Bunny Lake is Missing (1965) Otto Preminger

I’ve reviewed a couple other Otto Preminger movies, but Bunny Lake is Missing is a special kind of creepy.  It’s in black and white, and that adds many layers of atmosphere.  The film starts out a bit hum drum.  A woman drops off her daughter at pre-school and goes to run errands.  She and her brother have just moved to London and she is unpacking and getting dinner ready while her daughter is at school.  When she goes to pick her up, she isn’t there.  It seems all very straightforward at first, but the more we learn, the more there are questions.  Up to the point of does this child even exist?  Laurence Olivier is the detective on the case and he is such a British gent.  Asking questions, being dubious, wearing a rumpled raincoat.  But, like I said, layers.  Preminger builds and builds and you will not believe the ending.

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