The Night of the Hunter

Rating:
Summary: Sappy & crappy.
Review: I adore Robert Mitchum and I do not disagree with much that has been written here, but the religion was laid on with a trowel. So hokey. So corny. The angelic voices, the hymns...Lillian Gish looking up to heaven...please! What I thought would be film noir turned out more like a rally for George Bush Jr.!

Rating:
Summary: A Cinematic Masterpiece In A Class Of Its Own - Almost
Review: Perhaps the least prolific writer/director to create a masterpiece in a class of its own - almost - was Charles Laughton, who wrote and directed ONE movie in 1955 called "The Night Of The Hunter" with Robert Mitchum as a demonic preacher, Shelley Winters in a fine role, and Lillian Gish at her best. Charles Laughton was 7 years from the end of his 55-film acting career (that began in 1928) when he made Hunter, a film that had little commercial success upon its release, but has since achieved cult status. When I first caught Hunter as a afternoon movie broadcast, I was mesmerized by its haunting mood, earthy characters, photographic brilliance, and perfectly matched soundtrack music.

Decades later upon first seeing Terrence Malick's Badlands (1973), I remembered a movie from my distant past that evoked the same awe, starred Mitchum, and was directed by Laughton. It was at the IMDb site years later that I was able to ID it as "The Night Of The Hunter". My most memorable similarity noted between the two masterpieces was the cinematography - clever camera angles, sweeping stark landscapes, menacing crime scenes on land and water, and above all the frequent close-ups of animal and plant life, the latter with time-lapse growth montages. Hunter was a remarkable directorial debut for Laughton as was Badlands for Malick, whom I suspect was somewhat influenced by his predecessor.

Ever since I first caught Badlands as a late-night movie broadcast, I have been mesmerized by its haunting mood, earthy characters, photographic brilliance, and perfectly matched soundtrack music - so much so that I am compelled to watch broadcast after broadcast. After buying first the VHS then the remastered DVD, I am still left wanting the ultimate package that would feature not only better widescreen video and richer surround sound, but also a seperate bonus audio soundtrack with all the musical selections, especially those by Carl Orff and Gunild Keetman. Fans of this movie have long lamented the absence of a published soundtrack. For more info on the actual Badlands Orff/Keetman cuts, see my review at Amazon 'Soundtrack for the Terrence Malick 1973 movie "Badlands"?'.

We who hold Badlands in high regard have also bemoaned the two-decade drought of directorial output by Maestro Malick that ended with a poorly edited theatrical release of "The Thin Red Line". "Days Of Heaven" was nearly on par with Badlands, but then did Orson Welles ever have a realistic shot at surpassing Citizen Kane with HIS subsequent efforts?

Interestingly, 43 years passed from the premiere of Hunter until the soundtrack CD was finally released in 1998 with narration throughout by Laughton (published in 1955 on LP, now a collector's item in the $100+ bracket)! I just discovered the existence of this CD today while surfing IMDb, prior to writing this review, in an Amazon link. Perhaps there is hope we may see a Badlands soundtrack release before 2016, maybe with some Sissy Spacek narration and Martin Sheen dialog as seperate tracks.

Rating:
Summary: LOVE - HATE:THE TWO VARIABLES OF THE LIFE !
Review: When a religious fanatic marries with a widow , strange things start to happen . The far echoes of his spiritual ancestor - Tartuffe - begin to show .

Eventually he will murder her searching for her loot and the awful nightmare will be unforgettable for the children who will have to escape for her lives .

This essential film considered for many viewers as a Film Noir , acquires a major significant if you think in the bitter metaphor of the terrible persecutions undertaken by the Status Quo in the World .

The masterpiece of Charles Laughton found in Robert Mitchum his best exponent . Realize the haunting and poignant final.

And please remember the sincere homage by Spike Lee in Do the right thing to this cult movie

The religious fanatic becomes heretic due its own fanaticism .

Though this premise may be well extend to other areas .


