Jim Thompson: Silk King (2001)

A biography with a mystery at its heart, "Jim Thompson, Silk King" follows the trajectory of an extraordinary American. Trained as an architect and endowed with a private income, Jim Thompson left a privileged life to become an Army intelligence officer in WWII. Landing in Bangkok at the end of the war, he stayed to create an industry from Thai silk that would lift thousands of Thais out of poverty and make Thompson famous as the Thai "Silk King." After building a landmark Thai-style house and popularizing Southeast Asian art, Thompson disappeared while vacationing in Malaysia in 1967. No trace of him was ever found, and the case remains unsolved.