My favourite Mitchum film, next to Cape Fear. Also the one and only film that established actor Charles Laughton would direct. It was met with a whole lot of negative publicity when it came out, and he never directed another, dying before it was realized as a near-perfect noir.
I love just about everything in Night of the Hunter. The simple sets, the acting, the writing...for an example of how you do awesome for next to no money, check out the scene where Mitchum's silhouette is seen riding a horse across the horizon whilst singing hymns. Creepy as hell, and powerful as all get-out. So many frames of this film could be captured and displayed as artwork....the "underwater driving" scene, for example.
Of course, Mitchum is what makes the film work....his performance is chilling. The fact that he's going after two children makes it even more unsettling, the scene where the two are trying to get into the boat a great example of edge-of-your-seat suspense.
really, the only weak part is the final act with Lillian Gish, which is no slam against her....it just doesn't match the intensity found earlier in the film, and never really recovers from the side story to take advantage of the conclusion.
The Criterion blu-ray is something else, with tons of features, the best one being Charles Laughton Directs; essentially the footage that was captured on-set, as Laughton was known to leave the camera running the whole time. Different takes, his exchanges with the actors, all preserved.
Quite simply..an amazing film. My favourite noir.
I love just about everything in Night of the Hunter. The simple sets, the acting, the writing...for an example of how you do awesome for next to no money, check out the scene where Mitchum's silhouette is seen riding a horse across the horizon whilst singing hymns. Creepy as hell, and powerful as all get-out. So many frames of this film could be captured and displayed as artwork....the "underwater driving" scene, for example.
Of course, Mitchum is what makes the film work....his performance is chilling. The fact that he's going after two children makes it even more unsettling, the scene where the two are trying to get into the boat a great example of edge-of-your-seat suspense.
really, the only weak part is the final act with Lillian Gish, which is no slam against her....it just doesn't match the intensity found earlier in the film, and never really recovers from the side story to take advantage of the conclusion.
The Criterion blu-ray is something else, with tons of features, the best one being Charles Laughton Directs; essentially the footage that was captured on-set, as Laughton was known to leave the camera running the whole time. Different takes, his exchanges with the actors, all preserved.
Quite simply..an amazing film. My favourite noir.
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