Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *
Cast: Tuppence Middleton, Tom Hughes, Selina Cadell, Keeley Hawes, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Stephanie Cole, Gemma Jones, Alex Jennings, Sandy McDade, Pip Torrens, Benedickte Hansen, Jesper Christensen, Charles Aitken, Zsuzsu David.
In the best traditions of Agatha Christie do others dare attempt to follow and for the second time since the definitive version directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1938, The Lady Vanishes, originally written by Ethel Lina White, gets an all star treatment, a huge budget that would make some television and film directors wince at the thought at what they could achieve with a fraction and in the end whilst laudable unfortunately doesn’t stand up to any of the recent highs the B.B.C. has managed this year in its drama department.
It isn’t the stunning scenery or the use of the confined, almost stifling effect of the train travelling through the countryside; it is for the most part the unbelievable cast that was put together not being allowed to really get to grips with the story and in some cases being drawn as casual onlookers, relegated to unremarkable characters which blended into the background and became less fascinating than the scenery.
The story is worthy of Agatha Christie and in one of the rare moments of crime fiction from the early part of the 20th Century, a female writer for a while could arguably be thought of the equal of the Queen of crime fiction. Ethel Lina White never lived long enough to see the 1978 re-make and would be thankful not to have done, this version although infinitely more superior than the haphazard, failed to the hit the spot that had been so teasingly promised.
To let screen greats such as Keeley Hawes, Stephanie Cole, Pip Torrens and Gemma Jones go to waste is near inexcusable, however, the addition of Tuppence Middleton, her third great role this year, the striking Tom Hughes is fast becoming an actor of some serious note in these pre-war adaptations and an infuriatingly good Alex Jennings as the Professor, at least the action was saved and was given some spark that ran between these three actors.
What could have been a great adaptation, suffers from over-familiarity and a possible conscious desire to emulate other works that have had a 21st century makeover. Sometimes it works; others it doesn’t but it became a middle of the road affair that makes it a television film that won’t be remembered for its brilliance.
Ian D. Hall