The Disappearance of Aimee

A bigger budget and an expanded narrative might have made "The Disappearance of Aimee" a dandy theatrical mystery. In 1926, Protestant female minister--and popular radio evangelist--Aimee Semple McPherson disappeared from the waters off a Southern California beach and remained missing for just over a month. She later turned up in Douglas, Arizona telling a wild story about being kidnapped for a $500,000 ransom. Because two men drowned in the ocean while searching for McPherson's body, an unstoppable prosecutor called her before the court, believing she was actually dallying with a married man. Faye Dunaway's lead performance is good, not great; she has a lengthy monologue in her hospital room which could be called a mini tour de force, yet her religious exaltations before her adoring believers are rote, and her relationship with her hovering mother (portrayed by Bette Davis) is sketchily drawn. This TV production, once considered eventful programming, now looks puny in scope, with an uncertain direction and variable performances. We often don't know how to take the characters, and the editing is so shapeless that the flashbacks, in particular, fail to make much of an imprint.

"The Disappearance of Aimee" is a made for TV movie about a famous woman who has been pretty much forgotten by most people. Because of this, I want to explain the context for the story...one that isn't given in the movie. In the early 20th century, this Canadian evangelist moved to the States and soon became the most famous preacher in North America, if not the world. She was the first big religious radio personality and her ministry built a huge church for her services. Despite this, she's mostly forgotten today because as time passes, more and more people seem to have accepted that she was a fake...a woman who did fake faith healings and who lived a life far different from her public image. In particular, this film focuses on her disappearance in the 1920s. She was assumed to have drowned initially but later she showed up...claiming to having been a kidnap victim. This film is about the hearing in which she was on trial for fraud...fraud related to her apparently faux kidnapping.

The story behind the filming is perhaps more interesting than the script! Bette Davis apparently hated her co-star, Fay Dunaway. Davis was famous for either helping and supporting actresses who worked with her....or hating them and openly showing contempt for them (such as the case with Dunaway and Marilyn Monroe, to name a few). As for Dunaway, she has a reputation as an extremely difficult person. The combination of these two strong personalities must have proved daunting for the film's director!

So is the film worth seeing? Yes, though I really wish the style of the movie had been different. It's told from the time of her kidnapping with occasional flashbacks. As a result, it's not really a full story of her life, her impact or her ministry. Of course, to do this would probably require a mini-series! But if you want a full picture of McPherson, you just might want to read up on her instead. Like her or not, she was an amazing personality!

I ahed never heard of the person. I now do. This story reminded me Michael Apted's AGATHA, shot three years later and speaking of the disappearance of Agatha Christie during some days, and never explained. That's all I have to say baout this typical made for TV piece of work. I could never imagine millions of people going to the movies in cinémas, to watch such a topic, mostly for home audiences.