Product: Bunny Lake is Missing (1965)
Rating: 2.0
Rather awful ... and a Preminger sell-out
I've wanted to catch this film ever since I read Mad magazine's 1966 parody. Film gets two stars for its black & white photography and for solid performances from Olivier, Hunt, Massey and Revill. Almost unwatchable because of Lynley & Dullea in the leading roles: their "acting" is almost non-existent. One could believe they'd never had an acting class in their lives, they speak their lines so poorly and their performances are so wooden & without depth. Mr. Coward's character does not, alas, advance the story (no suggested motive for his involvement in the kidnapping); a waste of our time, he should've been written out. And, a stretch for one to believe that this obviously non-"straight" gentleman is putting the "moves" on Lynley's character. Coward's a legend, seen here in an embarrassing role. Capper to this is when we see that Preminger's clearly 'sold out': we're forced to listen to 3 songs by The Zombies, intruding on "pub" scene - for stretches, we watch The Zombies singing on a telly for utterly no reason but that the promoters could advertise them as stars!! *SPOILER*: Also, the ending: hardly credible that an adult male, successfully managing a high-end journalist's job, has been suffering from a mental illness so serious that it would've gotten him institutionalized years before.