Bunny Lake Is Missing | |
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Directed by | Otto Preminger |
Screenplay by | John Mortimer Penelope Mortimer |
Based on | Bunny Lake Is Missing by Merriam Modell |
Produced by | Otto Preminger |
Starring | Laurence Olivier Carol Lynley Keir Dullea Martita Hunt The Zombies Noël Coward |
Cinematography | Denys N. Coop |
Edited by | Peter Thornton |
Music by | Paul Glass |
Color process | Black and white |
Production company | Wheel Productions |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 107 minutes |
Countries | United Kingdom United States [1] [2] |
Language | English |
Bunny Lake Is Missing is a 1965 psychological mystery film directed and produced by Otto Preminger and starring Carol Lynley, Keir Dullea and Laurence Olivier. [3] Filmed in black-and-white widescreen format in London, it was based on the 1957 novel Bunny Lake Is Missing by Merriam Modell. The score is by Paul Glass. The rock band the Zombies also appear in the film.
American single mother Ann Lake, who recently moved to London from New York, arrives at the Little People's Garden pre-school to collect her daughter, Bunny. The child has mysteriously disappeared. An administrator recalls meeting Ann but claims never to have seen the missing child. Ann and her brother Steven search the school and find a peculiar old woman living upstairs, who claims she collects children's nightmares. In desperation, the Lakes call the police and Superintendent Newhouse arrives on the scene. Everyone becomes a suspect and Superintendent Newhouse is steadfast, diligently following every lead. The police and Newhouse decide to visit the Lakes' new residence.
They conclude that all of Bunny's possessions have been removed from the Lakes' new home. Ann cannot understand why anyone would do this and reacts emotionally. Superintendent Newhouse begins to suspect that Bunny Lake does not exist, after he learns that "Bunny" was the name of Ann's imaginary childhood friend. Ann's landlord, an aging actor, attempts to seduce her. Steven argues with Newhouse, angrily tells him that he will hire a private detective to find Bunny, and storms off. Newhouse decides to become better acquainted with Ann to learn more about Bunny. He takes her to a local pub where he plies her with brandy and soda.
On her return home, Ann discovers she still has the claim ticket for Bunny's doll, which was taken to a doll hospital for repairs. Regarding the doll as proof of Bunny's existence, she frantically rushes to the doll hospital late at night and retrieves the doll. Steven arrives later and when Ann shows him the doll, Steven burns the doll, hoping to destroy it, then knocks Ann unconscious. He takes Ann to a hospital and tells the desk nurse that Ann has been hallucinating about a missing girl who does not exist. Ann is put under observation with instructions for her to be sedated if she awakes.
Ann wakes up in the hospital and escapes. She discovers that Steven is burying Bunny's possessions in the garden, and had sedated the little girl, hiding her in the trunk of his Sunbeam Tiger car. Steven implies an incestuous interest with his sister, complaining that Bunny has always come between them. Believing that Ann loves Bunny more than him, the child threatens Steven's dream of a future with his sister. Ann, realising her brother is insane, begins playing childhood games with Steven, in order to distract him from killing Bunny. Newhouse, having discovered that Steven lied to the police about the name of the ship that brought the Lakes to England, rushes quickly to the Lakes' residence, arriving in time to apprehend Steven, successfully rescuing Ann and Bunny.
In addition, Bunny Lake is played by Suky Appleby.
Preminger had found the novel's denouement lacking in credibility, so he changed the identity of the would-be murderer. This prompted many rewrites from his British husband-and-wife scriptwriters John Mortimer and Penelope Mortimer before Preminger was satisfied. [4]
Adapting the original novel, [5] Preminger moved the story from New York to London, where he liked working. His dark, sinister vision of London made use of many real locations: the Barry Elder Doll Museum in Hammersmith stood in for the dolls' hospital; [6] the Little People's Garden School used school buildings in Hampstead; and the "Frogmore End" house was Cannon Hall, which had belonged to novelist Daphne du Maurier's father Sir Gerald du Maurier. The 1965 Sunbeam Tiger sports car (registration EDU 296C) featured in this film still exists as a classic car, and sold at auction for £35,840 (2015).