Rating:
Summary: An under-appreciated classic (spoilers within)
Review: I started to watch this movie again last week for the purpose of reviewing it for my film review site, and I quickly realized that it's a film I could have written a term paper on for one of my college film classes. Trying to explain "The Night of the Hunter" to anyone is nearly impossible. It's not the story that matters so much as how it's told, as directed by Charles Laughton in his one (credited) directorial effort. It is said he never directed again because the reviews of "The Night of the Hunter" discouraged him so much.

Robert Mitchum is "Reverend" Harry Powell, a self-appointed preacher who preys upon lonely widows - "What'll it be now, Lord? Another widow?" - killing them for their money as he believes the Lord has instructed him, and then moving on to the next victim. While in prison briefly on a car-theft rap, he shares a cell with Ben Harper (Peter Graves, best known for his role on the old TV show "Mission Impossible"), who is awaiting execution for robbing a bank of $10,000 and killing 2 men in the process (we see Harper being arrested for the crime in an earlier scene).

He tries to worm the location of the money from Harper before the execution, but fails. When he is released from his brief prison stay, he heads straight for Willa Harper (Shelley Winters); Ben's weak, sweet, sexually frustrated, somewhat dense widow, and her two kids (who know where the money is - the mother does not - but promised their father they would never tell). They marry, and she finds out on their wedding night exactly what kind of marriage she's in for...to her wailing loss. But she apparently brainwashes easily (not that there's much there to brainwash) and gives herself and her repressed sexuality over to God, praying that she can "be made clean" and be "what Harry wants me to be".

However, Willa soon becomes a version of the Shakespearean Ophelia; her throat cut, sitting in her car at the bottom of the local lake, with her hair floating around her...this scene still stands out in my mind as one of the most haunting images in cinema.

Harry is left alone with the kids after explaining to the neighbors that Willa "ran off", and he immediately starts needling them, "Where's the money hid?", threatening to kill them if they don't divulge its location. They escape and run away, lucky enough to get taken in by a kindly, elderly widow, Rachel Cooper (masterfully portrayed by the wonderful Lillian Gish). Powell tracks them down, of course, but he didn't count on the feisty, self-sufficient, truly Christian widow Cooper, who sees right through him. It's a classic struggle of good against evil.

There is just so much going on in this film: biblical references and symbolism; Freudian symbolism (Powell's knife brandished in a couple of scenes as a warped version of a phallic symbol); Mitchum's and Gish's amazing performances; various other, interesting, smaller storylines; a scene reminiscent of "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (1919); Powell's tattoos of "Love" and "Hate" on his knuckles; and the dream-like, surreal riverboat escape sequence. The children, played by Billy Chapin (John Harper) and Sally Jane Bruce (Pearl Harper) give effective performances, although Bruce reminds me of Christina Ricci as a child in one of her Addams Family roles - creepy. There's also the over-the-top campiness in some of Mitchum's acting, which fits in perfectly with the stylized direction of the film; the sexual undercurrent and its repression that runs throughout (and no one played whiny, sexual frustration in those days better than Shelley Winters, as evidenced by this and other roles such as the mother in "Lolita" (1962): "Harrrrrry! I'm lonnnnnnnely!" and her role as the cast-aside pregnant girlfriend in "A Place in the Sun" (1951). Lillian Gish is wonderful in her portrayal, standing up to the evil Harry Powell with her shotgun and her truly pure belief, and Robert Mitchum is perfectly cast in what some see as his best film role; his charismatic, handsome, oily, smooth portrayal of the serial killer Harry Powell surely must stand as a study guide for today's actors. Mitchum seemed to reprise much of his technique for this performance for his subsequent role in "Cape Fear" (1962).

