Bunny Lake Is Missing
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- This article is about the 1965 film. For the 1957 novel, see Bunny Lake Is Missing (novel).
| Bunny Lake Is Missing | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Otto Preminger |
| Produced by | Otto Preminger |
| Written by | Marryam Modell (novel) (as Evelyn Piper) John Mortimer Penelope Mortimer |
| Starring | Laurence Olivier Carol Lynley Keir Dullea Martita Hunt and Noel Coward |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 1965 |
| Running time | 107 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Bunny Lake Is Missing is a film in the psychological thriller genre directed by Otto Preminger. Filmed in the UK in black and white widescreen format, it was released in 1965. The film score is by Paul Glass and uses the opening theme as a constant refrain. The Zombies also appear, playing their own songs.
Dismissed by critics (and Preminger) as being insignificant upon release, it has since earned a reputation as a cult classic. Critics such as Andrew Sarris have long championed it, and its fans have long demanded it be released on video and DVD, which it was in 2005.
The film opens with Ann Lake leaving the US for a new life in London, where she plans to settle with her daughter Bunny Lake and brother Stephen. When she arrives at Bunny's new school to collect her, Bunny is not there and the school has no record of her. She reports the apparent abduction to the police, but when they fail to locate the child, suspicion mounts that Bunny never existed.
When Stephen arrives, he supports Ann, but also undermines her in private, dropping hints that Bunny is in fact a childhood imaginary friend of hers. Ann attempts to convince the police by locating Bunny's belongings, but is frustrated when a burglary removes all traces of the child. However, she recalls that Bunny's doll is being repaired and heads off to find it. Stephen destroys the doll and it soon becomes apparent that he has something to hide.
Ultimately, Ann finds Bunny in the now visibly disturbed Stephen's car and faces a night distracting him from murdering both herself and her daughter before the police finally arrive to take him away.
An interesting performance in film features Noel Coward as Horatio Wilson, a sadistic, whip-loving barman.
A Hollywood remake of the film, starring Reese Witherspoon, was being planned as of 2006.
Cast
- Laurence Olivier as Supt Newhouse
- Carol Lynley as Ann Lake
- Keir Dullea as Stephen Lake
- Martita Hunt as Ada Ford
- Anna Massey as Elvira Smollett
- Clive Revill as Sergeant Andrews
- Lucie Mannheim as the cook
- Finlay Currie as the doll maker
- Noel Coward as Horatio Wilson
Reference
- Maria DiBattista (Princeton University): "Afterword". In: Evelyn Piper: Bunny Lake Is Missing (Femmes Fatales: Women Write Pulp) (The Feminist Press at The City University of New York: New York, 2004) 198-219 (ISBN 1558614745) (includes a discussion of the differences between Modell's novel and Preminger's film version).
Categories
1965 films | British films | English-language films | Films directed by Otto Preminger