...And Then She Was Gone

In a film made for television, Robert Urich portrays Jack Bauer, a comfortable corporate executive in the field of computer software manufacturing who unwillingly finds himself amidst an attempt to locate a missing girl whose photograph upon a poster he viewed in a subway, along with the child herself and her apparent kidnapper, after Jack is excluded from access to his automobile that is locked inside of a parking garage following a late work meeting, requiring him to use a public mode of transport. When he returns a doll dropped by the little girl, Carla, to her distressed mother Laura (Megan Gallagher), the latter pleads for his assistance with such fervour that, alien as such altruistic activity is to him, he reluctantly joins with her in a persistent attempt to find Carla, whereupon the pair discover that a rash of similar kidnappings is occurring throughout their city and soon Jack and Laura are privy to knowledge of a conspiracy involving selling of children. Despite reliance in the screenplay upon melodrama, continuity issues are few and a great deal of the dialogue is quite realistic and made even more so by skillful performances from cast members, notably the talented Gallagher, as well as from Urich, Isabella Hofmann, and Christine Dunford who contributes a topflight turn as a lady of the evening coerced into a child vending operation. Production values are pleasingly strong for the piece that is ably directed by David Greene to create an atmosphere of suspense with a dash of humour and a delightfully ambiguous ending, and the work also profits from an appropriate score from Peter Manning Robinson, burnished cinematography of Stevan Larner, and adroit set design by Steve Legner, all to the end of creating a film wherein attention to details generally counters well any clichés.

Although it's an excellent thriller mounting up to some awesome complications and thrilling finale, it is not without flaws. The charitable business kidnaps fatherless children to bring them out of the slum and possible prostitution, to send them on to better families like this one in England, for a better future, but while she is detained waiting for transport the little girl is entrusted with a prostitute for relieving her of her mother, a real injecting drug addict, which doesn't quite fit into the charity scheme. In the end the director makes a speech for his defence, which although reasonable is impossible to accept, which he realises himself and takes the consequences. Robert Urich makes a great performance as the regular business man who gets mixed up in this, pulling him deeper into trouble for every confrontation, but the greatness of his performance consists entirely of understatements. After the drama is over he goes back to business, leaving us wondering about what he will do next about his two relationships, both more complicated than any of his business. Megan Gallagher also makes a great performance, and every inch of her desperate actions is perfectly convincing and credible: any mother would act in the same way. It's a great film on a small scale, but the drama does in fact reach Hitchcockian proportions, considering especially how well it is built up, from a mere trifle of a baby doll getting our poor business man constantly knocked about, to the revelation of very advanced business in the field of human trafficking.

I watched In a Stranger's Hand before Shakma on Christmas eve and enjoyed it. I remember when I first watched this on Lifetime and Shakma on either Showtime, HBO, or Cinamax after I graduated from highschool. This was the first movie that I became familiar with Brett Cullen and then was Prehysteria, Complex of Fear, and Apollo 13. Plus, I like watching Megan Gallagher and others too. The music in this movie is suspenseful and so are certain scenes. Robert Urich plays a partner in a software expert business who becomes unexpectantly involved in a search for a missing girl. The deeper involved he becomes in the search, the more truth involving the girls disappearance is explained. Overall, this is a excellent movie for those who love suspense.

Contrived unbelievable nonsense about a busy chap caught up in the search for a missing child.

Busy man agrees to go on holiday with his girlfriend, but cancels because of work and he doesn't have a clue why she's angry with him.

He becomes obsessed by a doll and this provides a lot of cringe moments.

Robert Ulrich was a competent actor but he's awful in this nonsense.

Even Lifetime would have trouble greenlighting this baffling, illogical tripe!

Classic. If you're into bad early 90's 'made for TV' movies. This one involves a child that vanishes. I had trouble paying attention (I have ADD) and combining attention defecit disorder with a bad early 90's TV movie makes for a rough situation.

It's awful. No two if ands it's or buts about it. But, if you laugh at horrible lines and a plot that any mildy intelligent person can pick apart within the first ten minutes, then this is for you. I have trouble giving a vote on this, because although being awful as it so obviously was, I was sickly drawn into watching it unfold. Like a book I've read 20 times, I knew every 'twist' and 'turn' involved. There weren't many to begin with, but a slow plot can sometimes be refreshing.