If aliens arrived on Earth and wanted to understand the meaning of the word "creepy," I'd show them Bunny Lake is Missing. I'm just not sure where I'd find it. Tragically, Otto Preminger's 1965 psychological thriller is MIA, just like its titular character.
I was lucky enough to see this fantastic movie in a film class* and again in our university's film series. In between those two viewings, I also watched it on a bootleg VHS copy (purchased from eBay by my friend Jen) which was useless since the black and white cinematography of BLIM is so ravishingly beautiful. BLIM was filmed on location in London in anamorphic 35 millimeter with an aspect ratio of 2.35 to 1. So, if you see it playing at your local art house cinema, you should be first in line to buy tickets. Otherwise, you just have to hope it will be released on DVD one of these days. **
Ann Lake (Carol Lynley) is a young American who has just moved to London. She drops her four-year-old daughter Bunny off at a daycare center, but when Ann goes to pick up her daughter that afternoon, Bunny is nowhere to be found. Things go from bad to worse for Ann as the police who are called in to investigate the case begin to question her sanity and wonder if her daughter was just a figment of her imagination.
When Ann returns home to try to find some of Bunny's things to give to the police for the search, she finds that the girl's things have disappeared. None of the teachers at the school admit to having seeing Bunny either, as Ann dropped her off in a hurry and left her in the care of the cook. Thinking that Ann is insane, the police brush off the case, and Ann and Stephen Lake (Keir Dullea) are left to investigate on their own. Who is sane and who is crazy? What is real and what is imagined? First impressions often turn out to be completely wrong in this eerie tale.
The two top suspects in the case are the German cook in the nursery school, who quit that day after being left in charge of Bunny, and Ann and Stephen's extraordinarily creepy landlord Wilson (Noel Coward), whose flat is filled with sadomasochistic props and who speaks in riddles. Wilson has the keys to the Lakes' apartment and walks around with his Chihuahua, leaving African fertility masks around the house.
The only police officer who seems to believe that Bunny is a real girl is Superintendent Newhouse (Lawrence Olivier). In a memorable scene, Newhouse takes Ann out to a London pub and waxes philosophical as The Zombies play "Just out of Reach" on the telly above the bar. The barman changes the channel from a news story on the missing girl to a Top of the Pops style program complete with screaming girls. Ultimately a scathing criticism of the coldness of modern society, BLIM shows that one cannot, in fact, rely on the kindness of strangers.
Stephen and Ann also interview a peculiar, witch-like old woman, who lives above the school. This retired teacher keeps tapes of children talking about their dreams, but can't provide any information regarding Bunny's whereabouts. She and Wilson both seem trapped in their own somewhat seedy worlds, and are remarkably calm in the face of the Lakes' crisis.
The old woman and the landlord's inflated performances are balanced by the understated acting of Lynley and Dullea, although Stephen gradually becomes more extreme as the film builds tension. Blonde Lynley seems slightly vacant and reminded me of the female characters in some of Alfred Hitchcock's films.
Desperate to prove that her daughter exists, Ann rushes to a doll hospital in SoHo. The ensuing scene is one of the most bizarre and disconcerting I have ever scene. The rows and rows of doll parts in a shop owned by a blind man epitomize creepy. This scene includes the first of two moments in the film that made many people in my film class scream audibly.
In this manipulative film about identity, you'll find incest, voyeurism, insanity, mod rockers, and characters that will make your hair stand on end. What more could you ask for?
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In my film class, we watched excellent movies such as Bunny Lake is Missing and Psycho, but we also watched Showgirls and Starship Troopers.
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Thanks to vormancian for adding BLIM to the Epinions database.
** Bunny Lake is Missing was finally released on DVD on January 25, 2005. Woo!!
When Ann Lake (Carol Lynley, The Poseidon Adventure) goes to pick up four-year-old Bunny at her new preschool in London, she s told that no child by t...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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