Rating: 
Summary: Criterion is Cool
Review: I don't have the other DVD version to compare this with, but this Criterion edition of THE LADY VANISHES is very good. There is an animated index page with the sound of a train. The print of this film looks very good -- of special interest is the "restoration" section of the index. Through the use of "wipes" the Criterion people show you a before and after version of the cleaned-up print. Very neat.There is also a commentary from a film historian which is interesting, if a bit dry. I didn't get a chance to listen to the whole thing yet. This is a good Hitchcock movie. It's a lot of fun -- as innocent as a Nancy Drew mystery at times, but with interesting strokes from the master! I had a good time.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful movies; lousy transfer
Review: I don't know why other versions of this movie are mixed in with the Criterion Collection version (or why Amazon persists in lumping VHS reviews with DVD reviews) that I am reviewing--it's confusing and frustrating to those who click on a particular version to learn about that version. The movie itself rates 5 stars, but the transfer barely rates at all. Criterion has a reputation for quality, but you'd never know it from this DVD. The picture quality is one of the worst I have ever seen, and the sound's not far behind. It looks like it was made from a bad print instead of going back to a restored negative to make a proper transfer. Although it looks better here than I have seen it before, that's not saying a lot. Dirt and white specks abound. This is restoration? Was every 25th speck removed leaving the other 24 to constantly irritate? The picture is grainy and not in very good focus. The sound is distorted and sometimes hard to understand. If this is the best that Criterion could do, they shouldn't have bothered. They have trashed a classic, and have added insult to injury by charging top dollar for a hack job.
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece.
Review: I don't want to say a whole lot about this wonderful film, 'cos you already know how great it is, ofcourse. I can never make up my mind which of his films is the best and most perfect; I guess that's just impossible to say. But I rank it in the Top 10, no question about that. Actually, if we ever send an all-time Top 100 movie-list into space, it probably deserves to be on it !.
Rating:
Summary: Funny Hitchcock and Pristine DVD
Review: I had heard alot about this movie and how good it was. Usually that means that I am let down when I see it. It was not the case with "The Lady Vanishes", this is truly an awesome movie. There are laughs, suspense, plenty of good and bad guys and everything in between. The Criterion Collection transfer of this movie is remarkable, it makes the movie look brand new. It really is amazing what DVD is capable of, I just hope they keep saving wonderful movies like this one going forward. This DVD is a must have for any movie fan, don't think about the price just buy it. It's worth every penny.
Rating:
Summary: Easily the best of all early Hitchcock
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this release and was especially surprised at how well Laserlight had processed the film. This is easily the best print of same that I have seen. As to the quality of the movie, it is the best of all early Hitchcock. Characters are very well developed and the plot is a winner. Quaint is the best description of the opening scene with the famous car pulled along a track, but remember when the film was made and the almost non-existant budget.
Rating: 
Summary: unfaded memories
Review: I watched this as an adolecent, and really enjoyed it. Watching it again cause no feelings of disappointment. Very slight hum on the sound track, but by no means reason to pay 5x the amount for this real enjoyable movie.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent criterion DVD -- but with a very slight flaw
Review: It appears that all the DVD editions of The Lady Vanishes available in the U.S. (sadly, including criterion) are missing a very brief moment that occurs early in the film, When the two men who are always hanging around together enter their room in the hotel, a moment later a maid comes in with some cloth and puts it in the closet, and later kneels down to get a hat from under the bed.. Well, in the criterion version just like in the rest of DVD editions (laselight, etc) we just see the maid enter the room and we immediately cut to see her gettting the hat from under the bed. This creates an awkward continuity error in which we never get to see what happens to the cloth. And the distance in which the men are standing when she first enters is changed. We see them distant to each other at first and standing next to each other in the next shot. However, it's a minor flaw that isn't really Criterion's fault. And the picture quality is incredible. Too bad they couldn't use an unedited print, especially considering there are two editions in europe which contain the scene intact). However you can download the missing clip from a site called daveyp (the video is in better quality than I expected). The omission of this very brief moment shouldn't stop anyone from buying the disc. It has a great Audio Commentary by a film historian and a restoration demonstration. Highly recommended
Rating:
Summary: It takes a woman to play musical chairs in spying
Review: Just before the war, Hitchcock gives us a lesson about what we are supposed to do. We are supposed to get in touch and keep contact with those in the German block who have things to say about what is happening and how we can face it. Here again it is a woman who is doing the job and doing it well, a simple old lady and yet a spy, even if she does not like the word. Here the medium through which the message can travel is music, an entertainment and yet a message about a coming war. This is intertwined with a love affair and takes place on a train. The film works at a second level too, the level of allusions to other films : Laurel and Hardy and their habit to bang their heads against low beams, Miss Jane Marple and her Agatha Christie both in the old lady spy and in the train Orient-Express-like situation, without Hercule Poirot, but we can't have everything. And many others that you will catch and recognize. This is brilliant cinema. But it is even a little bit more in the acting and the shooting : the camera is used intelligently in a very mobile way and the actors do not overact, they are trying to be natural, but with rhythm. Some of the scenes will be used over and over again in numerous films that will come later, like the diverting of the train onto a side line, like the luggage carriage scene with animals and a fight, etc. Then there is humour in all that, English humour of course. Their love for cricket is nicely laughed at, and ends up with the postponement of the match. Their love for tea is lightly made fun of, but it becomes a clue to the truth. Their unhygienic use of sugar served in an open sugar bowl with no spoon (Use your fingers please !) and transformed into pawns on a table to demonstrate a cricket match, has to bring a smile on our lips. And many other details like these. But the lesson of courage is given by an old governess who is also a music teacher, and that music is definitely the red thread that runs through the film : guitar, clarinet, piano, singing, dancing, etc, right to the end where it provides the last touching stroke of colour in a dark situation and a black and white film : the colour of courage, generally seen as red, is in our eyes, or maybe in our ears. The great master is definitely born. When you cannot show something, just conjure it up with a little bit of imagination.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
Rating:
Summary: Great movie, decent transfer, weak on the extras
Review: One of Hitchcock's early classics, The Lady Vanishes looks pretty good on this Criterion transfer. Although it isn't up to Spellbound, Notorious or The 39 Steps in picture quality and sound, it's better than many of the other transfer I've seen. The only extra is an audio commentary by film historian Bruce Eder. It's pretty good but doesn't justify the price for this set. Seems to me Criterion should have given Lady a bargain price. What about vintage ads, any radio performances or a documentary on the making of the film? While everyone that participated is dead, it would have given this set added value and made it worthwhile for the price. It's a pity as this Lady deserved much better.
Rating:
Summary: = = = = DON
Review: Please don't miss this comedy thriller. It packs more delicious good - and deliciously bad - one-liners as Some LIke It Hot. Never mind that your print is 'lousy.' Be glad the corn-fed populace hanging at the mall was looking the other way long enough for us to sneak this on the shelf - in as many forms and qualities as possible. You'll be watching this pleasure more than once. That should enable you to catch any dialogue problems you miss, stuck with a 'bad' print. And you'll be glad to do it. This is one of the top half-dozen comedy-thrillers there are, Hithcock or otherwise. Get one soon, one way or the other. We can't be sitting back waiting for Steven Hawking or somebody to regenerate the perfect print.
- moosbrugger
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