Happy Birthday, George Sluizer! Born today in 1932, this French-born Dutch author, film editor, screenwriter, film producer and film director's credits include features as well as documentary films. Sluizer was the son of a Dutch father and a Norwegian mother.
Among his credits, Sluizer is best known for co-editing, co-writing, co-producing and directing the film of which he is best known.
This was the 1988 Dutch/French/West German thriller/drama film 'Spoorloos' ('The Vanishing', literally: 'Traceless' or 'Without a Trace').
The film follows Rex Hofman (Gene Bervoets) and his girlfriend Saskia Wagter (Johanna Ter Steege), who are enjoying a biking holiday in France. However, when stopping at a gas station, Saskia disappears. Confounded, Rex searches everywhere, but to no avail.
Three years later, he's still obsessed with finding her, pleading his case on television, putting up posters and ruining his new relationship in the process.
Eventually an unassuming chemistry teacher, Raymond (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu), approaches Rex, intimating that he knows what happened. Ultimately, for Rex, his demands for the truth lead him to grave consequences.
The film was adapted from Dutch journalist and novelist Tim Krabbé's 1984 thriller horror psychological fiction book Het Gouden Ei (The Golden Egg). It was published as The Vanishing in English-speaking countries.
Other features directed by Sluizer of which he is known include the 1992 German/Italian/British drama/adventure film 'Utz'. This was for British-Austrian film director and producer John Goldschmidt.
The following year, Sluizer directed the American-Dutch thriller film 'Dark Blood'. It featured River Phoenix, Judy Davis, Jonathan Pryce and Karen Black. Sluizer provided the film's narration.
However, 'Dark Blood' was discontinued after the death of its lead actor Phoenix. This was due to a combined drug intoxication following a drug overdose. Phoenix was 23.
Later that same year, Sluizer remade his own film in English. This was the 1993 American psychological thriller film 'The Vanishing'. Starring Jeff Bridges, Kiefer Sutherland and Sandra Bullock. However, the remake was poorly received.
Three years later, Sluizer directed the 1996 British/American thriller/mystery film 'Crimetime'. It featured Stephen Baldwin Sadie Frost, Peter Postlethwaite, Geraldine Chaplin and Karen Black.
In 2012, 'Dark Blood' was completed and premiered at the 31st Netherlands Film Festival to a private guest audience.
Dutch director, writer and cinematographer Dennis Alink made the 2014 Dutch documentary film 'Sluizer Speaks' during the final years of the filmmaker's life. It premiered at the IDFA in Amsterdam, two months after Sluizer's death.
Sluizer had been active from 1961–2014.
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