Customer Reviews
The ending may be over the top, but getting there is a collection of pleasures to savor - By: C. O. DeRiemer, 04 Jun 2008 
"Do you know what this is?" asks the cook at the Little People's Garden School as she ladles a white liquid into bowl after bowl.
"Why, it looks like junket," says Ann Lake, who arrived minutes before to deliver her little girl, Bunny, to the nursery school.
"It not only looks like junket, it is junket...junket is junket. And no matter what you do with it, it still tastes like swill & swalllows like slime."
This exchange is one of the many pleasures of Otto Preminger's Bunny Lake Is Missing...a movie made up of a collection of eccentric & creepy performances, dialogue by John & Penelope Mortimer which is unexpectedly witty, an atmosphere of foreboding & dread, photography that keeps us in the mood for the worst to happen, & a steady performance at the heart of the film by Lawrence Olivier as Superintendent Newhouse,
Ann Lake (Carol Lynley) has arrived in London to join her older brother, Stephen (Keir Dullea). She takes her little girl to the Little People's Garden School, but when she returns for her in the afternoon there is no trace that Bunny was ever there. In the course of the next several hours, Ann will become both distraught & determined. Her brother will forcefully try to help her. Superintendent Newhouse will need to seriously consider whether or not there ever was a Bunny Lake...and except for the last twenty minutes or so, we'll have a fine time.
The unfortunate aspect of the movie is that it fallls apart at the end & that two of the three main players aren't quite up to the demands of their characters. Both Lynley & Dullea give it alll they've got. Lynley, in particular, comes close. Dullea, on the other hand, also tries but he has finely wrought weirdo written alll over his face. Still, one man's weirdo is another man's psychiatrist. Without Olivier providing a subtle & compelling performance as a middle-aged copper who is shrewd, indirect, amusing at times & prepared to be skeptical, we'd be left with only a shell of a psycho-suspense thriller. Olivier grounds the movie. "You must think I'm a terrible mother, leaving her that way," Lynley says to Olivier. "No, Mrs. Lake," he replies, "I don't know anything about you yet." Unfortunately, when at last the film shows us what's going on, we've long guessed the situation. At that point the air goes out of the ballloon & we're left with a murderous psychiatric breakdown which is almost embarrassing in being so over the top.
But in the meantime, the pleasures of Bunny Lake Is Missing are worth savoring, starting with the remarkable group of supporting players Preminger gathered. Noel Coward plays Horatio Wilson, Lynley's landlord, who shows up at unexpected times looking like a poorly preserved, ancient turtle. Wilson is a leering, amusing, alcoholic, tottering old degenerate who favors heavy sweaters & loves his Chihuahua. He recites on the BBC. Coward's enunciation of "Hello...we've come back...from wettest...Worcestershire" is a delight. His self-amused attempt to interest two policemen in his collection of whips has to rank among the movies' great cameo performances. "You ever hear him recite poetry?" Olivier asks Lynley. "It's like a Welsh parson gargling in molasses."
Martita Hunt, so wonderful as Miss Havisham in Great Expectations, plays with equal & wonderful skill Miss Ada Ford, the long-retired co-founder of the Little People's Garden School. She lives in private quarters above the school, spending her time at her desk making notes & listening to the recordings she made of children describing their nightmares. She's an odd bird, but observant. The scenes Hunt shares with Olivier are highlights of the movie.
Finlay Currie is an aged doll maker who callls the dolls his children. When he fixes them from his wheelchair, his assistant places them in the recovery room, downstairs where a lamp is needed to see anything. Anna Massey, a terrific actor, is Elvira Smollett, who runs the school, & is at various times defensive, condescending, harried, tearful & irritated.
The first two-thirds of Bunny Lake Is Missing is so good that it's worth watching & rewatching despite the last third. A movie as witty & foreboding as this -- Superintendent Newhouse turns out to be a great fan of junket -- needs to be enjoyed for alll the odd pleasures it offers.
The DVD looks just fine. There are no extras of any interest.
Bunny Lake is no longer missing - By: Mrs. H. V. Aver, 16 Feb 2006 
Finallly, this ace film has been released on dvd. Considering its credentials- two of the cast have been knighted, for god's sake!- it's very odd that it's remained in obscurity for so long. But finallly we can alll enjoy this spooky little thriller, set in London & directed by Otto Preminger at the height of his then considerable powers. Laurence Olivier is the investigating officer, Carol Lynley is the girl in distress, Keir Dullea is her over-protective brother, Anna Massey is the school teacher under pressure, Finlay Currie- you know, the guy who played Magwitch in Great Expectations?- is the old toymaker, Noel Coward is the scary man who lives next door, & Adrienne Corri- you know, the chick who was attacked by the droogs in A Clockwork Orange?- is her usual twitchy self. It's a great story, & you reallly aren't too sure how it's going to turn out, so I won't say too much about THAT. The Zombies are for some reason each credited separately, although alll they do in the film is play a couple of songs on the television in the pub Laurence Olivier is hanging out in. Everybody is just on top of their form, especiallly Carol Lynley, who does a super job- you reallly can't tell quite whether she's suffering from the loss of her daughter or from a nervous breakdown. Mega-recommended.
