<https://forums.tcm.com/topic/144373-daily-dose-8-cooling-our-heels-opening-scene-from-the-lady-vanishes/page/7/#comment-1538518>
<http://schema.org/text>
"The opening to this film next to Mr. and Mrs. Smith is the funniest of any Hitchcock film I've ever scene.   You have so many sounds going on: cuckoo clocks, and Swiss like gay, folk dancing music popping in the background of an overcrowded hotel, or chalet. This is farcical chaos.  There has been an avalanche and the trains are not running so the hotel is overbooked and the manager is overwhelmed.     \n  \nImmediately, we are introduced to key players in the film.  They are chorus girls led by Margaret Lockwood who plays Iris and knows how to get around the manager with charm and bribery; Basil Radford as Charters and his friend, Naunton Wayne as Caldicott, who seem to only care about getting back to England before the Cricket finals. These English gentlemen are banal characters, yet so funny because their myopic obsession of Cricket is both annoying and funny because they banter about a game, while we know because of the title, The Lady Vanishes, another game, cat, and mouse, with more serious consequences is about to be played and these men won't notice or care what's going on.  We meet Dame May Whitty who plays Mrs. Floy; she seems rather a good hearted old soul who has been in this make believe Swiss like country for several years. \n  \nNow, we are wondering which lady will vanish?  The opening scene points us toward Iris because is so prominent and above noise and the restrictions placed on the other guests.  Her behavior toward the manager is both beguiling and cynical as she is able to arrange for her and her two friends to keep their fine rooms, while the others, like Charters and Caldicott, have to make due with scraps.   \n  \nPerhaps, this is also part of why there is a conflict with these characters later on? "
<https://forums.tcm.com/topic/144373-daily-dose-8-cooling-our-heels-opening-scene-from-the-lady-vanishes/page/7/>