Bunny Lake is Missing (1965)

“No one admitted while the clock is ticking!” Bunny Lake is missing . . . or does she even exist? American Ann Lake (Carol Lynley), who has just relocated to London, claims to have left her four-year-old daughter Felicia (nicknamed “Bunny”) at a new school where she vanishes without a trace and no one remembers ever seeing her. Lake’s devoted brother, Stephen (Keir Dullea), and skeptical police superintendent Newhouse (Laurence Olivier) try to figure out the mystery. Noel Coward practically steals the show as Horatio Wilson, Lake’s eccentric (and perverted!) landlord, while Martita Hunt portrays retired teacher Ada Ford, who resides in the school’s attic and listens to recordings she has made of schoolchildren describing their nightmares. Overlooked psychological thriller directed by Otto Preminger features some genuinely creepy moments and is well worth a view. Columbia Pictures reportedly wanted Jane Fonda to be cast as “Ann Lake” but Preminger held out for Lynley. No one was admitted in the movie theater once the film started (see quote above). English rock band The Zombies contributed three songs to the soundtrack: “Nothing’s Changed,” “Remember You” and “Just Out of Reach.”

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