It's strange and disappointing to find a writer like John Mortimer guilty of sloppiness. The plot is an uneasy hybrid of So Long At The Fair - Jean Simmons travels to Paris with her bother who promptly disappears leaving no record he was ever there - and Gaslight - a man attempts to drive his wife mad in which four-year old Bunny Lake disappears from a Nursery school on her very first day yet no one - staff, pupils, parents, deny ever seeing her. Mortimer's sloppiness manifests itself in several ways; 1) The audience does not see the child, what we see is the mother, Ann (Carol Lynley) looking for a member of staff having deposited her daughter in the First Day Room. There is absolutely no logical reason why we should not see the child other than the fact that one of the plot points is that the child is the figment of a disturbed mothers' imagination and this lends it credence; 2) Lynley tells the cook where the child is and the cook agrees to tell the relevant staff (although it's highly unlikely that a caring mother WOULD leave a child unattended for no real reason let alone a viable one, especially when both mother and child have just arrived in the country; 3) unrealistically, within minutes of Ann leaving the nursery the cook quits her job on the flimsiest pretense so is not there to confirm Ann's story. 4) towards the end of the film Ann finds a receipt from a doll's hospital where the doll is undergoing restoration and dashes off to the hospital which is apparently located in the West End. Her cab is caught in traffic and the driver explains that this is 'theatre' traffic and tells Ann she will be better walking. She leaves the cab and proceeds on foot; hardly has she entered the shop - after business hours but the door is conveniently open - than her brother, who she left in Hampstead, pulls up outside the shop, in a now traffic-free road. Extreme sloppiness. Finally, no attempt is made to explain just why Ann's brother, who is holding down a responsible job, is suddenly revealed as psychotic. If you can take stuff like this in your stride you may well enjoy this.

Based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Merriam Model, this is a rather good psychological thriller which unfortunately loses much of its credibility towards the end. The plot concerns the disappearance of a four-year-old girl named Bunny Lake from the playschool Little People's Garden several days after she and her mother Ann moved from New York to London. As the investigation develops, it become clear that Bunny may never have existed at all. In this respect, the film is somewhat reminiscent of the earlier films "The Lady Vanishes" or "So Long at the Fair" but it is sadly not on the same level as either. The script by John and Penelope Mortimer is good for the most part. However, the last 10 to 15 minutes of the film are borderline hysterical and contain developments that happen not because they are logical but because it says so in the script, which is never a good thing. Otto Preminger's direction is good and he is able to maintain a decent level of tension for most of the film but it is never really as high as it should be. The film stars Laurence Olivier in an excellent performance as Superintendent Newhouse, who leads the investigation into Bunny's disappearance. Olivier plays the atypically down-to-earth role in a more understated fashion than is his wont. Newhouse is a silky smooth, fiercely intelligent and deeply methodical man who is more concerned with cold hard facts than gut instincts and intuition. As such, he comes to believe that Bunny may be a figment of her mother's imagination as he and his men are unable to locate any evidence that suggests that she existed. That would be a perfectly sensible conclusion under the circumstances but all that glisters is not gold. Carol Lynley is quite good as the understandably incredibly distraught Ann, though she is much more convincing when she has to cry than when she has to converse normally. I thought that that was a little odd since I generally find it to be the opposite when comes to second- rate actors. Lynley does fall into that category, I'm afraid, but she is certainly able to hold her own with Olivier in several scenes, particularly the one in the pub. Keir Dullea is perfectly fine as Ann's very loving and supportive elder brother Stephen but his performance does not really standout as much as I would have liked. I'd have preferred if a better actor had been cast instead, to be perfectly honest. Maybe someone like Donald Sutherland, who worked extensively in the UK in the mid 1960s. Noël Coward has less than ten minutes screen time but he nevertheless gives a wonderful performance as the Lakes' landlord Horatio Wilson, a self-described "poet, playwright and dropper of alcoholic bricks" who regularly reads poetry on the BBC. He is a lecherous old drunk who is into bondage, owns the Marquis de Sade's (alleged) skull and delights at the very thought of a policeman whipping him. I'm glad that he's not my landlord. Before his...hobbies were revealed, one policeman referred to him as a "degenerate" and I was more than a little worried that Wilson was going to be an example of the then common homophobic stereotype that all gay men were paedophiles. Thankfully, however, I was wrong on that score. Incidentally, Coward was not terribly convinced by Dullea's acting ability and he is rumoured to have quipped, "Keir Dullea, gone tomorrow." The film also features good performances from Martita Hunt as an extremely eccentric former teacher Miss Ford (whom I would have loved to have seen in a scene with Wilson), Clive Revill as Sgt. Andrews, Anna Massey as the playschool's administrator Miss Elvira Smollet and Lucie Mannheim as its obstreperous German cook. In his final film before his death in 1968, Finlay Currie is a one scene wonder as the kindly old doll maker.Overall, this is a pretty effective thriller for much of its running time but it eventually falls in on itself like a house of cards.

