It's a good movie, but it's not the masterpiece it is lauded to be.
The highlights of this movie are the sound and cinematography. I terms of story and character, it is often lacking logic and depth. Many have mentioned the kid's escape scene - when I saw it, my first reaction was.....well, it's a river at slow flow just follow it right then and there instead of the elaborate town-to-town hunt down the (what I presume is) Mississippi. Rachael Cooper plays a great old lady with a gun role, but I wish Shelley Winters had been given a larger part. Mitchum's role is relegated to a cliche evil preacher, with his only moments of acting shining in his facial expressions.
This movie gets 4 instead of 3 1/2 because of this shot:
Uhhhh, okay? I think this movie is somewhat unclassifiable. Formulas are mixed in weird manners and the result is unsatisfactory. But aside from the ending which I felt was overrated, I liked the twists and turns. "The Night of the Hunter" is like a movie designed for the ADHD-positive: it sets up for seemingly normal scenes, and just when that '50s cliched boredom creeps in, the movie turns to a more interesting situation extremely abruptly. w.E.i.R.d. The cinematography is very good and the little kids don't annoy in this movie. As a semi-allegory with Biblical allusions it works quite well, having more than one example for a hunter and a prey. It's very likable and most of it aged well, but I was expecting more. Mitchum's character, for instance, was just "there." His presence was intriguing and nothing more.
Some of the best stories in cinema are about the relentless persuit of riches. "Night of the Hunter" tells this tale with the haunting peformance of Robert Michum as a psychopathic monster willing to kill anyone in his way to $20,000. In addition to the compelling plot, this film has a great deal of style inside of it. Much is done with shadows and silhouettes, but the scene of the corpse underwater with its hair flowing in the current is beautiful to look at. This Depression Era story is an excellent recommendation.
A felonious, switchblade-toting preacher with the words "LOVE" and "HATE" tattooed on his knuckles chases two children across Depression-era West Virginia in search of $10,000. A domineering performance by Robert Mitchum as the hateful and hate-filled, yet fascinating, Harry Powell. Mitchum's powerful dark presence combines with vivid Expressionistic imagery (no one forgets the eerie beauty of the "fishing scene") to create an unforgettably grim American fairytale.
The Night Of The Hunter still stands today as one of the most shocking thrillers of all time, one which doesn't rely on on execessive amounts of violence or gore, but shadows and silliouetts to build an atmospheric tension. The children are wonderful and lovable characters. You get emotionly attached and want them to be okay. Robert Mitchum is impressive as one of the most hateable villains of all time in a motion picture. Lillian Gish plays a great character, one you admire for her kind heart.
An overall noir and thriller classic which you really must see.
Terrifying. Mr. Powell is frightening, you can just feel the children's fear every time he's singing. I love the scenes in the river too, they just look amazing!
Charles Laughton's only film as a director is one of the greatest of all american films. Brilliant atmosphere and storytelling, goes surreal in the end. Robert Mitchum is magnificent as a Tartuffe-like killer-preacher.
Un film particulier, tantôt hilarant de par son ambiance "over-the-top", tantôt sombre et étrange. Beaucoup d'éléments ont un peu mal vieillis, le film ayant quand même 53 ans, mais certains autres aspects impressionnent encore aujourd'hui. Le maniement de la caméra est parfois très ingénieux. Ce qui frappe aussi c'est à quel point l'éclairage est bien maîtrisé tout au long du film. Ça confère à certaines scènes une ambiance dramatique presque expressionniste, mais ça fonctionne merveilleusement bien avec le ton général du film.
Le jeu des acteurs, à part celui de Robert Mitchum qui est excellent, est assez daté dans sa manière de faire passer les émotions, mais on tolère quand même certains défauts vue la qualité globale du film. Charles Laughton n'a malheureusement jamais réalisé un autre film, découragé par la mauvaise réception critique et commerciale de celui-ci, pourtant un classique aujourd'hui.
Rachel Cooper: You know, when you're little, you have more endurance than God is ever to grant you again. Children are humanity's strongest. They abide.
This was a well made film. Robert Mitchum was fantastic in this. He brought an evil sinister preacher to life. All the scenes in the film were pretty suspenseful and felt very real.This was very thrilling to watch and kept my attention throughout the whole film.
Robert Mitchum is great as a charming and convincing sociopath masquerading as a preacher through many small and mostly uneducated villages in the deep South.
A rarity that feels like an hybrid of Americana, film-noir and German Expressionism. A film about a crazy sadistic preacher/ false prophet and two children with too much money.
The beginning of the film was very fast, and awkward, a lot of things happened at the same time and I started to wonder if it would last too long like this, because not much seemed to be getting across. As the story developed, it became more and more absorbing, intricate, and mysterious.
What did stand out immediately, though, was Robert Mitchum's imponent presence: he embodies a suave type of villain, if preachers are your type. His sure walk, his deep voice, unchanging expression, his perfect manners, were perfectly creepy. I haven't seen him in other films, but he seemed to have the particular talent that it takes to give a character such dimension that he appears to exist on his own. Some of his gestures and mannierisms are utterly theatrical, but they seem so incredibly ad hoc in the context of that particular character that Mitchum never falls into camp. He gives his character licence to anything.
