Tue 16 Feb 2021
A Made-for-TV Movie Review by David Friend: VANISHING ACT (1986).
Posted by Steve under Mystery movies , Reviews[9] Comments
VANISHING ACT. CBS / Richard Levinson–William Link Productions, 04 May 1986. Mike Farrell, Margot Kidder, Fred Gwynne, Graham Jarvis, Elliott Gould. Teleplay by Richard Levinson & William Link, based on a play by Robert Thomas. Director: David Greene. Can currently be seen on YouTube.
Harry Kenyon (Mike Farrell) is on his honeymoon in the Rocky Mountains after a whirlwind romance in Las Vegas with a woman named Christine Prescott. But their wedded bliss is soon interrupted and Harry reports her disappearance to Lieutenant Rudameyer (Elliott Gould), a New Yorker more interested in eating a corn beef sandwich specially imported from a delicatessen on West 87th Street. It seems to be a fuss over nothing as Christine (Margot Kidder) is quickly found – only Harry doesn’t recognize her and refuses to believe she’s his wife!
Christine is convincing, however, and knows everything about both herself and Harry. Her reasons for disappearing are also plausible and readily supported by local priest Father Macklin (Fred Gwynne). Adding to his frustration, Harry can’t be sure whether the woman is crazy or a confidence trickster, though his frustrated protests make everyone else think it is he who is unhinged.
This seems even more likely as the priest dies before his eyes and later reappears. Soon, Harry learns the truth of the affair, but this only plunges him even deeper into a conspiracy of which there is no escape.
This was a made-for-television film featuring a line-up of familiar faces headed by M*A*S*H actor Mike Farrell. He brings an endearing everyman quality to the role of Harry, a fellow who veers from disputatious confusion to occasional bursts of triumph as he struggles to prove himself right.
Interestingly, unlike similar films, we aren’t asked to question his sanity. Margot Kidder (Lois Lane in the Christopher Reeve-starring Superman films) is on sparkling form and veers effectively from innocently concerned spouse to roguish femme fatale. Herman Munster himself, Fred Gwynne, also appears as a politely perplexed priest who may know more than he’s letting on.
Elliot Gould, meanwhile, is reliably excellent, appearing here as his 1970s film career (including a shot at playing Phillip Marlowe in The Long Goodbye) had shifted to the small screen where a couple of failed sitcoms led him to several one-off television dramas. As Rudameyer, he is not a million miles away from that other ramshackle lieutenant, Columbo, also from teleplay writers William Link and Richard Levinson.
This film could have fit snugly into that series. It is, however, a remake of two previous TV films and a tangled list of other antecedents including the brilliant British noir Chase a Crooked Shadow, a couple of 1940s radio plays and a French play titled, among other things, Trap for a Lonely Man. It’s this which is officially credited for Vanishing Act, though all are plausible influences. It has also sprouted several foreign language remakes, most recently the 2019 Malaysian horror thriller Misteri Dilaila, which didn’t acknowledge this heritage.
Anyone familiar with these versions may recognize the final twist as a variation on a theme, but for others it will be genuinely jaw-dropping, surely leaving them interested, maybe even outright eager, to see the film again in order to espy any hidden significances. With the exception of one or two minor holes which could have been easily exorcized, the plot holds together admirably well, stocking itself with surprises, mild comedy and an army of red herrings. A pleasingly puzzling mystery, this is one of the best films of its kind.
Rating: ****
February 16th, 2021 at 9:22 pm
Here’s the YouTube link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o02yhQkJMX8
February 17th, 2021 at 12:32 am
In the same vein of another deft TV murder movie: ‘Guilty Conscience’ starring Anthony Hopkins and Blythe Danner. That’s what ‘Vanishing Act’ somewhat reminds me of when I read the fine review above.
Elliott Gould was at one time the toast of two continents. (Nope, not ‘Greenland’ or ‘Australia’ either, aha). But yea he even nabbed a role in an Ingmar Bergman film. I’ll always praise him for reliable performances in, ‘The Silent Partner’, or even better, ‘Capricorn One’ (the latter, long one of my fave thrillers). Of course he’s another MASH alumnus too like Farrell.
Margot Kidder is said to have gone from ‘a little neurotic’ to ‘flat-out crazy’ when her career didn’t go quite the way she planned. But she was the superb choice to play Lois Lane, from where I stand. Truly a stellar moment there.
February 17th, 2021 at 1:40 am
At least once a month, reading this column sends me to watch a movie, usually on YouTube, but sometimes on some other streaming service. After reading your review of “murder by natural causes“ ( October 2020) I watched that, and then “rehearsal for murder“ and then a bit later “vanishing act“. All these movies are of a kind. I would say “vanishing act“ is the pick of the bunch. At least I didn’t see the twist coming. I had “murder by natural causes†all figured out, and was pretty close to figuring out the other one.
PS: the movie I watched this month was “X marks the spot“. Boy was it fun,!
February 17th, 2021 at 9:33 am
Music to my ears, Moe. Thanks!
February 17th, 2021 at 3:28 pm
I remember seeing “Trap For A Lonely Man” in the theatre many years ago, with Colin Baker in the lead role and George Sewell as the policeman.
I wonder how many people, having seen Gould in “The Long Goodbye”, can only remember the scene with the cat food?
February 17th, 2021 at 5:34 pm
Having seen CHASE A CROOKED SHADOW I figured out the twist in this one too soon to really enjoy it though I enjoyed Gwynne as the priest. I see why they thought Farrell perfect for this part, but his persona was almost too nice for the role to work.
February 18th, 2021 at 2:38 pm
This is a virtual scene-for-scene “re-shooting†of 1976’s ONE OF MY WIVES IS MISSING with James Franciscus, Elizabeth Ashley, and Jack Klugman in the detective role.
February 18th, 2021 at 5:47 pm
Isn’t this a remake of “One of My Wives is Missing?
February 18th, 2021 at 6:05 pm
Here’s Wikipedia’s take on it:
“One of My Wives Is Missing is a television thriller (ABC, 1976) with Jack Klugman, Elizabeth Ashley, James Franciscus, Joel Fabiani, and others. The teleplay was based on the 1960s stageplay Trap for a Single Man. The play also inspired two other television films, Honeymoon with a Stranger and Vanishing Act. The French play itself is based on two Indian films, Sesh Anka and Puthiya Paravai, which are loosely inspired by the British classic Chase a Crooked Shadow.”
All variations on the same theme, obviously, some closer than others. (There is a master’s thesis waiting to be written here, though probably not a doctoral dissertation.)