Claudio Carvalho The American single mother Ann Lake (Carol Lynley) seeks out someone in the nursery Little People's Garden School in Hampstead. She finds a German cook and explains that she has just moved from the United States to London and she left her daughter Bunny Lake at the First Day Room alone with a baby. Now she needs to receive the delivery men at the apartment she rented and she needs to leave Bunny for a moment and the cook says that she can check on her daughter. When Ann returns, she does not find neither the cook nor Bunny and no one in the nursery seems to have seen the girl. Ann calls her brother Steven Lake (Keir Dullea) and the police. Superintendent Newhouse (Laurence Olivier) investigates the case with his men and there is no evidence of the little girl. Soon he begins to question whether Bunny Lake does exist or is Ann's imaginary daughter."Bunny Lake Is Missing" is an intriguing and mysterious thriller directed by Otto Preminger. The screenplay keeps the mystery and the tension until the end, when the viewer discovers the truth about Bunny Lake. The black and white cinematography is beautiful and the film shows the English rock band The Zombies in a television broadcast. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): Not available on DVD or Blu-Ray.

Jellybeansucker It's film making, is what this odd little number, as some have called it, is really about. Great film making that could teach many how to do it. The use of black and white photography is delicious, which by the mid 60s had reached a really high art. There is a large clutch of really well shot black and white movies of the 50s and 60s which are all in competition with each other on the cinematography front, ranging from jazzy to arty to just plain classy, as BLIM is. This is a good example of Otto Prem's talent in the craft.Then the theme or subject, and this film's was of the latest trend of the day in psychological thrillers, missing children, with the obviously dark tone that comes with it. Very similar in tone and theme and time of release to Séance On A Wet Afternoon, BLIM provides a much better thriller experience, IMO and delivers just as much mystery.The cast has an ace in landing Lawrence Oilvier and of course it means class just oozes from the screen here. Olivier, the classy photography, the detached air of the narrative, the thoughtful screenplay, the trendy 60s London setting, and not least the Zombies soundtrack including a clever pub TV showing of them, means the film is as much art piece as thriller, but it does end in a proper thriller way in much darkness and its villain looks like Norman Bates' urbane cousin from uptown.So yes BLIM undoubtedly owes its soul to Psycho but it does do a great job of doing it all its own way. This is a very English, understated, classy little minor Psycho, if you like. I love it, it has credibility flaws if you want to be harsh on it, but the atmosphere it creates is top rate, as is the quietly classy style it has. Very of its time, and if you love anything to do with 60s London then add this one to your collection.

appealing_talent In my opinion, after having seen the film, many of the reviewers - who gave it over 4 stars - were far too generous. Maybe they're rabid fans of Olivier's. But, whatever the case, only those devoid of common sense didn't realize, even before his Inspector decided to check, that there would be some record of Lynley's trip to England and that Dullea was the culprit. However, my first guess was that he had some incestuous love for his sister, which would have been more interesting than the over-the-top whacky nut job he turned out to be. The maniacal mess doesn't deserve more than the 4 out of 10 stars, at best, as far as I'm concerned...

George Wright A new neighbourhood, inhabited by strange people, is not the place where you want to discover that your child is missing. That is what happens to Ann Lake, performed by Carol Lynley, as the mother of Bunny Lake, the missing child. She is close to a brother named Stephen, Keir Dullea, who immediately rushes to her side when the child goes missing. There is little help from the school and the eccentric characters like the founder of the school Martita Hunt, and the alcoholic landlord, played by Noel Coward, are hardly any consolation. The one source of some comfort is a professional inspector named Newhouse, played by Laurence Olivier. He brings police officers and police dogs to the scene and tries to calm the mother as he gathers the facts. It doesn't help that no one has seen Bunny besides Stephen and Ann. The atmosphere becomes more strained as the story continues and there seems to be no answer to the question as to where Bunny has disappeared. The rambling school house is a nightmare for finding a lost child with many rooms, hidden passages and cupboards. Adding to the confusion is the fact that the frenetic activity of the mother early in the day meant that there was only indirect contact with the school staff and no recognition of who the child actually was. After the taut and gripping atmosphere, the ending is disappointing. However, this does not mar the impact of the movie. Director Otto Preminger skilfully created this gut-wrenching nightmare of a parent with a missing child. Keira Dullea and Carol Lynley both give exceptional performances. Olivier, as the rock solid inspector, is superb. The supporting cast mentioned above as well as Luci Mannheim, Finlay Currie and Anna Massey are excellent. This is not a comfortable movie to watch but a movie that takes us out of our comfort zone is a good recommendation for this haunting movie.