Bunny Lake is Missing (1965)

Ann (Carole Lynly) moves to a new apartment with her young daughter Bunny. She takes her to the preschool early in the morning and despite a rather uninterested reception leaves her there.  Her landlord (Noel Coward) pays her a creepy visit and unnerves her.  

That afternoon, She goes to the school and waits to pick up Bunny.  Bunny isn’t there.  In fact, everyone claims not to have seen her and they are highly uncooperative. 

Her brother shows up to support her and he cows the teachers.  However the inspector (Laurence Olivier) begins to doubt that Bunny exists outside of Ann’s imagination.

Olivier is very understated and gives the movie an welcome air of realism.  He is so different in manner that at first I didn’t recognize him as Rebecca’s Maxim de Winter or Hamlet.  Lynly does a good job as a hysterical mother (surely the most thankless of roles).

The movie’s strongest point is its creepiness.  It comes at unexpected moments and very effective.  I like seeing scary that doesn’t involve buckets of blood or loud noises to make you jump.  It’s beautifully shot and makes you realize how lovely black and white film can be.

I liked it quite a bit, despite the old, old plot.

FilmFanatic.org review.