- A man honeymooning with his new wife in the Rockies reports his wife's disappearance to the police. Hours later, a strange woman escorted by the local priest claims to be his missing wife, despite the man's inability to recognize her.
- In the Rocky Mountains, Harry Kenyon seeks out his missing wife Chris in the Winter Parade. Harry meets Lieutenant Rudameyer and tells that him he is from San Francisco and has just married Chris, from Philadelphia, in Las Vegas. They traveled to the Rockies on honeymoon and they had an argument the previous day, and Chris left their isolated cabin in her car. Harry also says that he is worried about her disappearance since she is not a good driver. Harry returns to his cabin and receives a phone call from the local priest, Father Macklin, who summons him to go to the church. Father Macklin tells says Chris is in the church waiting for him. When Harry sees Chris, he tells that she is not his wife; but the woman knows details of their lives and Harry is discredited by the evidences. Is a stranger impersonating Chris or is Harry delusional?—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Based on the play "Trap for a Single Man" by Robert Thomas, this is the story of a newly married woman who disappears while on holiday. The wife returns but the husband denies it is his wife. The police inspector tries to discover what has happened.—David Morgans <in2023@wlv.ac.uk>
- The play, originally from Paris and written by M. Robert Thomas, called Trap for a Solitary Man in UK, referred to as Trap for a Single Man or Trap for a Lonely Man in the US, is the basis for the movie One of My Wives is Missing, which was remade as Vanishing Act. It may also have connections with the movie Chase a Crooked Shadow. This is a story of a woman who disappears at the start of her honeymoon, after a fight with her husband. The wife returns but the husband insists that she is not his wife. The police inspector is caught between the disparate stories.
**** BEGIN SPOILERS ****
The movie begins with Harry Kenyon searching for his wife at a club. He does so fairly boisterously, several people taking note. Not finding her, he goes to the police station and finds a hippie-like late-teenage girl playing a flute. The girl is a bit of a ditz, but Harry manages to learn the location of the acting head of the local police department, Lieutenant Rudamayer, from her. Harry speaks to Lt. Rudamayer and tells him about his missing wife, Christine. They came into town for a short stay and she's gone missing.
Shortly after, Rudameyer tells Harry that Christine has showed up. But Harry insists she is an impostor. This despite the fact that everyone around town who has seen Mrs. Kenyon, assures Rudameyer that she is the real Mrs. Kenyon. Including Father Macklin, the local priest.
Harry continues to try to prove that the woman claiming to be Christine, is not really her, but is increasingly stymied by everyone in town who's seen them about. Rudameyer starts to get frustrated with Harry's stubborn insistence that she is not his wife. Father Macklin is extremely well-respected throughout town and his staunch support of Christine is leaving Harry very suspicious. It starts to become clear that there is a deeper connection between "Christine" and Father Macklin, than is being let on.
Finally Harry goes to take Christine's dog to the local vet, Dr. DeMarco. Much to his delight, he is the one person who agrees with him that Christine is an impostor. Christine brought the dog to him when they first arrived in town, and the woman showing up claiming to be Christine is someone Dr. DeMarco has never seen before. With DeMarco's help, Harry manages to lock Christine in the closet and rushes to get Rudameyer and bring him to DeMarco's home. But when they arrive, they find him sitting with Christine at the kitchen table, chatting and drinking coffee... and when Rudameyer asks DeMarco if he knows the woman sitting with him, he smiles and says, "Of course I know Mrs. Kenyon." Rudameyer walks out, warning Harry to stop pressing the issue or face arrest.
After Rudameyer leaves, Father Macklin emerges from the basement holding a gun. Dr. DeMarco says Macklin threatened to kill him unless he went along. Macklin orders Harry to go with Christine to their car... and Harry hears a gunshot while Macklin is alone in the house with DeMarco.
Harry realizes that Macklin and Christine are working together to claim a large inheritance that his actual wife is set to receive. Macklin is holding Harry prisoner at his motel while "Christine" goes to the bank to claim the money. Managing to create a distraction, Harry punches Macklin out and runs outside, where he rips the fuel line out of Macklin's car and then rushes off in his own car to the bank to stop Christine.
At the bank, after hours, Harry finds Christine, with Rudameyer as a witness, withdrawing the inheritance and accepting a bank check for the money. Rudameyer tells Harry he's arresting him. Nobody believes that Christine is an impostor, certainly not him. Finally he challenges Harry to show why the real Chrstine hasn't showed up, if the woman really is a fraud. If she's hurt, why does no hospital have a record of her? If she's dead, where is her body?
Completely losing control, Harry accuses Rudameyer of not looking anywhere for Christine's body-- such as a treacherous ravine six miles out of town, off the side of the main road.
Harry quickly grows very quiet at the expressions on both Rudameyer and Christine's faces. How did he know where Rudameyer should look... unless he was involved.
Rudameyer tells Harry he's under arrest for Christine's murder. Harry bolts, finding all the doors to the closed bank locked, except one-- and Father Macklin is standing there with his gun pointed at Harry. Rudameyer calls for the lights and the bank is swarming with police who take Harry into custody for murder. The whole chain of events is revealed as an elaborate police sting operation to trick Harry into confessing something about Christine's death, that only her killer would know.
Rudameyer reveals that he found Christine's body in the ravine very quickly, and was suspcious of Harry's making a point to ensure everyone around town saw and knew that he was trying to find his missing wife. Making some calls, he'd learned that Harry had been a regular at Las Vegas... and all the casinos knew Harry as a hard gambler who'd run up some major debt. His romance and marriage to Christine was a whirlwind affair... he found out about her inheritance and arranged to sweep her off her feet, marry her, and then kill her for the money to pay his debts off.
The last loose ends in the storyline are neatly tied up as Harry is whisked off to jail.... the true identities of Father Macklin and Christine. Macklin's real first name is Charlie, and he is the retired former police chief of the town. (This also neatly explains how he truly got Dr. DeMarco to play along in the sting). And Mrs. Kenyon? Ellen, as she calls herself.... is not Mrs. Kenyon... but Mrs. Rudameyer.
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