La nuit du chasseur

Charles Laughton had only one choice to pay the role of psycho-reverend- conman for his adaption of Night of the Hunter and it was Robert Mitchum. When he's on the screen Mitchum fills it with malevolence.

It's an unusual part for Mitchum. Usually he's terse and laconic in films, but as Harry Powell he's just full of words. Of course he doesn't mean anything he says, but he's just a fountain of speech in Night of the Hunter. Mitchum as he did later on in Thunder Road drew from his hobohemian background of the open road to get his characterization of the Reverend Harry Powell.

Powell who marries and murders women after robbing them blind has more than 25 to his credit in the backwoods of the Ohio river country in West Virginia and Kentucky during the Depression years. But he gets arrested for stealing a car and gets 30 days in jail. Mitchum gets thrown in the same cell as Peter Graves who robbed a bank and killed two people. Graves before he's caught gave the loot to his son Billy Chapin with a promise not even to tell their mother because she's not too swift. How right he's proved to be.

After Graves is hung, Mitchum finishes his sentence with the intention of wooing and marrying widow Shelley Winters. She falls for his line as does her little girl Sally Jane Bruce. But young Billy spots Mitchum for a phony from the gitgo.

The children are in for a lot of heartbreak and tragedy before the film concludes. One of the things I like best about Night is the Hunter is the way Laughton graphically demonstrates the life and poverty of rural America during the Depression. The film is all seen through the eyes of the children as they begin their Huck Finn like odyssey down the Ohio river, escaping from Mitchum.

According to Lee Server's biography of Mitchum, Laughton while great with the adults had no patience at all with the kids. After a while he let Mitchum actually direct Chapin and Bruce in their scenes.

Lillian Gish gives one of her great performances in the sound era of her career as the farm woman who eventually takes in the kids as she does for a few others. She's there to be a contrast to Mitchum. Her actions speak her faith a lot louder than Mitchum's phony ramblings.

Another role I like in this is that of Evelyn Varden. She and husband Don Beddoe employ Shelley Winters at their drug store and she's all full of concern in a showy pharisee like way for the kids. She's totally taken with Mitchum, but when he's unmasked as a phony her rage is something to see on screen.

Sad that Charles Laughton didn't do more behind the camera than this one film. He and Robert Mitchum formed a mutual admiration society that lasted until Laughton passed on inn 1962.

Still Night of the Hunter is a testament to that mutual admiration.

I still hear the lullaby singing sweetly in my head, like a hazy, haunting dream that won't go away.

From the opening scene of the beautiful Lillian Gish and her children, watching over the world in a starry sky, this movie just sinks you into a mesmeric fairy tale land. The camera takes us down in one sweeping move to a scene of children playing, a hot sunny day, and right to the feet of a murder victim. And that sweet music turns on us like a twisted nightmare as the scene chases after a car speeding along a country road to find one of movies worst villains.

Charles Laughton, in sadly his one and only stab at directing, created a masterpiece of horror with Night of the Hunter. The moments of sugar coated sweetness only make this movie even more disturbing as you wonder how the two can inhabit the same world.

Mitchum is terrifying. More-so in a town full of simple folk ready to match him up with the local widow who needs a father for her lit'le n's. Its like he's walked into the middle of a Frank Capra movie and he's going to do what he wants to.

This is not just a great horror movie, but an artist achievement to rival Welles' Kane. The river scene is one of many moments of pure visual splendor. And that sound track just keeps drifting alone, as if trying to coax you into slumber, till the singing madman of your nightmares comes over the hill, relentless. "Chil-dren, Come along now"

You don't watch this movie, it watches you. ...Hush, Lit'le ones, Hush.

Just before John Harper's father is captured by police, he tells his son where he has hidden the money. While in prison for his crime, he sleep talks and betrays himself to the religiously unhinged Rev Harry Powell. Powell leaves jail with Harper dead in his cell and sets out to infiltrate the family and get the money. However, when he kills John's mother, he and his sister go on the run from him.

