Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Expected more

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Good start, some suspense, some tense music, filmed from above, and you say, I will see a great movie. But, in spite of several big names like David Hemmings (also producer of the film), David Warner, John Hurt, Christopher Plummer, all real actors, The Disappearance do not offer us anything. I never considered Mister Donald Sutherland a great actor except... because of his stature. Only now I understand why Fellini chose him precisely in the role of Casanova, to make a total caricature of Casanova (Fellini is famous anyway for the fact that he preferred non-professionals to real actors, he preferred mugs, expressive faces with grimaces...) In any case, you do not cast Donald Sutherland as a killer, it's ridiculous. You cast Lee Marvin or Jack Palance for that, they are more than Actors. I am not convinced of anything, all that Mr. Sutherland does in the whole movie is to stand frowned, teeth clenched, angry that her wife disappeared. And, if the start was so promising, the end it's absolutely disappointing. We discover that it was his wife the one who hired the killer and, in the last scene, the killer himself is shot. Probably by Santa Claus, because it's winter time...

I was lucky enough to view Stuart Cooper's original cut of 'The Disappearance' which has never seen and is not available on DVD. Just like his film OVERLORD which has been released by the Criterion Collection and become a classic, 'The Disappearance' holds it's own. The acting is first rate, the original music is lush and the John Alcott's cinematography is outstanding. It is a shame that untalented producers are allowed to tamper with the original works. The original is in a non-linear format. Perhaps the reviewers should watch the original uncut/unedited version and then I would think they would revise their reviews. It is brilliant! Hopefully it will be screened at a festival in the future so all can enjoy.

The Disappearance, to me, is a Hitchcock wannabe that simply isn't. It's a slowly paced, talky thriller that just doesn't cut it. Donald Sutherland and the cast are great, but there are so many British actors in the cast that the term "Canadian-Made" sounds like a cheat. If this is a Canadian movie, wouldn't it have been better if they had put all Canadian actors in the cast? Also, if the movie takes place in Montreal (a mostly French-speaking city), wouldn't it have made more sense to have Sutherland's character do his foreign assignment in somewhere like Paris, France, instead of in England? After all, this is not a British movie, it's Canadian.It surprised me that Sutherland and Francine Racette were married and had 3 children.I recommend this only for fans of deep psychological thrillers. As for me, I think I will be putting a "Previously Viewed" label on this one and dropping it in the drop-off slot at my local video store.Rating: **

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.