Product: Bunny Lake is Missing (1965)
Rating: 3.0
Intriguing psychological thriller
Who is Bunny Lake and has she really gone missing? Perhaps the only thing missing is a bit of sanity! Without any visual evidence whatsoever, we are led to believe that Ann Lake(Lynley), a young single mother just arrived in London from America, has dropped her 4-year-old daughter Bunny off at a private school, leaving her under the supervision of the school cook. After meeting a couple of movers at her new flat, she returns to pick up her daughter to find that the child has gone missing, but no one, including us, can recall ever seeing the child. At this point, her overbearing brother Stephen(Dullea) literally bulldozes his way through the school delivering accusatory blows against the staff under the auspices of looking for answers. The police are brought in and an investigation ensues under detective Newhouse(Olivier) but instead of answers, only more questions surface: Is Stephen's "in your face" overprotection a facade or diversion? Does it have something to do with Ann having had an imaginary playmate called "bunny" as a child? Director Preminger presents us with a bizarre cast of characters all suspicious and therefore suspect: Wilson the nice-old-man/sadomasochist; Ada Ford the philosophical and sinister co-founder of the school; and of course the two principles, shell-shocked Ann and hypertense Stephen. Laurence Olivier delivers a subtle but calculating performance as the detective, and seems to be the only sane presence for most of the film. The music is a bit too jumpy at times but remains effective. The title sequences by Saul Bass are highly inventive and brilliantly set the stage for the film to follow.