One of these `hindsight is 20/20' films that gains a reputation with time, this film deserves the praise in gets in many areas and deserve to be very fondly remembered, or at least a lot more fondly than it was received by critics and audiences of the time. The plot is basic but full of religious imagery that works very well, whether it's Powell's twisted preacher or the runs of scripture that many of the characters cling to. The film presents itself with a very strong tone of foreboding and darkness that makes the material (and characters) feel more dangerous.

Most of the credit for this belongs with Laughton as director, who uses shadow really well and frames the film with clever shots. Some that come to mind is the shadow of Powell on his horse on the horizon, or the woman in the car underwater and so on. It stills feels clever and inventive now so it must have been seen as very different in the fifties. How he didn't win an Oscar, I'm not sure – wonder what else was up in this year.

Mitchum is tremendous in the title role, his role is larger than life and was also slightly playing with fire in it's portrayal as a reverend as corrupt or evil. Chapin is really wonderful as young John and has a much better character than some of the others in the cast. Winters is good in her performance. The only downside of the film is the 10 minutes at the end which feel like they are a happy ending that has just been tacked on and doesn't fit with the tone of the film.

Other than that, this is a very strong film in terms of theme, plot, acting and cinematography. It deserves more than it got at the time and I'm glad that modern audiences are finding this film all the time.

This is a nightmarish tale of a psychopathic preacher named Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum). Ben Harper (Peter Graves) commits killings and he hides the money , promising his sons -Pearl and John- silence about the secret place where it is stashed . While Harper is in prison meets lugubrious preacher Powell who has the words ¨Hate¨ tattooed on the knuckles of his left hand and ¨Love¨ on his right . One time condemned Ben to death penalty , Harry is freed from jail and goes Harper's home where lures Willa (Shelley Winters) and after he marries her in the hopes of getting the cache of money . Later on , the kids are protected by Rachel (Lilian Gish) when Powell threatens them , she's a valiant old lady , rifle wielding and Bible-reading .

This is an ogre-tale in which the psychotic baddie is a bogus preacher. It's a rare film noir , a classic of bizarre beauty and extraordinary performances , totally unique in Hollywood history . A perfect collaboration between novel author : David Grubb , the great screenwriter : James Agee , the cameraman : Cortez and director Laughton . This unusual , odd picture is proceeded under point of sight the children , describing mysterious scenarios and has its moments of strange images , such as the magic journey across the river . Dutch-born American serial killer Harry Powers was the inspiration for the Preacher . Top-notch Robert Mitchum in the acting of his life along with ¨Cape fear¨, he said that Charles Laughton was his favorite director and indicated that this was his favorite of the movies in which he had acted . Magnificent Lilian Gish as old lady who defends the children wielding her shotgun . Special mention for James Gleason as an old drunk who lives on a cottage by the river . Stanley Cortez's masterly cinematography drew heavily from photographers Nicholas Musuraka and John Alton , noir cinema's masters , in its use of lights , darkness and shadows to originate apprehension , suspense , mood and fear . Splendid musical score by Walter Schumann with sensitive lyrics and songs creating a hypnotic atmosphere . This masterpiece was wonderfully directed by great actor Charles Laughton , his only film behind the cameras , however being a flop on original release and he was never again to be offered the film-making another movie . Rating : Over-the-top film , above average . Indispensable and essential watching.

You can run, but you can't hide, from a wolf in a sheep's hide, when he senses he can take, and he's happy to forsake, gets a paw inside to prise, no one to hear your frightened cries, as you're taken to a place, and hunted down without much grace.

Seldom will you encounter such a soulless character as Harry Powell through such an outstanding performance by Robert Mitchum. I remember watching this as a child and being quite disturbed by how nasty people can be. I've watched it several times since and the most recent viewing left me thinking I'd just watched a promotion for a church or some such religious organisation, so intense was the in your face piety of the dialogue and direction - which didn't enhance the experience if I'm honest.