Bunny Lake Is Missing

Released Oct 3, 1965

1 hr. 47 min.

Mystery & Thriller

List

86%

14 Reviews

Tomatometer

78%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Single American mother Ann Lake (Carol Lynley) arrives in London with her daughter, nicknamed Bunny, to live with her brother Stephen (Keir Dullea). Ann leaves Bunny at a nursery school, but when she returns there is no sign of her daughter and no evidence that she was ever there. Stephen, a journalist, questions all who might have seen Bunny. Once Scotland Yard Superintendent Newhouse (Laurence Olivier) joins in the search, he unearths several disturbing details about Ann.

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isla s

This is quite a mysterious watch - it felt tense and I found myself feeling unsure what the ultimate truth may be and I certainly felt concerned for the mother. It was an intriguing watch with some interesting characters, the pervy landlord, an eccentric lady at the school and other strict employees at the school. There are some scenes which do have a slightly sinister feel to them - not really scary as such (definitely not by todays standards) but certainly a little creepy, suggestive of something potentially untoward and this builds up and becomes moreso the case as the films plot continues. This features some good performance and I would recommend it to others.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

alexandre l

Exhibit A as to how you can ruin a perfectly well-made movie in the final act.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

dave s

Otto Preminger's Bunny Lake is Missing taps into the greatest fear of any parent, the safety and whereabouts of a missing child. Ann Lake (Carol Lynley) goes to pick up her daughter after her first day at school, only to find that nobody knows of the child. She and her brother Steven (Kier Dullea) try to stave off the suspicions of the police, led by Officer Newhouse (Laurence Olivier), when authorities begin to suspect that the child may not exist. Lynley and Olivier are great, but their performances are offset by a bizarre and atrocious attempt at acting by Dullea. The movie is fascinating and riveting until the final thirty minutes, when things become so outrageously absurd and implausible that it's difficult not to laugh out loud.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Frances H

Great cast and direction with lots of twists and turns. I won't say more for fear of spoiling it. This film I saw on many different occasions years apart, but just middle to the end--seeing the whole film in one sitting was a revelation of the plot.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/16/21

Full Review

Audience Member

Otto Preminger made several films that are rightfully considered classics, but this one is my favorite. This is an unusual and genuinely menacing film that plays psychological games with the viewer. Carol Lynley gives a rivetingly manic performance as a mother whose child is missing, but the film makes us question even that simple premise as we find that even reality cannot be taken for granted. Preminger has complete control of his craft and it shows in the masterful mise-en-scene. The disorienting soundtrack of uncanny woodwinds and syncopated jazz, and the genius bookends by Saul Bass tie the film together. If you enjoy psychological thrillers at all, this is a must watch.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A little wobbly, but this 60s/mystery/black and white/English elements still work. All the actors are good, and this was Carol Lynley's best performance.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

Full Review

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Otto Preminger

Director

Laurence Olivier

Superintendent Newhouse

Carol Lynley

Ann Lake

Keir Dullea

Steven Lake

Noël Coward

Wilson

Martita Hunt

Ada Ford

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Richard Brody

New Yorker

Upon contact with an electric guitar, Otto Preminger, born in 1906, got a shock, which he conveys in this jangled psychological thriller from 1965, set in swinging London.

Sep 14, 2015

Full Review

Time Out

A middling thriller,

Jun 24, 2006

Full Review

Dan Fienberg

Zap2it.com

Artfully directed, professionally performed and just twisty enough to make viewers get lost in the overtly Hitchcockian trappings...

Rated: 4/5

Sep 10, 2005

Full Review

Giles M. Fowler

Kansas City Star

Every now and then, give me a good, nerve-grating detective mystery to perk up the pulse, clear the head and keep the fingernails down to size... [Bunny Lake Is Missing] has about all the requisites I demand of such films.

Jun 26, 2020

Full Review

Wendy Michener

Maclean's Magazine

Like Hitchcock in Psycho, Preminger is playing upon our fears of the irrational, seemingly motiveless crime. But Preminger's film is at once more effective and more sadistic.

Jul 2, 2019

Full Review

Nathanael Hood

The Retro Set

Bunny Lake is Missing is a victory of form over content, of a great filmmaker surpassing the limits of their source material.

Rated: 7/10

Dec 28, 2018

Full Review

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Synopsis

Single American mother Ann Lake (Carol Lynley) arrives in London with her daughter, nicknamed Bunny, to live with her brother Stephen (Keir Dullea). Ann leaves Bunny at a nursery school, but when she returns there is no sign of her daughter and no evidence that she was ever there. Stephen, a journalist, questions all who might have seen Bunny. Once Scotland Yard Superintendent Newhouse (Laurence Olivier) joins in the search, he unearths several disturbing details about Ann.

Director: Otto Preminger
Production Co: Wheel Productions
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 3, 1965, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 16, 2012

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