Hitchcock
Did you also get the impression that this film has a Hitchcockian feel to it?
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MovieChat Forums > Bunny Lake Is Missing (1966) Discussion > Hitchcock
I suppose you could say it's Hitchcockian in that it's a suspense thriller, but that's as far as I'm willing to go. For one, I don't think Hitchcock would have ever began the movie without actually showing Bunny. He didn't like to hide things from the audience as a general rule, and the "mystery" of whether Bunny existed wouldn't have interested him. In fact, he did a similar story to this a few decades before with The Lady Vanishes, and sure enough the audience gets to see "The Lady" at the beginning of the movie. Also, I think the end of Bunny Lake turns into a much less interesting retread of Psycho. Up until the ending though, it's a pretty tense thriller. 8/10.
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Yes, I felt that there were some strong Hitchcockian elements, but not a feel. It's decidedly more...weird than Hitchcock's work, especially Coward's outrageous character. In some ways, I think it outdoes some of Hitchcock's work (though not Hitchcock's best). I'd rank it up there with the greatest Hitchcockian films that Hitchcock had nothing to do with, along with Charade and Gaslight.
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You're not alone. The length or the shots were trademakr of the period, but as Hitchcock is the most prominent suspense filmmaker of the 50s, we often associate these drawn out shots with him.
There were also a few detail shots that felt a bit Hitchcock...following the travel of people throughout a room doing seemingly mundane tasks but revealing things about their character...one scene which I wish I could rememver better reminded me distinctly of the scene in Notorious where the Mother-in-law descends the stairs, slowly, slowly, revealing more about her character with every step.
And yet, it is the Hitchcock scene I remember better and that is telling, considering I saw this picture more recently.
Some of what Hitchcock did in the 40s and 50s was pioneer a style which has been used in suspense since and was especially prevalent at the time. I think this movie at least attempted to be filmed in that style
Yes. Certain moments and the style at times were very much so. I just thought of it as a mediocre attempt at copying Hitchcock. But the cinematography actually was extremely well done. Some Hithcock scenes seem/are chopped. These were not. Very smooth. And obviously the Britishness and B&W helped the similarity.
A decent picture of the day. And much better than the pyschadelic-plastic color films that closely followed in the coming years.
"It was the COTTON BOWL, sister woman."
Did you also get the impression that this film has a Hitchcockian feel to it?
The Doll House scene and the escape from the asylum have a touch of Hitchcock.
But the film is too expressionistic and surreal. It has more in common with Georges Franju's Eyes Without A Face and Jacques Tourneur's movies than anything by Hitchcock.
"Ça va by me, madame...Ça va by me!" - The Red Shoes
It reminded me of Hitchcock only because several of the actors appeared in his films. The cook in "Bunny Lake" was played by German actress Lucie Mannheim, who was the doomed spy Annabella Smith in Hitchcock's classic 1935 thriller "The 39 Steps." Of course, Lord Olivier starred in "Rebecca" (1940), Hitchcock's first Hollywood film and only Oscar winner for Best Picture. And Anna Massey, who played Elvira Smollett in "Bunny Lake", later appeared in "Frenzy" (1972), Hitchcock's return to British filmmaking.
shareAnd Anna Massey, who played Elvira Smollett in "Bunny Lake", later appeared in "Frenzy" (1972), Hitchcock's return to British filmmaking.
Yes but Anna Massey's most famous role is in Michael Powell's Peeping Tom made in 1960, just five years before Bunny Lake is Missing, whereas Frenzy came years later.
"Ça va by me, madame...Ça va by me!" - The Red Shoes
Hitchcock is a master of suspense.
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