SONY PICTURES PRESS RELEASE: Bunny Lake Is Missing (1 Viewer)

[Aaron Silverman]

"This paranoid 1965 thriller by Otto Preminger is one of his most darkly poetic and wrenching films." - Dave Kehr, CHICAGO READER

Otto Preminger's Dark, Disturbing Masterpiece
Starring Laurence Olivier, Noel Coward and Keir Dullea

BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING

First Time Ever on Video!
Debuts on DVD January 25, 2005

Culver City, CA (November 15, 2004) - Originally panned by the critics for its morbid and disturbing psychological subtext, BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING, the passage of time has been kind to the film, as it is now considered by many film scholars to be one of legendary Oscar-nominated director Otto Preminger's (Anatomy of a Murder, Laura, The Cardinal) most ingenious works. At long last, audiences may see BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING at home when Sony Pictures Home Entertainment releases this film noir classic on DVD January 25, 2005. Based on a novel by Marryam Modell (using the pen-name Evelyn Piper), the film features an exemplary cast that includes the king of thespians Laurence Olivier (Hamlet, Wuthering Heights), world-renowned playwright, composer, actor and ambassador-of-all-things-British, Noel Coward (In Which We Serve, Our Man in Havana), Carol Lynley (1959 Golden Globe nominee for Most Promising Newcomer, 1960 Golden Laurel award nominee Top Female New Personality) and Keir Dullea (2001: A Space Odyssey). TV Guide Onliine called the film, "a truly compelling psychological suspense story from Otto Preminger. BUNNY LAKE's questioning about what is real and what is illusion has a parallel in Michelangelo Antonioni's 1966 film, Blow Up.

Synopsis
Just arrived in England from the US, Annie Lake takes her four year-old daughter Bunny to her new school. Having to rush away to meet movers, she leaves Bunny alone to wait for the teacher. But when she returns Bunny is missing and nobody can remember seeing her. She calls the police. But when she goes to find a photo of Bunny for them, she discovers that all of Bunny's things have been removed from the apartment - there is no longer any trace of Bunny and all the evidence, or lack of it, seems to points to Bunny being a figment of her imagination.

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE:

• Widescreen Presentation
• Audio: English Mono
• Subtitles: English, French
• Filmographies
• Bonus Trailers
• Scene Selections

Year of Theatrical Release: 1965
Rated: Not Rated
Color / Closed Captioned
Running Time: 107 Minutes
DVD SLP: $19.94

 

[Jay E]

Definite buy for me, I've been waiting for this to come out on home video for years.

Thanks Columbia!

 

[Herb Kane]

I am really looking forward to this as well. I just wish that Columbia would again, mine some of the great classics they have locked up. They used to do a great (and regular) job of releasing their classics and most of them were done quite well. Let's hope this upcoming wave is a sign of things to come for the new year.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Hi, Herb. I had a feeling that you'd chime in on this one.

 

[Michael Elliott]

Since Columbia has finally dropped their retail price it will allow me more blind buys like this title.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

This is more like it from Columbia. I have waited 10 years to see this in 2.35:1!

With this long-awaited gem and the longer, re-scored version of Major Dundee coming this year, we may just see Columbia restore its reputation as one of the great DVD producers. They have some great films languishing in their vaults that they need to do justice as soon as possible.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

I watched this today and it remains a brilliantly executed thriller. The black and white scope photography is beautifully rendered in the transfer. Bravo, Columbia!

Now... if we could only get Advise and Consent...

 

[Chuck Pennington]

Anyone notice this weirdness with the opening titles? It appears that a non-anamorphic widescreen credits sequence has been shrunk within the anamorphic widescreen frame, resulting in the image being HEAVILY boxed on all four sides. When one zooms in and expands the image (a lot of HDTVs have this mode), the image fills the screen except for an acceptable sliver of black on the sides for windowboxing.

My description may not make any sense without images, so here is a shot from the opening credits as they appear on the anamorphic widescreen DVD.

This shot is when the image suddenly fills the frame (except for the mild letterboxing due to the 2.35:1 original ratio), and the hand that was tearing paper during the rest of the credits suddenly tears away more paper revealing the first shot in the movie.

Is this another framing snafu? It amazes me the number of titles that have been issued with some framing problems and then reissued [quietly] in corrected versions. ANNIE (original widescreen release), PILLOW TALK (anamorphic remaster), APRIPORT 1975, KISS ME KATE, GUYS AND DOLLS (anamorphic remaster - STILL no corrected version for that one), etc.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

 

[Dan McW]

For what it's worth, TCM ran the film letterboxed not too long before the DVD release, and their print had the same severe windowboxing in the opening credits.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

We discussed this in the review thread back when the disc was released. Someone who saw it in the theater way back when said that the framing of the credits wasn't like that, but nobody's really sure why the current transfers (on DVD and TCM at least) are the way they are.