I've been wondering, if there is any reference in the film as to where it is actually set (which place in Europe). Looks a bit like Slovenia (as it is clearly related to the Alps but little German is spoken), but I never got a clue... Any idea?
shareMiss Froy mentions the name when she's talking to Charters and Caldicott in the hotel dining room, but it's difficult to make out what she says exactly. It sounds something like Mandrica or Bandrica. I believe that it is intended to be a fictional place, however, since the common language used by the people in the village is also fictional, a clever mix of several Germanic languages. Hope that helps!
shareThe film is actually about the Nazis. It was forbidden to mention them in the British cinema of the day, so Hitchcock and other film-makers used tricks to get around this. Many of the technical people (and some actors, like Anton Walbrook and Conrad Veidt) in the industry were refugees from Germany, so the real situation was well understood by the those who worked with them. The basic message of the film is clear - we can't afford to ignore this situation any longer, however sheltered we may feel in England, with our cricket matches and afternoon teas; these people aren't going to give in without a fight and they don't play fair ("it's not cricket"). It's a call to arms, or at least, to reality. Very strong, political stuff at the time.
shareThanks Matchka for your reply, that makes things pretty clear (I learned a lot indeed), very interesting. Thanks for your time and the vast background info...
shareWhat Matchka said is exactly right. With the political situation in England at the time, they couldn't mention the Nazi's directly, but the audience at the time knew they were supposed to be Nazi's. Several films between 1935 and 1939 deal with an "unamed government" that is obviously Germany, such as "The 39 Steps", "Sabotage", the original "Man Who Knew Too Much", oh and several other movies I can't remember right now! LOL! (As long with a few historical movies that are directly about the England feeling Germany as a threat, but obviously reflect this threat in the past from other countries, such as in "The Scarlett Pimpernel" and "Fire Over England".)
as were a lot of the movies made at this time that were supposed to be about WWI, but obviously had more 1930's concerns in them like "Dark Journey", "Secret Agent", "The Spy in Black". I did a paper in college on how British films of this sort reflected a paranoia that Brits were feeling about events going on in Germany at the time. It's a very intersting period of British films to study from this angle.
From the trivia section of this page:
The fictitious country where most of the story takes place is named in the movie: in her first scene, Miss Froy says, "Bandrika is one of Europe's few undiscovered corners." The first two stations in the movie are identified by briefly visible signs, and the third in dialog: they are Zolnay, Dravka, and Morsken.
I believe Hitchcock's secret agent, and saboteur also refered to ficticious countries.
I read somewhere that while the film was set in Europe alot of the shooting was done in Jamaica.
shareUm, are you sure you're not somehow mixing Hitch's next film ( Jamaica Inn ) up with this one?
I'm not saying it's impossible that TLV was filmed in Jamaica. I just can't see why they would need to do so. [shrugs]
No pretty sure. Apparently, a lot of the outdoor shots were filmed in Jamaica
shareExcept for the train station, the shot of the boat and the outdoor scene (when Iris and Gilbert get in the taxi), the film was filmed entirely at Islington Studios in London. (The scenery the train passes is all rear projection. According to the commentary on the Criterion DVD, it was shot in France.)
shareAs others have said, it had to be a fictional setting because they didn't want to use real country names. Sort of like Charlie Chaplin's classic "The Great Dictator," where he played a character named Adenoid Hynkel in a country called Tomania.
shareYes it's quite clearly meant to be nazi Germany, or at the very least, a central European country that was allied to Germany, such as Hungary, and hostile to Britain. There's pretty heavy symbolism for example when Todhunter says something like 'I'm not a pacifist just because I don' t want to get killed' - tries to parley with them while waving his white hankie, and is immediately shot. This film would have been made around the time when British prime minister Chamberlain did just that- tried to bargain with Hitler and came back waving a white piece of paper - all very well until Hitler invaded Poland the following year.
A similar work is Herge's cartoon strip 'King Ottaker's Sceptre' which is set in a fictional country but closely resembling Hungary under the Horthy regime.