The film is extremely creepy in a very good way. The cinematography and location shooting add to the unsettled feeling the film gives off. Still, I was able to figure out who was responsible for Bunny's missing quite early on ALTHOUGH I was not prepared for the bizarre final outcome of the film. I mean to say that the relationship between the brother and sister and their "play time" during the final scenes really were a bit too contrived for my taste.My final comments are that I enjoyed the film. I liked the underplaying on the part of all the principle actors. Olivier and cast display little emotion considering the premise of the film but that in some way adds to the tension. The landlord is an additional creepy element I would have scored the film higher if the ending had been a bit stronger. My final feelings were that yes I enjoyed it but also a bit of letdown that it didn't pack more punch at the end.

Suspenseful film that will have you on the edge of your seat until an amazing finale . Intriguing film is packed with thrills , suspense , plot twists , and results to be quite entertaining . An American woman (Carol Lynley) and her brother (Keir Dullea) report that her young daughter is missing from a nursery kindergarten , but there seems to be no evidence that she ever existed . As the main trouble the police led by a cunning inspector (Laurence Olivier) and his helper (Clive Revill) soon face is : Does the child really exist? . No one admitted while the clock is ticking! Stirring as well as exciting yarn packs intense drama , thrills , suspense , puzzled events , twists and turns . This is a suspenseful flick that really thrills . The atmosphere and perverse intrigue enhance as well as the relationship among protagonist develops . From start to finish the intrigue and thrilling scenes are continuous till a striking ending . Penélope and John Mortimer's script along with uncredited Ira Levin is plenty of enjoyable incidentals and interesting events . Screenplay does something strange by the end : it actually removes the stakes of everything that came before with its surprising revelation that had been built up by that point about the strange missing . Very good cast gives perfect interpretation such as Laurence Olivier as an obstinate cop , Carol Lynley at her best , as an unsettling mother , though Columbia Pictures wanted Otto Preminger to cast Jane Fonda as Ann Lake, who was eager to play the role, but Preminger insisted upon using Carol Lynley ; furthermore , Keir Dullea as the suspect brother . Very good support cast such as Clive Revill as an intelligent deputy , Noel Coward as a drunken old intellectual with a vast collection of sadistic-looking sculptures d'art , Finlay Currie as a doll maker who undergoes surgery at a macabre dolls' hospital , Anna Massey as a nursery attendant and Martita Hunt as a nutty old mistress who records childhood's fantasies . Plus , other Brit secondaries in brief appearances as Adrienne Corri and Percy Herbert . Evocative and adequate photography in black and white by professional cinematographer Denis Coop . Atmospheric and appropriate musical score by composer Paul Glass . A remake to this film was planned during the period of 2007-2009 , Reese Witherspoon was attached to the project which was ultimately shelved. This engrossing , riveting picture was effective and compellingly directed by Otto Preminger . At the beginning he became a stage director and subsequently a notorious secondary actor . Otto directed several films , nowadays many of them are considered as classic movies . He made ¨Laura¨ that was released in 1944 and Preminger ranked as one of the top directors in the world . He realized all kind of genres as Court drama such as the great success ¨Anatomy of a murder¨, ¨Court martial of Billy Mitchell¨ , Noir film as ¨Laura¨ which made him an A-list director in Hollwyood , ¨Angel Face¨ , ¨Man with a golden arm¨, Religious drama as ¨The Cardinal¨ , Musical as ¨Porgy and Bess¨, ¨Carmen Jones¨ , Western as ¨River with no return¨ and historical as ¨Saint Joan¨, ¨Exodus¨ though also had some flop as ¨Rosebud¨ getting scathing reviews , though with ¨The human factor¨ won him respectful notices . However , his powers began to wane after and by the end of the decade of the 60s he was considered washed-up . ¨Bunny Lake is missing¨ resulted to be one of the his best films . Rating : Better than average . Worthwhile watching .