The opening title sequences and poster were done by graphic designer Saul Bass. [7]
English rock band the Zombies are featured in the credits and on the film's poster for their contribution of three songs to the film's soundtrack: "Remember You", "Just Out of Reach" and "Nothing's Changed". The band is featured performing on a television in the pub where Superintendent Newhouse meets with Ann, and "Just Out of Reach" plays on a janitor's radio as Ann escapes from the hospital. With Preminger present in the studio, the band recorded a two-minute radio ad set to the tune of "Just Out of Reach" that promoted the film's release and urged audiences to "Come on time!" in keeping with the film's no-late-admissions policy. These efforts represent an early instance of what became the common Hollywood practice of promotional tie-ins with popular musical acts. [8]
As with Psycho (1960), audiences were not admitted after the film's start. This was not common practice at the time and was emphasised in the film's promotion, including on the poster, which warned: "No One Admitted While the Clock Is Ticking!"
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This is Preminger with the fat of the blockbusters pared away. The opening is beautifully organised, getting well into the action before revealing just what it's all about, modulating from the hustle of things being done in a hurry (removal men; taxi rides; the return to the school, with the staircase thronged with chattering mothers) into the arrival of police cars, dogs and search parties. Preminger keeps his camera thrusting forward, dodging round corners, pushing through crowds; doors open on to dark interiors, lights are snapped suddenly on. ...Where Bunny Lake falters is in the transition from sharp whodunnit to psychiatric shocker." [9]
Andrew Sarris wrote in The Village Voice that the film's "plot collapses ... because there is no overriding social interest at stake, but rather an implausibly elaborate caper by a conveniently psychotic character," and added that although the "movie is a pleasure to watch from beginning to end ...] there are really no characters to consider in Preminger's chilling world of doors and dolls and deceits and degeneracies of decor." [10]
Variety described it as "an entertaining, fast-paced exercise in the exploration of a sick mind," with Lynley "carrying much of the film on her shoulders." [11]
Writing in The New York Times , critic Bosley Crowther reported that "conspicuously absent from this grossly calculated attempt at a psychological mystery thriller is just plain common sense – the kind of simple deductive logic that any reasonably intelligent person would use." [12]
Leslie Halliwell said: "A nightmarish gimmick story, with more gimmicks superimposed along the way to say nothing of a Pyshcoish ending; some of the decoration works and makes the unconvincing story compelling, while the cast is alone worth the price of admission." [13]
The film was released on DVD in 2005 (Region 1) and 2007 (Region 2). In 2014, Twilight Time released a limited Blu-ray edition. [14] [15] In 2019 Powerhouse Films & Indicator released a Blu-ray edition with many special features included.
The film was spoofed in Mad magazine, in the April 1966 issue (#102), under the title "Bubby Lake Missed by a Mile". [16] In the Better Call Saul episode "Off Brand", Chuck McGill walks past a movie theatre playing Bunny Lake is Missing. It is reminiscent of the urban legend the Vanishing Hotel Room .
Otto Ludwig Preminger was an Austrian-American theatre and film director, film producer, and actor. He directed more than 35 feature films in a five-decade career after leaving the theatre. He first gained attention for film noir mysteries such as Laura (1944) and Fallen Angel (1945), while in the 1950s and 1960s, he directed high-profile adaptations of popular novels and stage works. Several of these later films pushed the boundaries of censorship by dealing with themes which were then taboo in Hollywood, such as drug addiction, rape and homosexuality. He was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director. He also had several acting roles.
Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, was an English novelist, biographer and playwright. Her parents were actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and his wife, actress Muriel Beaumont. Her grandfather George du Maurier was a writer and cartoonist.
Keir Atwood Dullea is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of astronaut David Bowman in the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey and its 1984 sequel, 2010: The Year We Make Contact. His other film roles include David and Lisa (1962), Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965) and Black Christmas (1974). Dullea studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City. He has also performed on stage in New York City and in regional theaters; he has said that, despite being more recognized for his film work, he prefers the stage.
Anna Raymond Massey was an English actress. She won a BAFTA Best Actress Award for the role of Edith Hope in the 1986 TV adaptation of Anita Brookner's novel Hotel du Lac, a role that one of her co-stars, Julia McKenzie, has said "could have been written for her". Massey is also well known for her role in Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy (1972) as a barmaid who becomes involved with a suspected killer. She performed over one hundred character roles in British film and television.
Saul Bass was an American graphic designer and Oscar-winning filmmaker, best known for his design of motion-picture title sequences, film posters, and corporate logos.
The Cardinal is a 1963 American drama film produced independently, directed by Otto Preminger and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The screenplay was written by Robert Dozier, based on the novel of the same name (1950) by Henry Morton Robinson. The music score was written by Jerome Moross.
