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Released by: Twilight Time Releasing
Released on: November 11th, 2014.
Director: Otto Preminger
Cast: Laurence Olivier, Carol Lynley, Keir Dullea, Noel Coward
Year: 1965
Purchase From Screen Archives
The Movie:
Directed by Otto Preminger in 1965 for Columbia Pictures, Bunny Lake Is Missing begins when an American woman named Ann Lake (Carol Lynley) arrives in England and drops off her young daughter Bunny at school. A few hours later Ann returns to pick the girl but Bunny is not there, in fact, nobody at the school can recall seeing her in the first place nor do they even have a record of her having been enrolled.
Ann starts to get upset as any mother understandably would in her situation, and soon after her brother Stephen (Keir Dullea), a man she would seem to have a rather unorthodox relationship, arrives on the scene. More importantly, Superintendent Newhouse (Sir Laurence Olivier) and a few police men also show up, hoping to be able to figure out what has happened, but no luck - Bunny has vanished. The cops start to wonder if maybe the issue isn't so much the missing daughter as it is Ann's mental state. When her own brother confirms their suspicions, the police begin to assume that Ann must be crazy - but is she? Or is there more to this than anyone realizes… or is at least willing to admit.
Otto Preminger had a pretty uneven career. While the man directed a masterpiece or two in his time (Laura is one of the finest films of its decade) he also had his hand in more than a few clunkers, the most infamous being Skidoo, made only three years after this picture. Bunny Lake Is Missing is closer to Laura than to Skidoo, but it can't quite match the earlier film in terms of suspense and just flat out perfect filmmaking. There are moments, however, where it does come quite close.
With a screenplay by John and Penelope Mortimer based on the novel of the same name written by Marryam Modell, the plot truly does thicken as this film plays out. There are some hints early on in the film that allude to whether or not Bunny actually does exist or not but from there, we're thrust right into the middle of all of this and the story really does approach Hitchcockian levels of suspense before it finishes up. It's the ending that hurts the film more than anything else, however. It's not that the ending is horrible, it's that everything that leads up to it is so eerie and shadowy and weird that it can't help but step down a bit as it wraps up the story.
The performances are rock solid here. Carol Lynley is fantastic as the 'confused' mother while Olivier is as good here as he's ever been, delivering a very nuanced performance as the top cop in charge of the case. Keir Dullea does fine work as the brother though he does occasionally overdo it, while the supporting players - all of whom play characters that border insane - all do fine work as well. Denys N. Coop's camerawork is exceptional, reference quality even, and it does a great job of pulling the audience into the mystery. It's not a perfect film, but it is a damn good one.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Twilight Time brings Lang's Bunny Lake Is Missing to Blu-ray in AVC encoded 1080p high definition framed at 2.35.1 widescreen and the transfer is a strong one indeed. Some shots look sharper than others but this seems to stem back to the photography and it's really only noticeable in a few of the outdoor scenes. Otherwise, detail is very strong here throughout the movie while contrast is pretty much perfect. Black levels are nice and deep but never crush detail while texture remains strong throughout the transfer. The picture is stable and free of compression artifacts or digital tinkering. There aren't any issues with major print damage and the picture is sharp and clean for almost the entire duration of the film.
The only audio option on the disc is an English DTS-HD Mono track, there are no alternate language options here though removable English closed captioning is offered. While the mono track obviously doesn't offer the listening experience a surround mix would, particularly for the action scenes, it does offer a decent amount of depth. Levels are set properly, dialogue is clean and clear and there's not a trace of hiss or distortion to be found. Effects carry a good amount of weight to them and the score has very good clarity to it.
The main extra on the disc is an audio commentary track with film historians Lem Dobbs, Julie Kirgo, and Nick Redman. It's a detailed talk with Dobbs offering up his take on what works and what doesn't in the film. There's some good discussion between the three as to how to interpret certain aspects of the picture in addition to what you'd expect from a good commentary - details on the cast, crew, locations and history behind the film. There's also quite a bit of talk about Preminger's infamous ways of dealing with actors, or more specifically actresses, on the set of many of his pictures.
Outside of that we get a pair of trailers for the feature, an isolated score option in DTS-HD, a static menu and chapter selection. Inside the Blu-ray case is an insert booklet containing some original artwork for the movie and a selection of liner notes written by Julie Kirgo.
The Final Word:
Bunny Lake Is Missing loses a bit of steam with its big finish but the buildup is so sublime that you might not mind so much. It's not Preminger at the top of his game but there are absolutely moments here where he comes incredibly close and his tight directorial style is complimented beautifully by some great performances and excellent cinematography. The Blu-ray release from Twilight Time isn't jam packed with extras but the commentary is enjoyable and the presentation of the feature itself is also very strong.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
