Totally agree with another reviewer who says that the film is very watchable up until the scene where Stephen burns the doll at which point all suspense and intrigue is lost and the whole things slides into an unfrightening and unsatisfying loony tune denouement.
Up until then one is prepared to ignore the lack of logic in the plot (for example: NONE of the staff at the nursery school remember the new girl, even though she speaks with an American accent; the Superintendent makes no effort to check American citizen records) in order to run with the 'does the child really exist' storyline.
Several people have commented in the section below about 'how could she leave her kid unattended' and interestingly this kind of comment comes up quite often from younger people in reference to older films. The fact is that I myself was nine in 1965 and I can testify that at that very age I was allowed to go off exploring by myself in places where we stopped on our travels in a way that would be unthinkable today.
So anyway, this film is saved by its good points: the unusual widescreen monochrome, the glimpses of sixties London and especially the quietly mesmeric performance by Olivier as the rather too-high ranking officer for the case.
Up until then one is prepared to ignore the lack of logic in the plot (for example: NONE of the staff at the nursery school remember the new girl, even though she speaks with an American accent; the Superintendent makes no effort to check American citizen records) in order to run with the 'does the child really exist' storyline.
Several people have commented in the section below about 'how could she leave her kid unattended' and interestingly this kind of comment comes up quite often from younger people in reference to older films. The fact is that I myself was nine in 1965 and I can testify that at that very age I was allowed to go off exploring by myself in places where we stopped on our travels in a way that would be unthinkable today.
So anyway, this film is saved by its good points: the unusual widescreen monochrome, the glimpses of sixties London and especially the quietly mesmeric performance by Olivier as the rather too-high ranking officer for the case.