- As the film's title suggests, everyone agrees that Bunny Lake is missing. The question plaguing the mind of Superintendent Newhouse (Laurence Olivier) is whether she ever existed in the first place. Bunny's distraught mother Ann (Carol Lynley) obviously thinks her daughter is real, but she certainly doesn't provide much in the way of supporting evidence. Ann's temperamental brother Steven (Keir Dullea) alternates between demanding immediate action and dropping hints that Bunny is a product of Ann's childhood fantasies. If Bunny has been kidnapped, some likely suspects at her new school certainly include the mysteriously disappearing German cook (Lucie Mannheim) and the terse Miss Smollett (Anna Massey). Oh, and that old woman (Martita Hunt) who lives above the school and records children's nightmares. Normally, a drunken landlord fascinated with instruments of torture and played by Noel Coward would be the creepiest character in a film, but no -- in this case, I have to go with the nightmare collector.
- But let's get back to the question of whether or not Bunny even exists. A lingering shot early on shows two toothbrush cups in the bathroom, but now there's only one. All of her toys and clothes must have gone missing, too. The audience knows we saw Ann inside Bunny's school, but the film was careful not to show any glimpses of the child herself. Furthermore, it's true that Ann bought Bunny some candy earlier that morning, but that's not exactly the sort of proof that would stand up in a court of law. Perhaps Ann can prove once and for all that Bunny exists by taking an eerie nighttime trip to the doll hospital...seriously, is this film trying to record my nightmares? What a collection of frights!
- Unfortunately, all of the film's well-crafted ambiguity and genuine creativity go missing right around the time Bunny Lake (Suky Appleby) gets found. Suddenly, the culprit's cartoonish psychosis takes center stage, and the whole affair transforms from suspenseful to stupid in just a few scenes. It's a shame, too, because the first two-thirds of Bunny Lake is Missing are really quite spectacular. A few of Preminger's stamps are recognizable, including some appropriately noirish direction and settings, a Superintendent who gets just a little too close to the case (was Dana Andrews not available?), and a lead actress who presumably has no trouble finding tears under the influence of the famously despotic director. If only Bunny Lake had stayed missing, we might have ended up with a great film instead of merely a decent one.
- Based on a novel by Merriam Modell.
- The Zombies (the band) appear on a TV broadcast and on the radio.
- Titles by Saul Bass.
