Forgotten Movies, Bunny Lake Is Missing

Ah, a scene where junket is mentioned. So it did exist and was like swill and slime according to this movie.

Although I never thought Carol Lynley was much of an actress, this is a favorite movie. Since Keir Dullea had a similar wooden yet stagey style, they fit together well.

A young woman brings her child to a new school in England and the girl's not there at the close of school. No one can remember seeing her and the police (Laurence Olivier) begin to suspect the mother is mentally ill. Especially when her brother (Keir Dullea) doesn't help her case.

This is a nice tight little movie. Suspenseful and well made by Otto Preminger in 1965. It runs on TCM now and then.

Check out other forgotten films at Sweet Freedom.

Forgotten Movies, A Taste of Honey

In the 1960s British working class life had a good run at the movie theater. A Taste of Honey was one of my favorites. It featured a knockout performance by Rita Tushingham as Jo, a girl tossed out on the streets of Salford by her Mum, who gets pregnant by a black man and eventually finds a home with a gay man.



The gritty look of this film suggests noir and it is. The song, performed by Herb Albert among others, was a big success. When did we give up making domestic dramas about real people. If we get this sort of gritty film today, it usually concerns a crime.



The film was directed by Tony Richardson.



Other forgotten movies can be found here.

Forgotten Movies, Friendly Persuasion

Gary Cooper could play any role and this is a good example. Directed by William Wyler, I watched this film over and over as a teenager. Strangely, I seldom find it on TV now. In this era of hyper-religiosity, perhaps the pacifism of Quakers is too tame.



Jess Birdwell is a Quaker farmer in Southern Indiana during the

Civil War. Dorothy McGuire plays his wife with equal skill. They are very persuasive as a nineteenth century Quaker couple.



The film is based on a novel by Jessamyn West and it's about the effects of the Civil War on the Birdwell family, the parents and the children: Anthony Perkins, Phyllis Love, and Richard Eyer. The tenets of pacifism are not easy to follow, especially during the Civil War.



Each of the Birdwells feel differently about the war and Anthony Perkins (the young son and Oscar-nominated here) feels it his duty to defend his home and family.



Friendly Persuasion's popularity was helped by Pat Boone's record of the title song which was a Gold record for him. The film also oozes the integrity of its characters.



Friendly Persuasion will pleasure thee in a hundred ways.



For more forgotten movies, check with Todd Mason.