Whirlpool is a 1950 American film noir thriller directed by Otto Preminger and written by Ben Hecht and Andrew Solt, adapted from the 1946 novel Methinks the Lady... by Guy Endore. The film stars Gene Tierney, Richard Conte, José Ferrer and Charles Bickford, and features Constance Collier in her final film role. Its plot follows the kleptomaniac wife of a wealthy Los Angeles psychoanalyst who, after a chance meeting with a hypnotist, is charged with a violent murder.
Carol Lynley was an American actress known for her roles in the films Blue Denim (1959) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972).
Hurry Sundown is a 1967 American drama film produced and directed by Otto Preminger, and starring Jane Fonda and Michael Caine. The screenplay by Horton Foote and Thomas C. Ryan is based on the 1965 novel of the same title by K.B. Gilden, a pseudonym for the married couple Katya and Bert Gilden. It marked Faye Dunaway's film debut. The film is considered a Southern Gothic work.
Merriam Modell was an American writer of short stories, suspense and pulp fiction, who wrote primarily under the pen name Evelyn Piper. Many had a common theme: the domestic conflicts faced by American families.
Bunny Lake Is Missing is a 1957 novel by Merriam Modell set in New York City.
The Reincarnation of Peter Proud is a 1975 American psychological horror film directed by J. Lee Thompson, and starring Michael Sarrazin, Margot Kidder, and Jennifer O'Neill. It follows a university professor who, after experiencing a series of bizarre nightmares, comes to believe he is the reincarnation of someone else. It is based on the 1973 novel of the same title by Max Ehrlich, who adapted the screenplay and is also the final film production from Cinerama Releasing Corporation.
Pretty Polly is a 1967 British comedy film directed by Guy Green and based on the short story Pretty Polly Barlow by Noël Coward. It stars Hayley Mills, Shashi Kapoor, Trevor Howard and Brenda De Banzie. The film is largely set in Singapore.
Marc Huestis is an American filmmaker, camp impresario and social activist. He is best known for his motion picture Sex Is... and his in-person tributes/benefit events feting celebrities from Hollywood's Golden Age and cult personas at San Francisco's Castro Theatre.
Danger – Love at Work is a 1937 American screwball comedy film directed by Otto Preminger and starring Ann Sothern, Jack Haley and Edward Everett Horton. It was produced and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The screenplay by James Edward Grant and Ben Markson focuses on an attorney's frustrating efforts to deal with a wildly eccentric family.
Frozen Scream is a 1981 American horror film directed by Frank Roach, produced by Renee Harmon, and starring Harmon, Lynne Kocol and Thomas McGowan. Harmon also co-wrote the story with Doug Ferrin. Its plot follows two scientists whose experiments in unlocking the secrets of immortality result instead in the creation of black-robed zombies who must be preserved at very low temperatures to continue functioning.
Eva Monley was a Kenyan location scout, production manager and film producer. Monley, an expert on filming in Africa, helped many of Hollywood's best known film directors and producers film on location throughout the continent, including Steven Spielberg, Otto Preminger, John Ford, and David Lean.
Sian Emma O'Callaghan was a 22-year-old British woman who disappeared from Swindon, Wiltshire, England, having last been seen at a nightclub in the town in the early hours of 19 March 2011. Her body was found on 24 March near Uffington in Oxfordshire. On 19 October 2012, at Bristol Crown Court, 48-year-old Christopher Halliwell pleaded guilty to O'Callaghan's murder.
Cannon Hall at 14 Cannon Place, Hampstead, London is a grade II* listed building that dates from around 1720. The house is the former home of the actor Gerald du Maurier, his wife Muriel Beaumont, and their three children, the writers Angela du Maurier and Daphne du Maurier and the painter Jeanne du Maurier.
"Just Out of Reach" is a song written by singer Colin Blunstone, first recorded by his band the Zombies in 1965. In 1965, it was clear that the Zombies were going to be featured in Otto Preminger's 1966 movie Bunny Lake Is Missing. Therefore, the band had struck a deal with Preminger; he wanted three new songs by the group, recorded in the span of only ten days. During this time, the band's primary songwriters, keyboardist Rod Argent and bassist Chris White suffered somewhat from writer's block. Although White had already managed to come up with two songs, "Remember You" and "Nothing's Changed", the third song was still missing, much to the group's disappointment. Therefore, Blunstone was tasked with the final song.