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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.

The good: excellent cast of actors. I mean these actors were the creme de la creme during the seventies and eighties and even beyond. And we get to see some excellent acting performances. This is an ACTOR'S movie!

The photography is of high quality as well, with many still shots without any words, that reveal the hand of a master at work.

Any bad? Unfortunately this movie is bogged down by ENDLESS flashbacks, that got on my nerves after half an hour. I get it, this story is like a puzzle and what better way of slowly revealing the plot than by using flashbacks. BUT there is a limit on how many flashbacks I can see, before I get annoyed by them.

Still worth a watch for the Donald Sutherland fans, because he gives one of his best performances.

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.

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.

Cold blooded hitman Jay Mallory (Donald Sutherland) experiences uncharted emotions when his wife (Francine Racette, Sutherland's partner and future wife) suddenly disappears. It makes him nervous about his next job (which the hitmen call "the shy"), a high profile hit in England, but he ultimately accepts the risks. Based on the novel "Echoes of Celandine" by Derek Marlowe, this is a tiny and engaging thriller put together by David Hemmings (he also has a small role). According to the L. A. Times, Hemmings raised around $2 million to make it (Sutherland also invested his own $200,000). The team must have called in a lot of favors as also onscreen in small roles are David Warner, John Hurt, Virginia McKenna, and Christopher Plummer. Director Stuart Cooper handles it all well and makes the film extremely "cold" on screen. By that I mean you can almost feel the chilliness in the Canadian and England locations. Mallory's home is also a cool site/sight as they shot at Habitat 67, a futuristic looking apartment block built for the World's Fair in 1967. All of this is captured beautifully by cinematographer John Alcott, who had just done Barry Lyndon(1975) and would soon do The Shining (1980) for Kubrick. In the end, it had a rough go in terms of release. World Northal picked it up for the U. S. and eventually put it out in 1981. By that time, Sutherland had already made 10 more films.