One of my all time favorites.

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Jane and Cathy, British student nurses on holiday in the French countryside, take a break from bicycling on a dull stretch of road because Cathy, having eyed a gentleman in the previous village, wants to rest (and give him a chance to catch up). The more pragmatic Jane wants to reach the next town before nightfall and decides to head out on her own. Mystery story from screenwriters Brian Clemens and Terry Nation might either be called a compact thriller or a very unimaginative one--it literally goes nowhere but back and forth from town to the woods, into the woods and back out again. The usually-volatile Pamela Franklin has a rather benign role this time; she's curious unfettered upon discovering her friend has disappeared, courteous and polite to the strangers she tries to make conversation with, and not a very good detective or judge of character. The language barrier is a problem with a picture like this: Franklin must keep explaining everything we already know to the French villagers (potential suspects and wayward eccentrics) and we're not sure if they understand her or maybe just think she's insane (and vice-versa). The picture isn't a horror movie--there's hardly any blood shown--and director Robert Fuest guides it along with a sure hand, but it becomes repetitive. Franklin's Jane goes back to search for her friend, she gets a ride into town, she waits for her ride to come back, she hitches a ride back to the woods, she retrieves her bicycle, and then she goes on to the next town. It isn't an exciting film, nor an important one, but it does have an abundance of atmosphere and has been been produced in a very classy manner. The finale is underwhelming. The case does get solved, yet there are a lot of unanswered questions left in the movie's wake, as well as the feeling that Fuest did his very best to enliven this scenario without a lot of help from his writers. Remade in 2010. ** from ****

This really is a good, well made, thrilling horror-mystery. This has all the makings for a worth-while horror film: We have two women touring on their bicycles in France (which they know little about the area they are in), a weird police officer, a strange detective, secluded wooded area, chases and a mystery of a dead friend - whodunit or is she still alive? Well worth you time to watch this movie if what I have described to you sounds appealing, intriguing and you like the older suspenseful horror-thrillers as well as a mystery to solve. There is a twist ending that may not come as a big shock to you but the way it happens might surprise you just a bit.English is the main language of the film but some French is spoken - that's not a problem for the English-only speaking crowd - you'll know what is going on without subtitles.If you can find a copy of this film... I highly recommend it for viewing.9/10

Two British girls vacationing in rural France find themselves at the mercy of a sex maniac. This somewhat arty and slow-burning suspenser on THE LADY VANISHES lines was production designer-turned-director Fuest's third directorial effort and his entrée into the genre in which he specialized for the rest of his relatively short but stylish film career. Co-written by Brian Clemens (the creator of TV's THE AVENGERS – on which series Fuest served in both capacities) and Terry Nation (the creator of TV's DOCTOR WHO), the film hardly proves as fanciful as such credentials would suggest; in fact, it is agreeably streamlined and reasonably well sustained by an eerie atmosphere, glossy visuals and Laurie Johnson's evocative score. Although somewhat undercast as befits its low-key setting, the film is peopled by vivid characters: from increasingly distressed star Pamela Franklin to ambiguous helper/stalker Sandor Eles and from stranded British schoolmistress Clare Kelly to wide-eyed gendarme John Nettleton. Disappointingly, when the climactic confrontation eventually comes about towards the very end, the surprising villain is disposed of very quickly with just one blow to the head! The film was unnecessarily and inauspiciously remade in 2010 – which version is available to view in its entirety on "You Tube" – but I have not bothered with it myself.

This is a sort of thriller that reminds us much of "Charade". Charade came first, so it gets the bragging rights.And I don't think it is a spoiler to say that, except to those who saw "Charade", and like me, they will pretty well know what is going on all the time. A\ It starts very very slow. The first 20 minutes is absolutely nothing, but at least the scenery is good. We get to see leggy women and nice country side. Had this been made in a city, and the women wore slacks, you would have fallen asleep long before the twenty minute mark.We begin in an outdoor cafe, and one woman is taking a picture. We know the camera and film will be an important cog, but it could also be a red herring.From there, the suspense is very well done. In 1970, this was not as easy to predict as today. Being easy to predict doesn't make it bad, though, not when the story line follows logic. Any other sort of outcome would have been "illogical" considering the clues. I am already risking the spoiler here, so I won't elaborate. Suffice to say, it is well thought out, well written, well done all around. I would have liked to seen a bit more energy in the first twenty minutes. The country side wasn't that pretty. Good film, and actually very believable for this genre.