This film (which was remade in 1986) is a very clever little crime drama that keeps the viewer unbalanced until the end.
James Franciscus is a newlywed who is on vacation - and the situation seems normal, but he and his wife have an argument. The next day she is missing and Franciscus goes to the police (Jack Klugman) for assistance. But all of a sudden there is a knock at the door and Elizabeth Ashley enters their cabin and apologizes for being away calming down. Klugman figures that is the end of the problem, and leaves...despite Franciscus' odd complaints: he insists Ashley is not his missing wife. But she insists he's just kidding, and Klugman, shrugging, just leaves. As soon as he does Ashley turns on Franciscus with demands for a huge sum of money for her silence - otherwise she will reveal to the cop that there is something criminal here. Franciscus insists he's the one who has grounds for recalling Klugman, as Ashley is a faker and a blackmailer.
And so it goes....the viewers are soon involved in this crazy mystery as we try to find out what Ashley's crazy extortion scheme is, whether Franciscus will be able to prove she's a fake and a criminal, and whether the bored and matter-of-fact Klugman will ever get it into his head that he has not found an open and shut case but a complicated mystery here. Or is Klugman aware of it...in fact, what is his game?
Rarely shown on television it is certainly worthwhile catching, with it's three leads keeping the level of suspense up until the unexpected conclusion. Certainly one television mystery that worked.
James Franciscus is a newlywed who is on vacation - and the situation seems normal, but he and his wife have an argument. The next day she is missing and Franciscus goes to the police (Jack Klugman) for assistance. But all of a sudden there is a knock at the door and Elizabeth Ashley enters their cabin and apologizes for being away calming down. Klugman figures that is the end of the problem, and leaves...despite Franciscus' odd complaints: he insists Ashley is not his missing wife. But she insists he's just kidding, and Klugman, shrugging, just leaves. As soon as he does Ashley turns on Franciscus with demands for a huge sum of money for her silence - otherwise she will reveal to the cop that there is something criminal here. Franciscus insists he's the one who has grounds for recalling Klugman, as Ashley is a faker and a blackmailer.
And so it goes....the viewers are soon involved in this crazy mystery as we try to find out what Ashley's crazy extortion scheme is, whether Franciscus will be able to prove she's a fake and a criminal, and whether the bored and matter-of-fact Klugman will ever get it into his head that he has not found an open and shut case but a complicated mystery here. Or is Klugman aware of it...in fact, what is his game?
Rarely shown on television it is certainly worthwhile catching, with it's three leads keeping the level of suspense up until the unexpected conclusion. Certainly one television mystery that worked.