Product: Bunny Lake is Missing (1965)
Rating: 2.0
It should have been so much better
Ann Lake (Carol Lynley), newly-arrived in London, goes to pick up her daughter, Bunny, from school, but no one there seems to know the girl. Her peculiar brother (Keir Dullea) enlists the aid of a police superintendent (Laurence Olivier), who soon doubts Ann's sanity and Bunny's existence.Otto Preminger directed this and Olivier starred in it, and it's still a total bomb. The problem lies in the script, which is full of plot holes, and the direction, which is just lacking in every way. All of the characters are one-dimensional; Olivier's superintendent is so bland and underwhelming (as well as mostly ineffectual) that he just takes up space on the screen. Dullea shows no range or subtlety; his one expression - spaced-out nutcase - is over the top and leaves no room for doubt as to the ending. Noel Coward appears as a slimy, drunk landlord who is repulsive instead of witty. The biggest shortcoming is casting Carol Lynley as the lead; she's anemic, wimpy, unconvincing, and unsympathetic. (Jane Fonda was considered for the part and would have been a stronger choice.)It's too overwrought and poorly-acted to be truly suspenseful and it commits the ultimate cinema sin: It's boring. (The same is-the-daughter-real plot was done more successfully in Jodie Foster's film, "Flightplan.")