By Lee Pfeiffer
Rescued from obscurity by Twilight Time and released on Blu-ray as a limited edition (3,000 units), The Disappearance is the Rodney Dangerfield of thrillers- it never got any respect. The film actually closed after one day in a theatrical run in one prominent theater when it was released in 1977. Now, Twilight Time has given the deluxe treatment to this moody, Canadian film by director Stuart Cooper. Donald Sutherland plays Jay Mallory, a quiet, unassuming man on the surface but who works as a top assassin for a secret crime organization referred to as The Office. The complex plot finds Mallory assigned to carry out a hit. When he returns home, he finds his gorgeous wife Celandine (played by Sutherland's then real life wife Francine Racette) has inexplicably gone missing. Flashbacks show that the marriage had been strained with Celandine increasingly frustrated by her husband's strange line of work and mysterious comings-and-goings. However, Mallory not only adores her, but is obsessed with having this beautiful woman as his wife. Simultaneous to searching for Celandine, Mallory is browbeaten into traveling to England to carry out an important assassination. This job makes him feel uneasy for reasons that become evident later in the story: the intended victim (Christopher Plummer) has a connection to Mallory's wife. The story is complex and difficult to follow. If you miss a minute, you'll be hopelessly lost. I didn't and I'm still not entirely sure I grasped all of the nuances of the story and characters. Director Stuart Cooper intentionally has his actors perform in an almost robotic-like state, virtually devoid of any overt emotions. Anger and rage are expressed in low-key manners and brutal killings are carried out in business-as-usual manner. Even the geographical settings are cold and remote. Shot in Montreal at the height of winter, the snow bound landscape makes a beautiful city seem barren and inhospitable. Mallory's apartment complex (well-known in the city for its futuristic design) seems as unwelcoming as one of those old Soviet-style complexes. Even the gorgeous British countryside is presented in a gray, ominous fashion thanks to the splendid camera work of the great John Alcott. The film also benefits from a sterling cast, with Sutherland's understated assassin registering strongly. Racette is a beautiful but (perhaps appropriately) opaque presence, showcased more or less as an object of beauty rather than a fully-fleshed out character, although she does hold the key to the film's rather surprising conclusion. There are also fine supporting performances by David Hemmings (who also produced the movie) as the cuckolded man who Mallory stole Celandine away from, David Warner as secretive representative of The Office and young John Hurt as a novice hit man. Christopher Plummer's brief cameo comes late in the movie, but it's a wonderful bit. As a whole, the movie isn't an entirely satisfying experience. There are some ambiguous plot holes that never quite seem to be filled in. Additionally, while Cooper's decision to present the characters as cold, aloof people works artistically, it keeps the viewer from forming any kind of emotional bond with any of them. They are all bad apples so we don't really care what happens to any of them.
The Twilight Time release is superb on all levels. We at Cinema Retro pride ourselves on giving substantial coverage in our magazine of movies that are virtually ignored by everyone else. Twilight Time follows the same philosophy, as indicated by their painstaking presentation of this relatively minor, but worthy, movie. Upon its abbreviated release, scenes were cut and re-edited by the distributor for U.S. release. Stuart Cooper objected vehemently but could not stop the hacks from making his film "more linear". A new score was added that removed Robert Farnon's orchestrations of Ravel's pieces and replaced them with a synthesizer-fueled pop score. This further horrified Cooper. He all but gave up on the movie ever finding its intended audience. The Twilight Time release features two versions of the film: a stunning, hi def presentation of a re-edited cut and a standard version of the "director's cut". Cooper, in a new interview in the set, says the origin of this particular re-edited cut is a mystery to him but he gives it his blessing because it approximates his original vision of the film. The "director's cut" vision runs 10 minutes longer and features some major editing differences. The quality of the director's cut pales in comparison to the HD version, but it does provide more plot points. A 15 minute excerpt of the distributor's cut is also included, which is the version Cooper initially objected to.
In the bonus feature interview that runs 10 minutes, Cooper discusses his career, which began in the 1960s when he got the acting bug. He gravitated to England and studied drama with future stars like David Warner and John Hurt, which explains their presence in this film. He then landed a role as one of The Dirty Dozen. Watching director Robert Aldrich work inspired him to become a director. He initially offered The Disappearance to his Dirty Dozen co-star Lee Marvin, who loved the script but declined because he felt the role of Mallory was too close to his work in The Killers and Point Blank. Cooper then offered the part to another Dirty Dozen co-star, Donald Sutherland, who initially declined. However, a quick rewrite of the ending and the casting of Francine Racette convinced Sutherland to change his mind. Cooper seems very gratified that the movie can now at least be seen in something approaching the format he originally envisioned.
The Disappearance is an effectively made gem that should appeal to any fan of the crime movie genre.
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