The Disappearance

A contracted hit-man (Donald Sutherland) working for a strange organization (his contact is David Warner) discovers a rare link between his new target and his missing spouse (Francine Racette, Sutherland's wife on real life ) while they're living in their Montreal apartment.

This slow-moving film results to be a boring and confusing story that deals about assassin's preoccupation with the disappearance his wife . The picture is full with continuous flashbacks , suspense , twists and turns. Nice performance by Donald Sutherland as a cold and tough assassin . Good supporting actors formed by all-star-cast as David Warner, John Hurt , Virginia McKenna, Christopher Plummer, and David Hemmings, also producer . This unknown movie was a flop because of flaws , gaps and disjointed scenes . Colorful cinematography by John Alcott , Stanley Kubrick's usual , an splendid cameraman who photographed ¨2001¨, ¨Clockwork Orange¨ and ¨Barry Lyndon¨. Sad and melancholic soundtrack by piano music is composed by Robert Farnon. The motion picture was professionally directed by Stuart Cooper with pretentiously arty film-making . He initially directed cinema movies as¨¨ Little Malcom¨ and ¨Overlord¨ but went on making TV movies as ¨The hunted¨, ¨Fortunate pilgrim¨ , ¨A.D.¨, ¨Long Hot summer¨ and several others. Rating : Acceptable but tiring movie .

It is also a typical seventies thriller, very downbeat, slow, strange, where Donald Sutherland shines, as usual. And, as strange as it seems to be, in this offbeat thriller, I thought of KLUTE character, though not the same story and atmosphere either. But.... The mainly flaw is the pace, and romantic element, which is somewhat annoying in such a plot. But some supporting characters such as David Hemmings, Christopher Plummer, John Hurt, David Warner, enhance this interesting overall movie. Yes, I recommend this Canadian thriller, very in the mood of the seventies. But it will remain underrated. Excellent ending.

Director Stuart Cooper, about whom I know nothing, gets his cinematography and editing teams to produce a sweeping visual job of Canadian snow-laden landscapes, Montreal buildings and river, lush English forests, and luscious Francine Racette, Sutherland's real life wife, that keeps you watching in earnest. Very good support cast includes John Hurt, David Hemmings, Peter Bowles, the ever beautiful and classy Virginia McKenna and, of course, Sutherland's fellow Canadian-born actor, Christopher Plummer.

Sutherland's tall, slender figure, is emphasized throughout in stylish photography and lit background shots, and his chemistry with gorgeous Racette is palpable, adding believability to his situation as the husband missing his beloved wife, who has disappeared. Has she left him out of boredom? Has she found another love interest - after all, she leaves then hubby Hemmings at the party for sex with Sutherland? Or are there darker forces involved and she has been abducted? Or worse?

Flashbacks explain it. For a tad patient viewer it can make for rewarding cinema and storytelling, even if why Sutherland became a hitman in the first place is not disclosed (I did get the impression, though, that he needed Francine in his life to keep the right mental attitude to killing, as signs of burnout and wanting to leave the profession begin to emerge).

Such questionable moral and professional values aside, THE DISAPPEARANCE deserves attentive watching. 8/10.

This film, done as a joint effort from the stellar cast and crew (script, cinematography, costumes, set design), is one of the best mystery, thriller-dramas, of the seventies. Ranking right along Arthur Penn's "Night Moves", "The Disappearance", in it's 91 minute, or better yet 101 minute director's cut, version is stylish neo-noir that glides perfectly through the story of alienation and betrayal, love and loss, mistaken emotions and gloomy memories, spanning between almost futuristic backdrop of Montreal, and rustic mansions and countrysides of Suffolk. Director's cut adds only a few nice linchpins to the story, explaining minor details, that are somewhat important to the plot, and without which, few things are left to our imagination.

Never really seen in it's real glory, as intended by the director Stuart Cooper, until the 2013 blu-ray release, that comprises both director's cut and 91 minute "third version" of the film,released in the UK, assembled by unknown author, as close to original as possible, retaining the feel, flashbacks essential to the film's structure and original score, director's cut and a "hatchet job" US version, "The Disappearance" is the best example of how a really good film can be mutilated beyond recognition, by an inept studio hacks. Making a linear plot out of non-linear story which is essential to the depth of the plot, is a true crime, and the rating that this movie holds on IMDb is the rating of the so called "US theatrical cut" which made this gem bomb at the box office after a single showing, and jettisoned into obscurity for over 30 years. The example of this, is also contained on the blue-ray in a horrid 15 minute long excerpt from the re-edited and re-scored U.S. release version of the film.

Now available as envisioned, (plus a non Hollywood ending) "The Disappearance" deserves it's place among the "must see" films. More than recommended, a true classic.

This film does a fine job of putting the viewer into the position of the main protagonist, Jay Mallory. It isn't until the climax of the film when Mallory and Christopher Plummer's character, Deverell, meet that the viewer can understand the disjointed, roller-coaster ride that Mallory has been on.

The haunting piano music beautifully reflects the tension of the film. The support cast is made up of outstanding English and European actors who give the feel of the film the pace so often brought to the screen of excellent non-US films.