The four or five things people remember from the original receive a homage in our version – which raises the question of when a homage becomes a rip off." Axelrod admitted the script was "not like the stuff I normally do, which is two people in and around a bed" but he agreed to do the adaptation because "this picture is actually going to be shown in theatres for actual people to see". Axelrod's involvement resulted from ABC TV wanting him to write a version of Murder on the Orient Express (1974) – he suggested they buy the rights to Night Train or The Lady Vanishes. He ended up writing three different versions of The Lady Vanishes for ABC, but none was picked up. The rights then reverted to Rank Films, who asked Axelrod to work on the film. Among Axelrod's changes to the original were setting the new film in 1939 Germany, and altering the hero to a photographer from Life Magazine and the heroine to be a screwball "rompy, Carole Lombard character." The script was constantly rewritten as filming went along. George Segal and Ali MacGraw were originally announced for the leads. Reception The consensus of critics is that the film suffers by comparison to Hitchcock's 1938 film. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an approval rating of 33% based on six reviews, with an average rating of 3.2/10. Geoff Andrew of Time Out notes that "Comparisons are odious, but this remake of Hitchcock's thriller continually begs them by trampling heavily over its predecessor". The Encyclopedia of British Film, in the entry about director Anthony Page, says it is "about as witless and charmless as could be conceived". Variety magazine notes that the script is "best when dwelling on English eccentricity to make the film's most endearing impression...Shepherd and Gould stack up as contrived cliches, characters that jar rather than complement." Film4's review agrees, writing that the two leads are "ruthlessly upstaged by loveable old coves Arthur Lowe and Ian Carmichael as cricket-mad Charters and Caldicott". It calls it a "watchable remake". References External links 1979 films 1970s comedy mystery films 1970s spy comedy films British comedy mystery films British spy comedy films Films set in 1939 Films set in Germany Films set on trains Hammer Film Productions films Films shot at Pinewood Studios Remakes of British films Films based on British novels Films based on mystery novels Films