{"id":9647,"date":"2014-09-10T16:55:51","date_gmt":"2014-09-10T20:55:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=9647"},"modified":"2014-09-10T16:55:51","modified_gmt":"2014-09-10T20:55:51","slug":"br-disapearance-the-1977","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=9647","title":{"rendered":"BR: Disapearance, The (1977)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Disappearance1977_BR\"<\/a>Film<\/strong>: Good<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: \u00a0Excellent<\/p>\n

Extras<\/strong>: Excellent<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0<\/strong>Twilight Time<\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong>\u00a0A<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0August 13, 2013<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0 Suspense \/ Crime<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0The sudden disappearance of his wife may be connected to a hitman’s latest contract killing.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Isolated stereo music track \/ 101 min. Director\u2019s Cut (SD only) \/ Excerpt from recut and re-scored U.S. version (15:27) (SD only) \/ 2003 Interview with director Stuart Cooper (10:00) \/ 8-page colour booklet with liner notes by film historian Julie Kirgo \/ Limited to 3000 copies \/ Available exclusively from Screen Archives Entertainment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Backstory<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although directed by a British-based American, The Disappearance<\/strong> is very much a CanCon production, stacked with key Canadian talent to ensure the film\u2019s costs were minimized by tax breaks, but unlike the usual disposable fodder that briefly populated theatre screens and became mainstays on Canadian TV for years \u00a0(especially specialty cable channels), this particular work is an attempt to transcend the hitman film by transgressing into art house terrain with a non-linear structure, an impressionistic use of a classical music theme, and a muted performance style and minimal dialogue.<\/p>\n

Director Stuart Cooper called on his old mates \u2013 the former Dirty Dozen <\/strong>(1968) actor studied his craft with Disappearance<\/strong>‘s supporting actors John Hurt and David Warner \u2013 to seed the film\u2019s attractive cast for investors, and when original choice Lee Marvin passed due to the central character of hitman Jay Mallory being too similar to prior roles (the film has a blatant montage patterned after Marvin\u2019s low-angle, hallway stomping scene in the hitman film\u00a0Point Blank<\/strong>), Cooper called on Donald Sutherland.<\/p>\n

The Canadian actor initially passed on the offer, but he felt future wife Francine Racette (with whom he co-starred in the 1974 CanCon western Alien Thunder<\/strong>) might be right for Mallory’s missing wife Celandine. Cooper eventually persuaded Sutherland to star in the film after some rewrites and an overhaul of the ending.<\/p>\n

With financing set and locations locked for chilly Montreal and damp Surrey, England, Cooper filmed his fractured hitman tale, using Paul Mayersberg\u2019s thin adaptation of Derek Marlowe\u2019s novel. It was only after locking a distribution deal with U.S. indie World Northal that Cooper\u2019s efforts were ruined by severe re-editing. Gone were the temporal flashbacks and Robert Farnon\u2019s score, and what remained was a supposedly disjointed mess supported by a dated synth score by Craig Huntley (who also contributed a theme song).<\/span><\/p>\n

Following the publication of savage reviews, the film was pulled and The Disappearance<\/strong> lived up to its name by vanishing from theatre screens and ending up on TV and home video. Years later, a longer cut closer to Cooper\u2019s version surfaced, which Julie Kirgo asserts may have come from producer \/ supporting actor David Hemmings (Blow-Up<\/a><\/strong>), but this ancient full frame video transfer may be the only copy left of the Director\u2019s Cut [DC].<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Cooper also heard of a third<\/em> edit created by an unknown person who retained some of the flashback material and, like the DC, contained the previously junked Farnon score based on a Ravel piece. The dilemma for Twilight Time was how to release a film that now exists in multiple edits.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Three Versions, One Flawed Film<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Blu-ray contains a 1.85:1 HD transfer of the third cut (91 mins.), the surviving 101 min. 1.33:1 SD transfer of the DC, and the first 15 mins. of the World Northal\u2019s original 88 min. U.S. theatrical cut from a surviving 1.33:1 SD master. For the viewer who\u2019s never seen the film, the quandary is which version to watch, since the DC lacks the \u2018scope and stunning colours and clarity of the HD transfer of the third cut, but represents Cooper’s original version.<\/p>\n

