The Times (02/Jan/1939) - Films in the suburbs and provinces
(c) The Times (02/Jan/1939)
- keywords: Alfred Hitchcock, Anna Neagle, The Lady Vanishes (1938)
FILMS IN THE SUBURBS AND PROVINCES
THREE NOTABLE RELEASES
Sixty Glorious Years. — There are only one or two minor inaccuracies in this recital of some of the events which made the reign of Queen Victoria so memorable. The Queen is shown as the twentieth century believes she was, a self-willed girl transformed by marriage with the man she loved, who finally emerges from a morbid widowhood into a gracious old age, a Queen beloved by her people. The glimpses of national events, the Crimean War and the death of Gordon, for instance, gain in effectiveness through their shortness, and Miss Anna Neagle, although not quite sure of herself in the opening scenes, is admirable in her dignified representation of the Queen in widowhood.
Pygmalion. — This film adds only one scene of importance to Mr. Shaw's play and omits very little from it. It is, from start to finish, amusing, and demonstrates that if the camera is used with ingenuity here is no reason why what has proved triumphant on the stage may not be equally triumphant on the screen. Mr. Leslie Howard, in presenting the eccentric Professor Higgins, overcomes the handicap of his own charm, and Miss Wendy Hiliier is delightful as Eliza.
The Lady Vanishes. — Mr. Alfred Hitchcock has a way of combining a sense of humour with a sense of drama, and in this film of a lady disappearing from the corner of a compartment in a Continental express, he manages to combine the best of both his worlds. All through the film there is evidence of his unmistakable style, his love of the sinister and the bizarre, and his ability to perceive how tiny clues can lead to momentous discoveries.
The Adventures of Robin Hood. — The adventures are not meant to be taken very seriously, which is perhaps a pity as there is a good film to be made out of the Robin Hood legend. This is a bright juvenile colour supplement to a chapter out of Little Arthur's History of England.
