aged English lady looking suspiciously like Agatha Christie who, as the title suggests, disappears.
Young Iris Henderson is on a holiday in Central Europe just before her wedding: her last hurrah before her trip down the aisle. She meets an elderly lady at the hotel she was staying at, a governess who is going back to England after spending six years in the country.
However, she seems to be more than what she says, as an early assassination attempt on her lands on Iris, knocking her out before her trip back to England. Ms Froy nurses Iris back on the train and being good natured and friendly, she quickly becomes good friends with Iris.
After waking up from a nap Iris find that Ms Froy had disappeared. Other occupants of the compartment denies that she was there in the first place. Iris frantically tries to track her down and asks around for her whereabouts. It seems everyone has a good motive to deny the existence of Ms Froy.
Iris seeks the help of Gilbert, a young musician who had earned her wrath at the hotel earlier by playing loud music. Skeptical at first but concerned at her frantic state, Gilbert goes along with her allegations about the disappearance of Ms Froy. He is quite amused by her persistence but is also willing to entertain the possibility that the earlier blow to the head may have unhinged Iris, a view propagated by Dr. Egon Hartz. Dr Hartz who is traveling with a patient does not hesitate to cast aspersion on Iris' sanity. A sudden appearance of another woman, dressed exactly like Ms Froy seems to confirm the position of Dr Hartz.
A lucky break allows Gilbert to ascertain that Iris was speaking the truth. However since every one in the train seems to be deny the existence of Ms Froy at first and then quickly falls in line to affirm that the new woman was Iris' companion, he begins to smell a rat. Something sinister may have befallen Ms Froy but they could not figure out why. There was no earthly reason behind a train full of people conspiring to hide the disappearance of an elderly English governess.
On a lighter note, a pair of cricket mad self absorbed pubic school-educated old boys form part of the plot. Their only concern, after suffering some hilarious privations at the hotel, is to be able to make it to Manchester before the end of a cricket match. Fearful that Iris' kicking up a fuss would delay them, they become unwitting partners in the conspiracy. A pair of illicit lovers, afraid of publicity, also take part in the conspiracy of denial.
However, it soon becomes apparent that Ms Froy was still on the train and Gilbert and Iris double their efforts. Fearful of their success, the cabal of conspirators make their move to take them out. Through a lucky break, Iris and Gilbert escape an attempt on their lives and quickly discovers where Ms Froy was hidden. It transpires that using the cover of a governess, ms Froy had been working as a spy for British Secret Service. What the Teutonic breed of baddies were trying to do was to prevent her from taking a message back to London, a message about a treaty between two Central European countries (this being the 1930s, no prize for guessing one of them).
The climax becomes an amusing scene of a last stand of the English surrounded by well armed Germans. Would they be able to escape? Would Ms Froy be able to deliver her message? And what about Iris' impending wedding? Would she allow herself to follow the well versed script of marrying the stuffed shirt she's engaged to and throw away the dashing Gilbert, her knight in a shining armor?
I think that after watching this movie, I am very much interested in watching more movies where Margaret Lockwood plays a role. Her portrayal of Iris was fantastic. Michael Redgrave is pitch perfect and flawless in his performance as usual. It was a great treat to see one of his early works.
What seemed strange was the eerie similarity between Dame May Whitty and Agatha Christie in her later years. Had this not been a black and white movie, I would have been under the impression that it was Dame Agatha herself! But I do great injustice to Dame May: her performance gives the move the extra vigor that makes it so worth watching.
But the main attraction of the movie is Hitchcock. I do not know why we do not take the social commentary in his movies more seriously. He successfully portrays a microcosm of English society within the passengers of the train. Equally successful is his portrayal of of the Teutonic menace, rejuvenated by the jackboots.
What truly impresses me is Hitchcock's portrayal of contemporary 1930s world without ever sacrificing the taut plot line of the story. He wants to tell us a rollicking tale but he also wants to give us the context of it in terms of Geo-politics, class politics, sociology and history. An piece of work that looks effortless in its execution, I would say this movie is one his great successes.
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