The DC is a deeply flawed edit that reveals some of the issues which likely caused World Northal executives to exercise drastic action. Prior to 1977, the label had distributed mostly Asian martial arts films, and The Disappearance<\/strong> seemed to be a fledgling effort to diversify its catalogue. Indeed, it\u2019s interesting to note that in spite of its disastrous handling of the film, they also distributed Hemmings\u2019 horror film Strange Behavior<\/a> <\/strong>(1981), and several art house films including Derek Jarman\u2019s Tempest<\/strong> (1979), Franc Roddam\u2019s Quadrophenia<\/strong> (1979), and Nicholas Roeg\u2019s Bad Timing<\/strong> (1980). Cooper\u2019s movie may also have opened the door to more British productions, as World Northal also distributed Hussy<\/strong> (1980), The Unseen<\/strong> (1980), and one very special CanCon stinker, Jules Dassin\u2019s clinically awful Circle of Two<\/strong> (1981) before folding in 1983.<\/p>\n

The re-editing that befell Cooper\u2019s film has echoes of the Weinstein\u2019s recutting art house movies for broader audience appeal, but Disappearance<\/strong> is too existential for the masses, which may have necessitated a recut rather than outright butchery. The problem with the DC is that it preserves Mayersberg\u2019s banal dialogue, and the clich\u00e9d lovers\u2019 chatter which often makes it easy to guess Celandine\u2019s scene-closing line. Racette is also a limited actress, and because Cooper and Mayersberg reduce her character to a type of ghostly \u2018apparition,\u2019 she lacks depth, and hovers through the film like a fading male fantasy of warmth, much in the way Eric Heisserer\u2019s limited depiction of Paul Walker\u2019s wife in the flashback-heavy Hours<\/a><\/strong> (2013) reduced that important character to a precious male evocation of the wife \/ mother.<\/p>\n

Disappearance<\/strong> is also very<\/em> slow, and as exquisite as John Alcott\u2019s cinematography may be \u2013 his images of Montreal\u2019s misty cold harbour are stunning \u2013 Cooper\u2019s narrative scenes just aren\u2019t very interesting in the longer, meandering DC, which feels like an edit that should\u2019ve been set aside and revisited a month later, but was hastily submitted to the distributor to meet strict deadlines.<\/p>\n

The 91 minute edit does improve pacing and hastens the story\u2019s needed shift from Mallory’s bunker-like apartment to verdant Surrey, England, where his next target resides, but there\u2019s still a slowness that pervades the scenes as Mallory discusses the contract with his Brit handler (John Hurt) before getting the go-ahead and returning to the remote country home where his target (Christopher Plummer) lives with wife Catherine (Virginia McKenna).<\/p>\n

A major benefit in sticking with the HD transfer is Alcott\u2019s shots of the former Expo \u201967<\/a> pavilions (several of which were used in Robert Altman\u2019s own 1979 CanCon venture, Quintet<\/strong><\/a>), which include restaurants, Buckminster Fuller\u2019s geodesic dome<\/a>, the\u00a0Habitat 67<\/a> residences designed by Moshe Safdie<\/a>, and striking island views of Montreal.<\/p>\n

In her liner notes, Julie Kirgo is quite accurate in tracing relationships between the emotionally detatched Mallory with his remote home, its solid construction, and the cruel grim lighting over an ice-encrusted St. Lawrence River. In terms of locations, Cooper lucked out in exploiting Montreal\u2019s riverside architecture bathed in its chilliest weather.<\/p>\n

