The Lady Vanishes
... ease. They also fell back upon a strict policy of appeasement. Whenever an international dispute broke out, Britain was first in line to give the agitators exactly what they wanted, just to quell any possibility of war. When Japan staged a coup in Manchuria just so they could justifiably occupy the nation, Britain and the League of Nations did not impose any sanctions. When Italy Invaded Ethiopia under the Fascist dictatorship of Mussolini, Britain and the League of nations took a stand and imposed negligible economic sanctions. In 1933 Hitler seized power in Germany, and by 1936 he began his campaign to reclaim all the historical parts of Germany. He began by invaded the Rhineland, and then in 1938 he occupied Austria. Britain took no action to stop this aggression; later, Britain violated its alliance, and turned the other cheek as Germany invaded Czechoslovakia. Finally, once most of Europe was seized by Hitler, Britain decided to intervene and declared war on Germany and the Axis powers. During the early stages of the war, the British people were alarmed, but also in a state of hope. The war united Britain and class divisions were put aside as both rich and poor men went into battle, and those left at home all had the same amount of food rations. It was a time when the pursuit of individual happiness was replaced by communal working towards a common goal. To the unobserving eye, the plot of The Lady Vanishes certainly does not look like a World War Two period piece. The film follows Iris and Gilbert as they search a train for an elderly woman who seems to have mysteriously disappeared. Their problem, however, is that all the passengers deny ever seeing the lady, there is a chance that Iris may have been just imagining her all along. A close examination of the motives and actions of the characters involved in the thriller will reveal their resemblance to they way various countries thought and acted throughout the mid to late thirties. Caldicott and Charters are two of the film’s supporting characters. The two British gentlemen are en-route to attending a cricket match, one they hold in very high regard. Early on in the film, they have an encounter with the elderly woman in the train’s cafeteria car. However, they deny the encounter repeatedly when Iris and Gilbert interrogate them later in the film. If they admit that they have in fact had seen the old lady, it would reaffirm her existence; and subsequent disappearance. They feel this would cause a commotion on the train and jeopardize their chances of getting to the game on time. They are under the impression that if they ignore the problem it will go away. Todhunter and his mistress are the other supporting British couple on the train. The elderly lady accidentally falls into their cabin as she is walking through one of the cars. Todhunter also later denies his encounter with the old lady. He wants to draw as little attention to himself as possible because he is afraid that his infidelity will be revealed. During the climax of the film, it is revealed that a German doctor and an Italian magician kidnapped the elderly lady. Iris and Gilbert rescue her, and a shoot-out ensues. The problems that Caldicott, Charters, and Todhunter were trying so desperately to avoid have finally caught up with them. The Brits are forced to act. Caldicott and Charters reluctantly pick up weapons and start shooting at the Germans. Eventually, they are victorious in the confrontation. On the other hand, Todhunter refuses to fight, even though he has a gun. He claims he is a pacifist. He walks out of the train car waving a white flag, hoping that he could resolve the situation by reasoning with the aggressors. The Germans, however, ignore the white flag, and shoot Todhunter in the back. Knowing the historical context, it is not very difficult to decipher the symbolism in all of this. At first, Hitchcock is criticizing British Prime Minister Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement. Had the British passengers done the right thing, and told the truth about their encounters with Mrs. Froy from the start, the situation may have not gotten as serious as it eventually became. Hitchcock is saying that if Britain contained Hitler from the b...