I really can't say much more without going on and on for pages. Each scene could be written about and analyzed in detail; each scene is lit and photographed and told in a manner that has a director's hand prints all over it. It's a true artist's film, and we will never know what other wonders Charles Laughton could have directed. I have read of some viwers who laughed through much of this movie, which is unfortunate. I find it difficult to comprehend that reaction from any intelligent viewer who was really paying attention. I guess you either "get it", or you don't, which may have something to do with the film's dismal success when it was released. There are lines that are intentionally meant as comedy, of course, such as the local nosy woman who goes on about sex in front of everyone attending the local picnic, exclaiming "God didn't mean for a woman to want that, not really want that!" and "In all those years, I just lay there and thought about my canning!" with her husband standing a few feet away, and all the kids and neighbors within earshot.

This under-appreciated film is a ghoulish twist on a classic story, directed (and mostly written, it is said, by Laughton, after his arguing with James Agee over the rendition of the screenplay) in a masterful manner by a man best known for his own portrayals of classic film characters such as Captain Bligh in "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935), and Quasimodo in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1939).

The hymn "Everlasting Arms" recurs throughout, and could never sound the same again after this film.

Go. Go at least to rent this movie, or better yet, buy it. It's a one-of-a-kind masterpiece, IMO.


Rating:
Summary: "What'll it be now, Lord? Another widow?"
Review: This has always been my favorite Robert Mitchum movie. Granted, he does play a psychotic preacher/murderer, but his acting & demented humor are what make this an undisputed classic. I think this is easily his best performance & he should've won an oscar. This film noir masterpiece is really a fairy-tale story of good vs. evil. In other words, Lillian Gish vs. Robert Mitchum! Shelly Winters plays the "dumb blonde" who falls for Mitchum & marries him after her husband is hung for murder. Her husband (Peter Graves) had stolen a lot of money & only his two kids know where it's hidden. Mitchum was Graves' cellmate in prison & sees a golden opportunity: marry Graves' wife & find the money! She soon regrets her decision to marry him but instead of divorce, he slits her throat! Then he puts her (& her car) at the bottom of the river. Now only her two kids remain, Pearl & John. John knows Mitchum is after the money & so he takes his sister Pearl & runs away, with Mitchum in hot pursuit. Pearl & John soon find a kind elderly woman (Lillian Gish) who takes care of orphans, & they decide to stay at her home. Mitchum soon finds them, but I won't give away the ending. This was Charles Laughton's first & only movie to direct & he did a masterful job. The sets, cinematography, & music are flawless, as are the performances. I was especially impressed by the two child actors, Billy Chapin (played John) & Sally Jane Bruce (played Pearl). With movies like "Reefer Madness" getting special edition dvds released, I don't know why MGM hasn't given this masterpiece its proper treatment.

Rating:
Summary: Less scary than a nightmare on elm street?
Review: Obviously. Someone who gave it one star said that it was less scary than a nightmare on elm street, which is obvious, but the night of the hunter never tries to be scarier. For a start, the night of the hunter is rated 12 (remember I'm england) and a nightmare on elm street is an 18, so of course one of them is going to be scarier than the other! Anyway, it's a great film, with some beautiful images, and some genuinely creepy scenes. Pearl scared the hell out of me. Why? Because she looks identical to the girl who bullied me when I was 11. Of course, that means she's only scary to me, but she's pretty creepy anyway. Lots of people commented on how they fell about laughing while watching it. They must have thought it was a comedy, because the night of the hunter is anything but funny.

Rating:
Summary: DVD cuts out half the movie
Review: This is one of the most beautiful movies ever made, and by chopping off the sides to make it fit the TV screen, the producers of this DVD have deleted the power of some *very* striking images. I will keep my eyes open for a properly formatted DVD.

Rating:
Summary: Creepy and effective.
Review: Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955)

Charles Laughton, who acted in Hitchcock's films The Paradine Case and Jamaica Inn, obviously took a page from the master when he got behind the camera for his first and only directorial effort, Night of the Hunter. It sure doesn't look like a debut film; it's another of those Hitchcock films that Hitch didn't make (like Edward Dmytryk's 1965 thriller Mirage).

