What is the difference between looking and seeing? A child is missing, but no one can find out what happened to her and her mother can’t even prove the little girl exists at all. Preminger’s camera follows the characters in a somewhat similar fashion to Van Sant's films like Elephant, as they explore the spaces where the little girl supposedly disappeared. Ironically, Preminger's seemingly objective mise en scène only expresses the fallibility of objectivity and trusting (superficial) facts and appearances. However, the closer the characters get to the facts, the crazier and more subjective the film becomes. At the last half hour, after we learn the truth, Bunny Lake Is Missing turns into full nightmare mode. In a mad world lucidity is not the key to certainty, insanity is.

Enjoyable if a bit daft story.

Laurence Olivier is pretty awesome even though his screen time is limited. Noel Coward makes for a great dirty old man. But the movie belongs to Carol Lynley who does an excellent job walking the line between sanity and madness as a woman who may or may not have lost her daughter.

The final act is a bit insane, but it is also incredibly intense and Lynley deserves all the credit for holding it together. She switches so effortlessly between emotions and personas that we can't guess how this will end.

Watched as part of the Birth Year Challenge.

This excellent black & white mystery/thriller, directed by Otto Preminger, will keep you guessing until the end. The premise of a missing child which may or may not actually exist is not uncommon, but rarely has it been presented with such mastery. Just when you think you have a handle on what's going on, the rug is ripped out from under you and you find yourself questioning your grasp of the case. Laurence Olivier is great as the experienced detective handling the investigation.
Highly recommended!

Tightly wound thriller from the great Otto Preminger slapped amidst the swinging hipsters of sixties London. Some wonderful performances; especially Noel Coward's contemptuous luvvie landlord and drunken sot Horatio Wilson, who positively drips scorn and self important derision, and Larry Olivier's philosophically downbeat detective and master of deductive erudition, Superintendent Newhouse. A lovely coterie of cameos is sprinkled throughout the capital and there's a neat appearance from the Zombies. Unsettling, articulate and intense.

"I have all of their nightmares recorded here."

This movie has a skillful presentation of scale and depth, with its driving camerawork and eccentric locals like the landlord or gossiping mothers or founder of the school or babydoll maker. Good example of whodunit suspense.

Strong final 20 minutes where it goes into straight THRILLER.

Tight little thriller; combines familiar elements from Man Who Knew Too Much, Gaslight and The Lady Vanishes and still manages to fuck with viewer expectations.

I'm going to point out that if we're invited to doubt Bunny's existence, we're also never given anything concrete that shows that Bunny's uncle is really a jpurnalist.

A standout suspense film. Appropriately weird for Preminger. Gorgeous location cinematography makes this feel quite contemporary.

Preminger was said to be a real bully on the set towards his actors and you can tell by the somewhat forced acting style of Carol Lynley and Keir Dullea, but luckily he knows how to handle his camera to create some interesting scenes, like those in the ‘doll hospital’.

Maybe coincidentally, but the dark finale reminded me of a scene in The Shining and one in 2001 (Please Steven, don't ... / Stop Dave, please stop...) and Kubrick also chose Keir Dullea for the role of Dave after seeing him in Bunny Lake.

But why do The Zombies keep popping up in this film? For commercial reasons I suppose? Cut them out and give it a new title: Bunny Lake & The Zombies Are Missing. That will also work commercially.

D: Otto Preminger. Laurence Olivier, Carol Lynley, Keir Dullea, Noel Coward, Martita Hunt, Finlay Currie, The Zombies. American Lynley, newly arrived in London, reports the disappearance of her preschool daughter—but police detective Olivier can’t help but notice that Lynley has no proof that the child ever existed at all. Well paced, expertly acted, with some interestingly offbeat characters in the margins. Made in England. Panavision.