Rating: 
Summary: Just one word - MITCHUM!!!
Review: Psychological terror at its best. In Charles Laughtons first and last directorial undertaking he masters the technique of terror without bloodshed and strikes fear into our hearts as we sit in the dark and watch helplessly as Mitchum(as a man of god)is at his most vicious, tracking down two innocents for money for "his church". When the movie is over the sound of his singing will still ring in the night.
Rating: 
Summary: Dig your southern accent, Bob
Review: Recently saw again and then read the reviews by Maltin and assorted movie buffs; this is a real lemon! Horrible, overstated, numbing acting. Ms. Winters is her usual slob, sad self ala her portrayal in "A Place in the Sun". Mr. Laughton should have stuck with hammy roles and Mitchum is just godawful. Cinematography is sophomoric and the whole thing is so dark. And James Agee involved to boot! What a mess!
Rating:
Summary: A true masterpiece.
Review: Even after the never ending parade of so called masterpieces trotted out over the intervening forty plus years, "The Night of The Hunter" remains unassailable. I first saw this film as an adolescent, and it remains my favorite film to date. The stark, arresting image of Shelley Winters tied to the front seat of the Model T, her hair dancing slowly to the silent rhythm of the rivers current, is haunting to this day. Although Mitchum went on to do great work, in my opinion he never eclipsed his role as the cold-blooded country preacher, toting a switchblade. He was perfectly frightening. "The Night of the Hunter" is proof positive that the legions of special effects artists overpopulating Hollywood today will never substitute for a great screenplay in the hands of the right people. With the current trend of reviving Hollywood classics for limited big screen release, I am hopeful that one day I will have the opportunity to see this film in a theatre. Now that would be a rare treat.
Rating:
Summary: Movies don't get any better than this
Review: Mithcum, Laughton, Agee, - Could this movie be any better? Every time I watch this movie I feel sad that it has to end. And every time I watch it, I appreciate the wonderful script, cinematography, and music even more than I did the last time. Still my favorite movie ever.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful in every way
Review: One of the best American films ever made. The second half of the movie (beginning with the children escaping down the river) is just riveting. The visual effects are remarkable.
Rating:
Summary: The best American movie ever
Review: This haunting tale is the best film to ever be made by an American studio. A horrific fairy tale that you will continue to remember decades later. Robert Mitchum's preacher has the power to scare even today. And the cinematography is unparalleled.
Rating:
Summary: Leaning, Leaning
Review: What a terrific movie this is, in every element. They don't make horror movies like this anymore.
Rating:
Summary: "Wherefore By Their Fruits, Ye Shall Know Them..."
Review: From the novel by Davis Grubb - the first and only film directed and purportedly written by the flamboyant and swashbucking actor, Charles Laughton. In Robert Mitchum's biography, he stated that Laughton found the script by James Agee (co-writer of the African Queen) totally unacceptable. Laughton paid off Agee, sent him packing and rewrote virtually the entire script himself, uncredited.This 1955 melodrama cum Grimm's Fairy Tale is brilliantly directed, acted, scored and the cinematography by Stanley Cortez is breathtakingly creepy and beautiful all at the same time. Mitchum plays the sexually repressed, thieving, lying, cheating and quite sociopathic Rev. Harry Powell. The ol' Rev. got caught in a stolen vehicle while watching a "hootchie cootchie" dancer in a burlesque establishment and is sentenced to 30 days in the state penitentiary. It just so happens as fate takes a turn that the scheming Rev's bunkmate is in the clink for killing two men and robbing a bank of over $10,000.00 that has never been recovered. The Rev. tries to get the "sinner" to tell him where the money is hidden but the man won't budge. The man is hanged for his crime, the Rev. is let out of jail and goes to find the man's wife, played by Shelley Winters, his two young children and , of course, the loot! The Rev. even marries the young widow to get to the money and many evils ensue... Lillian Gish turns in a wonderful performance as a benefactor of the children. I don't want to spoil the premise of the movie as other reviewers have done. Just know that it's a horror/fairytale/melodrama/satire all rolled into a great piece of filmaking! If you liked Mitchum in "Cape Fear" you will love him as the sociopathic Rev. Powell! Happy Watching!
Rating:
Summary: Surreal Mitchum
Review: I've always been a fan of Robert Mitchum's stoic style. But he's anything but stoic in this very unique film. The atmosphere created by Laughton's direction - and apparently his rewriting of the script - is as surreal as it gets. Once you realize you're watching an adult fairy tale about good and evil, you'll be mesmerized. This film is one artist's only offering, and worth the time to watch.
Rating:
Summary: Deserves to be ranked with "Citizen Kane."
Review: Charles Laughton, one of the greatest actors of Hollywood's Golden Age, made his directorial debut at age 56 with "Night of the Hunter." The film flopped so badly with critics and public that Laughton was never allowed to direct a movie again. It's hard to tell which is worse: the tragedy for the cinema, or the idiocy of the critics and the public. "Night of the Hunter" deserves to be ranked with "Citizen Kane" and the works of Pabst and Murnau among the great Expressionist film masterpieces. Its artiness probably meant it would never be a great popular success, but it deserves to be more than a cult favorite. Its combination of stark realism and extreme stylization, of magical beauty and Hitchcockian suspense, has never been replicated in any other movie. The performances are all superb and, in the cases of Robert Mitchum and Lillian Gish, extraordinary. Mitchum pushes the envelope just enough as the evil preacher Harry Powell, giving a performance that might seem way over the top if a scene were taken out of context, but which masterfully evokes diabolical menace as a whole. As for Gish, she creates an unforgettable character in Rachel Cooper, whose prim, strict exterior barely conceals a combination of wisdom, backbone and moral splendor rarely found in the cinema. Shelley Winters is also very fine as a woman blinded by desire and guilt. Too little, I think, has been said of the supporting players in "Night of the Hunter." Billy Chapin is very touching as the little boy Powell menaces, but the standouts have to be Don Beddoe and Evelyn Varden as Walt and Icey Spoon, a sort of Richard and Hyacinth Bucket gone to seed. Icey is all idiot compliance with the loathsome Powell, taking his protestations of piety at face value while imagining herself the arbiter of morality and common sense. Walt, her henpecked husband, occasionally voices doubts but is quickly brought into line. So when Powell is revealed as the murderous monster he is, who leads the lynch mob? Why, Walt and Icey, of course! There are hundreds and hundreds of Walts and Iceys in small-town America. I know that firsthand.
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