Robert Mitchum (Cape Fear, The Big Sleep, and over a hundred others) is Reverend Harry Powell, an all-around nasty guy who exudes an air of menace wherever he goes. He makes his living, when not preaching, by marrying widows, stealing their money, and killing them. Willa Harper (The Great Gatsby, Lolita, and over a hundred others) just happens to be a new widow; Powell, in jail on an auto theft charge, happens to share a cell with Harper's husband, being executed for bank robbery. So Powell knows Harper has a bundle of cash lying around (even if Harper doesn't; the police caught up with her husband before he could tell her where he hid the money), and from there, the rest is obvious.

To really get the most out of Night of the Hunter, think of it as a David Lynch film based on a Hitchcock script adapted from a Carlos Castaneda-penned hardboiled thriller. Nothing is as it seems; one reviewer has stated that in his opinion, the whole movie takes place inside Willa's son's imagination, explaining the whole movie's odd, dreamlike quality (that would later be center stage in the films of such directors as Lynch, Jodorowsky, and Terence Malick). Mitchum is brilliant, if a scenery-chewer a la Charlton Heston, and Winters is really quite good. Lillian Gish (another in the hundred-plus movies category) comes off a bit overbearing, but that makes sense given the kid's-nightmare explanation (once you get a feel for her character, you'll understand).

This is a movie people either love or hate. Me, I'm quite fond of it. Not sure it deserves its lofty place on IMDB's top 250, but its importance and watchability are unquestionable. ****

Rating:
Summary: An All Time Favorite
Review: L O V E - H A T E. LOL. This film is more than worth watching for the lucious black and white cinematography by Stanley Cortez. Every frame of any set-up could truly be blown up, framed, and hung on a wall in an art gallery. It's that stunning. One of the things I noticed watching this film again for the 3rd or 4th time (1st time on DVD - a real treat) is that I don't think Laughton ever moved the camera in any set up. Very hard to stage.

Mitchum is at his deranged, menacing best as the sadistic preacher, as is Shelly Winters, and the child actors. Lillian Gish is PERFECT in her role. The score is also excellent.

While some have argued that the 'sinister preacher' is cliched or 'corny', I disagree. Given the times/place the film is set, it's perfectly believable. Secondly, this character has been aped 100X based on Michum's character in the film. No one, of course, ever touching his performance.

Great flick - they don't make'm like this anymore. Had Orsen Wells or Kubrick directed this - and Laughton's direction reminds me of Wells, critics would have given it the 'halo effect' and it would reside alongside Citizen Cane and Casablanca in the (silly) debate over the best film of all time. It never, due to stupid film critcs, got past the absurd 'an actor can't be a great director' stigma and garnered the respect it deserves as an American film masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: Sappy & crappy.
Review: Charles Laughton's "The Night of the Hunter" is one of the most notable atmospheric films ever made. One wonders what other works may have followed had Laughton decided to further pursue a career in directing. The dream-like visuals he employed in "The Night of the Hunter" were groundbreaking, beautiful, haunting, and breathtaking all at the same time.

Reverend Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) arrives in a small town one day with the letters H-A-T-E and L-O-V-E tattooed on his knuckles. Powell has learned of $10,000 in hidden money which was stolen by a man who used to live in the town. Seeking out the man's widow, Willa Harper (Shelley Winters), Powell hopes to find the hidden money and keep it for himself. The widow's two children, John (Billy Chapin) and Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce) know the location of the money but refuse to tell the mysterious preacher where it is. So begins a cat-and-mouse game between Powell and the children.

Laughton was ahead of his time in making such effective use of visual imagery. The shadows and lighting he employed added deeper layers of meaning to the proceedings. Especially noteworthy are the moments in the bedroom set and the shot depicting Willa Harper's final fate - both scenes still astonish to this day. When the children drift down the river while escaping from Powell, the wonder and darkness of nature is filmed in so graceful, mysterious, and absorbing a manner that one is reminded of the techniques of modern-day directors Terrence Malick and Tim Burton. Mitchum is amazing in what is easily the best performance of his carreer. Child actors Chapin and Bruce are also great as is Winters in a tragic role. The inclusion of screen legend Lillian Gish in the second half of the film is only icing on the cake for an already impressive production.