The lady vanishes 1938 - The culmination of Hitchcock's British period

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030341/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 8,0

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Main Cast: Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Paul Lukas, Dame May Whitty, Cecil Parker

"It's easy to forget, with all his successes, that Alfred Hitchcock's career suffered quite a few periods of commercial decline. Following his two international breakthroughs, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) and The 39 Steps (1935), the director produced three films with relatively disappointing box-office returns. In 1938, he broke out of this slump with the popular and entertaining The Lady Vanishes. The director's penultimate movie before leaving England, it's a very light picture, more dependent on comedy than almost any of his previous films. A good deal of the humor comes from the interplay between the definitively British tourists Charters and Caldicott, played indelibly by Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne, that the actors would reprise in several other films. Despite (or perhaps because of) its 'Englishness', The Lady Vanishes made quite a splash in America, securing Hitchcock a place in Hollywood. The charming script by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat was based on the popular Ethel Lina White novel, The Wheel Spins." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-lady-vanishes-v28077/

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Night must fall 1937 - Brilliantly acted, moody psychological drama

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029310/?ref_=nv_sr_1
IMDB rating: 7,3

Director: Richard Thorpe
Main Cast: Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell, Dame May Whitty, Alan Marshal

"Emlyn Williams' theatrical horror piece Night Must Fall was filmed by MGM without the usual studio-imposed happy ending. Night Must Fall is a classic nail-biter that, despite the passage of time, is still enormously effective. Primary credit is due to Robert Montgomery, who sheds his 'light comedy' image with a finely crafted, carefully nuanced performance that grows more impressive with repeated viewings. That Montgomery can provide Danny with charm is no surprise; that he can do so in a manner that is simultaneously convincing to Dame May Whitty and contrived to Rosalind Russell is unexpectedly delightful. His understanding of the character's psychosis is impressive, and many of his choices - the subtle changes in Danny's gait and stance, for example - demonstrate the amount of care he put into this portrayal. Russell's part does not allow her the same range, but her work is polished. She makes the character's repulsion and attraction to Danny credible, which is crucial to the film's success, and her restlessness and discontent are pitched to exactly the right key. Whitty, of course, has a grand time; she and Montgomery are so believable that plot contrivances that might otherwise provoke grunts of disbelief are accepted without batting an eye. Credit director Richard Thorpe with guiding the cast through some difficult terrain; much of the screenplay requires finely tuned reactions and scrupulous attention to subtext to avoid seeming obvious, and Thorpe's careful handling sees that the tone of the scenes never strays into that pit." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/night-must-fall-v103947/

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