History Film / TheLadyVanishes

* BreakTheHaughty: Iris goes through a fairly light example of this. She's spoiled and pampered but not quite a RichBitch, but still seems to have trouble coping with life outside her privileged bubble. The head blow, the disappearance of Miss Froy and her BelligerentSexualTension with Gilbert finally cure her of that.

** Charters and Caldicott just don't want the train to be delayed as they want to get back to London in time for an important cricket match. [[note]] England hosted an Ashes series in the summer of 1938, the year in which ''The Lady Vanishes'' was released; England and Australia won one Test match apiece, with three draws[[/note]].

* AmericansHateTingle: [[invoked]] Charters and Caldicott are disappointed when they look through the sports section of the ''New York Herald-Tribune'' and only see baseball scores.[[note]]There's also a headline on the back page about the inaugural 1938 edition of [[UsefulNotes/{{Basketball}} National Invitation Tournament]], noting correctly that Temple University defeated the University of Colorado 60-36 in the final.[[/note]]
-->'''Caldicott''': Nothing but baseball. You know, we used to call it "rounders". Children play it with a rubber ball and a stick. Not a word about cricket. Americans got no sense of proportion.

* HerrDoktor: Dr. Egon Hartz is a brain surgeon. He has a German name, but says that he is from Prague - which, in 1938, was suffering a propaganda campaign as preparation for annexation by Nazi Germany.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_lady_vanishes.jpeg]]

As a matter of fact, there ''is'' foul play. But there's also a ScrewballComedy relationship between Iris and Gilbert. And two hilariously over-the-top Englishmen obsessed with UsefulNotes/{{Cricket}}. This is consequently one of Hitchcock's more lighthearted films -- think ''Film/{{The 39 Steps|1935}}''. It's also notable for being one of the last pictures he made in his native Britain prior to moving to Hollywood.

[[TheFilmOfTheBook Adapted from]] the 1936 novel ''The Wheel Spins'' by Ethel Lina White, the film was remade in 1979 (with Creator/CybillShepherd and Creator/ElliottGould as the leads and Creator/AngelaLansbury in the title role), and a TV movie version aired on Creator/TheBBC in 2013 (with Creator/TuppenceMiddleton as Iris). Unofficially, the 1976 Hitchcock homage ''Film/SilverStreak'' and the 2005 Creator/JodieFoster film ''[[Film/Flightplan2005 Flightplan]]'' have quite a few similarities to it.

* BandageMummy: The face and body of the patient are completely concealed by bandages.

* EvilAllAlong: Dr. Hartz, a kindly doctor who tries to help Iris out after Froy's disappearance.

** Charters and Caldicott are more concerned about cricket and the train potentially being delayed than anything else.

* AmericansHateTingle: [[invoked]] Caldicott and Charters are disappointed when they look through the sports section of the ''New York Herald-Tribune'' and only see baseball scores.[[note]]There's also a headline on the back page about the inaugural 1938 edition of [[UsefulNotes/{{Basketball}} National Invitation Tournament]], noting correctly that Temple University defeated the University of Colorado 60-36 in the final.[[/note]]

* LetsGetDangerous: Caldicott and Charters spend most of the film being ''beyond'' useless. Then when they're finally convinced that the train is under siege by hostile soldiers, they both grab guns and start putting up one hell of a defence.

* MissingTheGoodStuff: Caldicott and Charters spend the whole film looking forward to getting back to London for the end of a big cricket match, only to find that it's been rained out.

* SherlockHomage: When Gilbert tells Iris his theory about the disappearance he puts on a deerstalker hat and picks up a pipe. He even refers to Iris as "Watson."

** Caldicott and Charters deal with this and There Is Only One Pair of Pyjamas at the hotel. Not only do they share the bed, but one man wears the pyjama top and the other wears the bottom.

* ThoseTwoGuys: Caldicott and Charters. Which became ThoseTwoActors for Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne. Not only did they reprise their roles two years later in Carol Reed's ''Film/NightTrainToMunich'' (which also starred Margaret Lockwood), but they appeared together (as differently-named but virtually identical characters) in numerous other film and radio productions from 1940 until Radford's death in 1952. They were also mooted to appear in ''Film/TheThirdMan'' in Wilfred Brambells' role at one point. The characters even got a ContinuityReboot with the 1985 Creator/{{BBC}} series ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charters_and_Caldicott_(TV_series) Charters and Caldicott]]'', with Robin Bailey as Charters and Michael Aldridge as Caldicott.

* LingerieScene: While bringing room service to Iris and her friends at the inn, a waiter walks in on them while they're undressing for bed. He's more flustered about it than they are.