One of My Wives Is Missing

I saw this movie several years ago and I never forgot it. It will keep you on the edge of your seat. The actors are wonderful. As soon as you think you have it figured out, something will happen to prove you wrong. When it ends you'll want to watch it all over again. I have never seen a movie like it since. It is so smart and creative, I wish more movies were as imaginative. It's a favorite of mine. I'd love to buy the video or DVD, but it's nowhere to be found. I wish it would play on T.V. again, so I could tape it. If you get the chance to see it, don't miss it. Tape it if you can, they hardly ever show it. If you love unpredictable endings this is the movie for you! Engoy! I did.

No-one seems to have mentioned yet that there are many similarities in the plot of this teleplay to the 1946 Humphrey Bogart movie "Conflict", whose main theme is almost identical. Check it out!

Very clever.

Klugman is excellent in this classy TVM from that glorious year, 1976. The remake came a decade later, "Vanishing Act", with Elliott Gould and while good, was not a patch on this.

Great plot. Keeps you guessing.

Finally got to see [and record] it this week

8/10

It's not a bit surprising that this movie is based on a play, since it's rather theatrical: except for a couple of scenes tacked onto the beginning and end, it's a one-set mystery, and a rather gimmicky one at that. What makes it involving, however, is the subtext and Elizabeth Ashley's amazingly sexy performance. The film is really about art of deception and the seduction of play-acting. In one especially weird scene, the ever-bland Franciscus and a white-hot Ashley (those eyes!) almost get busy by poolside. You know at least one character is about to succumb to a lie. Later, the Klug-man has his most believable (and least mannered) moment when he embraces a deception and hollers at Franciscus, "where you come from, are all cops HONEST?" I've never considered Elizabeth Ashley a babe -- then again, most of what I've seen her do are lame made-fors and cheesy thrillers. But she won a Tony nomination for playing Maggie in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" so maybe she saved all her sensuality for these two roles.

At first glance, this looks like another here today, gone tomorrow made for TV thriller, but this is one that will stay with you. There are twists and turns that you'd never expect, and the denouement is very clever. There's a terrific atmosphere of mystery and terror throughout, and the cast is perfect. Jack Klugman never solved a mystery this good as Quincy, that's for sure.