Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The producers declared that they had based the script of this TV film on the original novel ("The Wheel Spins", 1936, by Ethel Lina White) rather than Hitchcock's film. I think this is precisely the reason it does not work. Hitchcock's "The Lady Vanishes" was not memorable because of the plot, but because of the atmosphere and the flamboyant characters. The McGuffin: will Michael Redgrave and Margaret Lockwood get together? Let's throw them in the middle of a spy conspiracy so they can decide.Special mention deserve the two cricket enthusiasts Caldicott and Charters, hinted as homosexual at a time when such thing was unthinkable in films (they share a pyjama!). The characters were so popular that they appeared in another two war films ("Night Train to Munich", 1940, "Millions Like Us", 1943). Even the inferior 1979 remake was very enjoyable, because of the always wonderful Angela Lansbury and the sparkling comedic timing between Elliot Gould and Cybill Shepherd (two actors not usually praised).In contrast, the characters in this latest version remained insufferably dull. I kept thinking that hero Max Hare (Tom Hughes) and the Oxford Professor (Alex Jennings) should have been one single character. Watching them saying their dialogues, sitting side by side, I could not help but thinking that one was redundant. Ten minutes before the ending, we still had all the story lines to wrap up. They concluded in a too rushed way, only to be followed by an overlong and unnecessary epilogue. The opening scene at the hotel was also totally expendable. However, I am happy they did not remove it, as it gave me the chance to see handsome Hungarian actor Tamás Lengyel as waitress Julij. The scarce ten minutes he was on screen were the only ones I enjoyed in the film. He was so charismatic that I kept wishing he were the hero (unfortunately, my wish was not granted). I hope he gets to play in many more productions.

I'm writing this review because I really enjoyed this remake of "The Lady Vanishes" When I looked it up on IMB it had a low rating and not very kind reviews,after watching it i wanted to let others know Its very good. British TV at its best with an excellent performance from Tuppence Middleton as the socialite Ms Carr and the wonderful Tom Hughes. The Vicar and his wife were also very convincing and very real performers. This is my favorite period in history, just before the war, the clothes are wonderful with the young people rich and glamorous seemingly having it all with there frivolous fun filled holiday in Italy, with the other hotel members frowning on there loose morals, Ms Carr the rudest of them. This is all very well set up as the train journey begins the story twists and turns with everyone playing there part so well as the suspense is building. Its a top notch remake of a great story with the best ending! Very well done by all the actors involved.

The title character is a brat and most unsympathetic. So when "stuff" starts happening to her you wondering if it her personality, her drinking to excess, a possible concussion from and earlier fall, potential insanity, whatever. You simply don't know.Production values are very high. They went to a lot of trouble to produce a "Poirot-like" world for this very independent strong minded woman. Tuppence Middleton does "yeoman's work" in developing the central character. The plot device reminds me very much of the recent film "Flightplan" with Jodie Foster who loses track of her daughter on a overseas flight and NO ONE believes her when she tells the truth.It, of course, is maddening because we are put into the position of the title character and her traveling companions. The British are number one at mysteries, and this is well worth the time to watch a guess about what is going on. Enjoy (on the edge of your seat).

Hitchcock's movie is wildly over-rated and people are far too snowed by the mumbling, bumbling cricket fans, Michael Redgrave's charm and Lockwood's beauty-in-distress.The new version may not be perfect but it is most definitely not a remake of the 1938 movies, it's an adaptation of the book and far closer to the novel The Wheel Spins. Does it wrap up too quickly? Well, so does the book, unfortunately.Hitchcock added way too much farce and a silly gun battle that veer so far from the nature of the novel as to be almost unbelievable.Despite the ending, I recommend The Wheel Spins unreservedly. Its a dark psychological study of a mind almost sinking into madness. The author does a wonderful job of writing about a socialite who is drawn into a mystery way beyond any trouble she's ever had to deal with, one that makes her for the first time in her life feel alone and helpless.