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Bunny Lake Is Missing

Play trailer Poster for Bunny Lake Is Missing 1965 1h 47m Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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86% Tomatometer 14 Reviews 77% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
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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Bunny Lake Is Missing

Critics Reviews

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Richard Brody The New Yorker 09/14/2015
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. Go to Full Review
Time Out 06/24/2006
A middling thriller, Go to Full Review
Daniel Fienberg Zap2it.com 09/10/2005
4/5
Artfully directed, professionally performed and just twisty enough to make viewers get lost in the overtly Hitchcockian trappings... Go to Full Review
Giles M. Fowler Kansas City Star 06/26/2020
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. Go to Full Review
Wendy Michener Maclean's Magazine 07/02/2019
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. Go to Full Review
Nathanael Hood The Retro Set 12/28/2018
7/10
Bunny Lake is Missing is a victory of form over content, of a great filmmaker surpassing the limits of their source material. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Steve B Nov 27 For most of this movie we are left wondering about the singular issue. Is there a "Bunny Lake" or is mom crazy? Did someone kidnap her. Carol Lynley as the mom never tips us off. She could be delusional, but she is so adamant and recalls all the non-verified details of the day. Of course, Laurence Olivier is in total control of the screen when investigating the case. And who was that other guy. Was he actually the lead in " 2001 A Space Odessey" ?. All were great. Tight great script, that leaves us hanging, until the end. A total let down. Not so much in the resolution but in how the resolution comes to be discovered. I thought I had drifted into one of those late 1960's acid trip sequences. See more Mark B Sep 30 It takes its time to get into full swing and Noel Coward, as the seedy landlord does his best to act as a distracting sideshow-, but once the movie shifts a few gears, it's electrifying and better than some of the similar Hitchcock films. You really feel for the single mother played by Carol Lynley, who no one wants to take seriously, about her missing child, Bunny. But then all along, I suspected the brother. Always in the right place at the wrong time. Laurence Olivier's safe pair of hands does a marvelous Supt Newhouse who pieces it all together- and only just in time. Taught and highly believable, this is an ahead of its time little masterpiece. See more David K Aug 20 Throughout this film I kept thinking, Keir Dullea is awful. Carol Lynley is over the top. And, in the beginning, Noel Coward steals every scene he's in. But, the film has a way of working itself out and is well worth the watch if not just a tad funky. See more Brian M Aug 5 I would give the first 3/4 of this movie 5 stars without any reservations, as it cleverly and effectively maintained my interest in the mystery. But the plot twist was underwhelming and too convenient, and what happens from there is borderline goofy. One of the most disappointing endings I can remember following such a skillful buildup. Still, it’s worth a watch. See more Claudio C Jul 30 Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965) Intriguing and Mysterious Thriller (11,865 – 30 Jul 2025 – by Claudio Carvalho) The American single mother Ann Lake (Carol Lynley) seeks out someone in the nursery Little People's Garden School in Hampstead. She finds a German cook and explains that she has just moved from the United States to London and she left her daughter Bunny Lake at the First Day Room alone with a baby. Now she needs to receive the delivery men at the apartment she rented, and she needs to leave Bunny for a few minutes. The cook says that she can check on her daughter. When Ann returns, she does not find neither the cook nor Bunny and no one in the nursery seems to have seen the girl. Ann calls her brother Steven Lake (Keir Dullea) and the police. Superintendent Newhouse (Laurence Olivier) investigates the case with his men and there is no evidence of the little girl. Soon he begins to question whether Bunny Lake does exist or is Ann's imaginary daughter. "Bunny Lake Is Missing" is an intriguing and mysterious thriller directed by Otto Preminger. The screenplay keeps the mystery and the tension until the end, when the viewer discovers the truth about Bunny Lake. The black and white cinematography is beautiful, and the film shows the English rock band The Zombies in a television broadcast. My vote is eight. Title (Brazil): Not available on DVD or Blu-Ray. My Blog: https://maniacosporfilme.wordpress.com/ See more Carlos I 09/13/2024 It's got a great premise and some solid performances, but this Hitchcockian thriller is a slog to get though. When I could keep myself awake, I found myself yelling at the screen to get on with it. See more Read all reviews
Bunny Lake Is Missing

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Movie Info

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
Producer
Otto Preminger
Screenwriter
John Mortimer, Penelope Mortimer
Production Co
Wheel Productions
Genre
Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 3, 1965, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 16, 2012
Runtime
1h 47m
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