The children actors were obviously amateur and some of the supporting cast overdid their performances, but Lillian Gish as Mitchum's antithesis was flawless. A silent era actress, she had perfect control of her facial expressions and a beautiful spontaneity to her reactions and gestures.
Although sometimes the pacing is awkward and the events frankly unbelievable, the film is visually brilliant: the night skies and landscapes as well as the surrealistic sequences are worthy of genuine European Expressionism. The struggle between Christian faith and false prophecy is also well detailed. All in all, the film has many different dimensions and is very ambitious. Although it didn't accomplish all it aspired to, it's an innovative achievement and definitely worth a watch.
this film is truly excellent... robert is excellent as the bad guy or false prophet!!! jst a roller coaster of a film!!! it was realy 2 lil gish on the screen i always wondered wat she sounded like!!!
people babble on and on about how fucking great this movie is, but im here to tell you- this movie sucks ass. hardcore. the only good part is robert mitchum and that's just because he goes so far over the top that it wouldn't be out of character for him to whip his dick out and smack the kids around with it. my god, what an awful movie. sometimes a bad movie gets to "classic" status merely because its old, and this is a prime example. cheesy, overwrought, melodramatic, hokey, simplistic crap like this should be flushed. save me the bullshit about "surreal" or "overheated" style- this is just pulpy crap that somehow escaped the merciful ravages of time to come out, miraculously, unscathed on the other side in the minds of film snobs everywhere. do yourself a favor and stop believing what critics are shoving down your throat- this is a bad, bad, bad movie, and should be treated as such. just because it's in black and white and old doesn't mean it's any good.
although, it is hilarious. my god. the part where, oh the horror! robert mitchum tries to chase the two little kids up the steps and outstretches his arms like frankenstein's monster, only to get his fingers stuck in the door and for him to go "ooooo!" and suck on them....pure comedy gold. or how about the horrified expressions on the young boys face, which are pretty much the equivalent of him sucking in air. that kid is the worst child actor in film history. my personal favorite comic gem was when old uncle stumpy or whatever the fuck his name is happens to be out fishin' away when he notices his uh...sister? maybe? or something sitting with her throat slit underwater in a car, even though the shots previous to that had pretty much established that she was way, way underwater, but he literally could stick his hand in and touch her head. and then he's all like "AH GOSH! GEE WILLY WHISKERS!" teehee, old people. or i like the part where robert mitchum is again chasing the kids and they're trying to escape in a skiff, and robert mitchum is like ten feet away from them but he keeps getting caught in all this brush so the kids can take like twenty minutes to push the boat out, and then he gets right up next to them but struggles through mud and then hits water and howls....why not try, oh i dont know, swimming really slowly towards the boat that's barely moving? can't swim, because your fake tattoos will wash off? is that it, mitchum? i do like, at the end, when the asshole lead kid thinks a good present for his new surrogate mommy is an apple he took from a pile in the living room. gee, thanks, skip, momma didn't even notice that's what she was puttin' out there! and then, what's with having the old lady explain the entire fucking theme to herself while baking? shouldn't a movie be, oh, i don't know, a tad bit more subtle than that? i could go on. and who wrote that plot synopsis? did robert mitchum's ghost put a gun to your head for that thing? a masterpiece? get the fuck out. phantasmagoric? that word should never be used. dramatic, primal, and unforgettable? only unforgettable in how absolutely mind crushingly bad it is. i'm seriously pissed because this is the type of shit that drives me nuts- it's not the bad movies that come out every weekend from hollywood like clockwork, it's the bad movies that, for some reason, whether it be nostalgia or just plain herd mentality, get put on some sort of fucking pedestal like jesus shit them out himself. fuck that mentality, and fuck this movie.
A phenomenal performance from Mitchum aside, let's call a spade a spade. This movie is pretty overrated. The script is poorly structured and the directing can get pretty campy. But Mitchum's performance overshadows all flaws.
this film passed without anyone to give attention in its age ...some years ago , some people recovered this masterpiece and the film took again the way to the theaters special notice to director...
The verdict is in: Robert Mitchum is the creepiest man alive. The lighting and cinematography are outstanding, and it's a uniquely rural film noir. Great, great film.
I have seen much better acting in the kids over the adults, however saying so, I kept imagining an updated version of the movie, in that case I'd say my remake would have been cooler. It's still a good thriller.
Absolutely excellent and thrilling movie with Robert Mitchum playing one of the most intensely creepy and sinister characters ever. I felt that it fell apart slightly in the ending but the movie is definitely a worthwhile and important film.
After having read numerous rave reviews for The Night of the Hunter, I was finally afforded the opportunity to watch this "classic" the other night. With the exception of Robert Mitchum's over-the-top performance and an underwater death scene, it was some pretty lame stuff. I don't understand all the accolades, but then I was never a film student, either.
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