Cooper\u2019s strengths lie in developing a mood that has characters trapped in prolonged states of inertia, whether scenes are set in the day or night. The shots are meticulously composed to maximize the angles and lines of the modern and Brutalist architecture, especially Mallory’s concrete apartment complex (filmed in the actual home of architect Safdie) where the wind just keeps howling outside. Cooper also set up some clever visual tricks, notably a shot where the focus is on Mallory’s gun at the centre of the breakfast table, but as the camera starts to pull back, a sudden movement reveals Sutherland\u2019s been standing by the dark window the entire time.<\/p>\n

Sutherland is also very strong as a \u2018cultured\u2019 killer, living in a quality-designed seventies apartment, and wearing immaculate suits and jackets \u2013 all the more interesting because he drives a weather-beaten Pontiac which, perhaps in the character\u2019s eyes, need only be functional, like a banal work expense, and not a reflection of his refined self.<\/p>\n

Twilight Time\u2019s extras includes a stereo isolated score track of Robert Farnon\u2019s score on the HD transfer of the 91 min. edit; a needed explanatory essay by Julie Kirgo on the film\u2019s very odd life-cycle to being somewhat restored; an interview with Cooper who recalls his career and the film\u2019s troubled production; and the first 15 minutes of the World Northal U.S. cut (which, for completists, would\u2019ve been nice to have in its entirely). That edit is awful, and the distributor committed two grievous sins: applying a dated synth score, and main titles that rattle off the stars, many of which don\u2019t appear until the film\u2019s final third \u2013 thereby spoiling Cooper\u2019s surprise casting choices. (Those wanting to see the original U.S. edit can find it archived on YouTube<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Only qualms: the disc would\u2019ve benefitted from some information by an historian versed in CanCon productions, noting the quirks of the point system which enabled vital tax incentives, hence the use of Canadians Sutherland, Racette, Plummer, Farnon (who also scored the CanCon productions A Man Called Intrepid<\/strong> and Bear Island<\/strong>), and the participation of a really peculiar batch of international producers: Canadians Garth Drabinsky (co-founder of Cineplex) and James Mitchell making their own debut as producing team, Brit David Hemmings (co-founder of Hemdale<\/a>), and production consultant Gavrik Losey, who worked with Hemmings on Melody<\/strong> (1971) and father Joseph Losey\u2019s Mr. Klein<\/strong> (1976), in which Racette had a small role.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Postscript<\/strong><\/p>\n

After a lengthy gap in feature and TV productions, director Stuart Cooper made the TV mini-series A.D.<\/strong> (1985) and a string of TV movies, including The Long Hot Summer <\/strong>(1985). Paul Mayersberg is best known for writing The Man Who Fell to Earth<\/a> <\/strong>(1976), Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence<\/strong> (1983), and Croupier<\/strong> (1998), and for directing the arty Patty Hearst riff Captive<\/strong> (1986).<\/p>\n

Author Derek Marlow also wrote the novel and script for A Dandy in Aspic<\/strong> (1968), and several episodes of the TV series A Married Man <\/strong>(1983), First Among Equals<\/strong> (1986), and the superb thriller Jack the Ripper<\/strong> (1988) starring Michael Caine.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Christopher Plummer, who plays Mallory’s final target, later played a murderer \/ robber in Garth Drabinsky’s next film, the superb The Silent Partner<\/strong> (1978). Drabinsky\u2019s other CanCon productions of the tax shelter era include The Changeling<\/strong> (1980), Tribute<\/strong> (1980), and The Amateur <\/strong>(1981).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2014 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

External References:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> — IMDB<\/a> \u00a0— \u00a0Soundtrack Album<\/a> —\u00a0Composer Filmography<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nVendor Search Links:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although directed by a British-based American, The Disappearance is very much a CanCon production, stacked with key Canadian talent to ensure the film\u2019s costs were minimized by tax breaks, but unlike the usual disposable fodder that briefly populated theatre screens and became mainstays on Canadian TV for years, this particular work is an attempt to transcend the hitman film by transgressing into art house terrain…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[1686,3021,3022,3023,503,3026,3024,3025],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-2vB","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9647"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9647"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9675,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9647\/revisions\/9675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}