Customer Reviews

Vanishing Act [VHS]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I first rented this movie in 1988, 2 years after it was released. It turned out to be a real sleeper! The acting is very good and the story line will not only keep you guessing but will stun you at the end. It starts out a little slowly, but quickly picks up the pace and snares your full attention. There is mild use of vulgarity, no violence and no sexual or adult content. . . . very nice for a change! As old as this movie is, I can't figure out why the price has never come down. And if it is held high by consumer demand, why don't all the video stores keep it on hand??? RENT IT IF YOU CAN FIND IT!!! P.S. If you own it and want to sell it, contact me. I might be interested. . . .

This thriller is taut and suspensful, almost electric with intensity, and with all of its star players practically at the top of their form. Here is "poor hard-luck Harry" Kenyon whose wife has disapeared and apparently the only policeman (Lt. Rudimeyer) in town available to investigate it (the rest all busy marching in the parade) would rather be left alone eating his kosher corned beef sandwich from a deli on west 87th street, New York.

But then comes this woman (with a little help from "Fr. Maklin") who claims to be the missing wife (Christine Prescott Kenyon) and seems to know everything about her, and to somehow be able to anticipate each and every possible evidence Harry would put forth to prove to Lt. Rudimeyer that this woman is not the real Christine Kenyon. How does she do it? She knows where they met, where they married, what they argued over the night she disappeared, where his friend whose cabin the newlyweds were borrowing for their honeymoon keeps his booze, seems to have half of Philadelphia on her payroll, and even the dog seems to know her. Of course that last is explained by one of the funniest fictional characters ever filmed, a veterinary disciple of Sigmund Freud ("If fleas are your problem, look elsewhere!").

For best enjoyment of this intense yet chess-match-like battle of wits, stop the film once Harry Kenyon practically breaks into the bank after Lt. Rudimeyer allows the Bank manager to hand "Christine" the check and they start arguing, and review the film. Try to think of all the different things Harry could have done to convince Rudimeyer. (One could almost make a video game out of this...) Then see it straight through to the end, which will come as a total surprise, managing to change and explain everything in an astonishingly short time. Incredible the different interpretations one can put on the exact same series of events. Then wind it back and it is amazing how many clues were there all along (no, the ending is not some tacked-on bit thought of at the last second, no matter how much it may seem so at first). And see how well any of your ideas for Harry would have worked.

I liked this film so much I bit the bullet and paid the $... price for it, the only rental-price-only video I ever bought new. Now, if only there could be more films which are that clever...

This is an excellent flick that I saw twice on TV in the mid-to-late eighties. It has an all-star cast (Gould, Kidder of Superman fame, Farrell of MASH, and Fred Gwynne of Munsters). This movie is full of suspense without the usual blood and gore that so often accompany it. You will not know who to side with because it is not readily apparent who are the good guys and who are the bad. You will be caught up in this movie in no time - and don't even try to figure it out!

I rented this several years ago because I'm a big MASH fan (Mike Farrell). I now own it but I rarely have it because people are always borrowing it to show their friends. Gould is great and this may be Kidder's best work. I was also surpised by how attractive she is. I pride myself on figuring out ending's to mysteries but this one surprised.

This is just a great movie. It will keep you guessing and "choosing sides". Great casting. I would love to have a copy on DVD.

Made for TV movie I saw the first time in the 80's. I was so impressed with the story/plot. Rarely does a movie "bug" me as I watch it, but this one did. Just couldn't figure out what was going on. Everytime you think you have a clue, they throw a twist in it and your back to saying,"What is going on!!"

Seen it priced here this time "USED" for $129.00 but a year or so back I saw it selling as "NEW" for like $85.00. I bought the cheapest one "USED" and hope the quality will allow me to convert it to DVD so I can play it easier. VHS is on life support. Soon, it will be my kids "8 Track Tape".

Been looking for some way to purchase this film. Saw it when it came out - made such an impression that years later we're still trying to resurrect a copy from anywhere - no luck yet. If you stop watching anywhere short of the very end then you'll have robbed yourself of a delicious treat!

This is a excellent story and mystery based on a missing wife, yet a wife appears who isn't the wife? Similar storyline in One Of My Wives Is Missing, and based on a play before that. This time it's based in the winter, in another small town. Good cast with Elliott Gould, Fred Gwynne and Margot Kidder. If you liked this film, also see One Of My Wives Is Missing, a bit better, with James Franciscus, Jack Klugman and Elizabeth Ashley. That 1976 film was same storyline, but set in a lake resort town (filmed at Lake Arrowhood, CA.) Vanishing Act never released on dvd, therefore the price remains high if you can find the VHS. One of my Wives Is Missing was briefly released on dvd, but long out of print now. Good luck finding either. But very good movies, and good surprises at the end solving the mystery.

What do the male leads in this 1986 mystery/intrigue sleeper have in common? If you answered, "They both are veterans of the 4077," (Elliott Gould in the movie and Mike Farrell in the subsequent TV series) you win the Kewpie Doll! Oops! Sorry! The prizes have disappeared!

Farrell is Harry Kenyon, newlywed honeymooning in a quaint Rockies village. But the new Mrs. Kenyon has disappeared. Or has she? Gould is the Police Lieutenant on the case who would much rather be back home in NYC. There's also Fred Gwynne as the Priest who not only cannot find Car 54, but appears unfamiliar with Saint Thomas Aquinas - and the Super Margot Kidder, apparently having an identity crisis pre-dating her recent confusion in Beverly Hills.

The beginning of this film reminded me a little of the later quirky "Fargo" especially Lt. Rudameyer's preoccupation with that Deli sandwich. But at least the folks in Fargo know how to drive on winter roads. What WAS San Franciscan Kenyon thinking driving like that?