La noche del cazador

'The Night Of The Hunter' is recognized by most critics and hard core film buffs as one of the most extraordinary movies ever made, but sadly it's still frequently overlooked by the many movie fans, probably because it's so difficult to categorize. Yes, it's a thriller but it's also a child's nightmare. A Noir but also a fable. Robert Mitchum gives one of his very best performances as Harry Powell, the charming but evil preacher with "love" tattooed on one hand, "hate" on the other. Powell is one of the most memorable screen villains of all time, and 'The Night Of The Hunter' is worth watching just for Mitchum, who is mesmerizing. Shelley Winters is surprisingly effective as the widow Powell woos, Peter Graves has a small role at the beginning as her first husband, and Lillian Gish plays the saintly Ms. Cooper, guardian of unwanted children. Because this movie isn't set in isn't the "real world" many viewers don't know exactly how to react to it. Charles Laughton's small town America is a stylized, dreamlike place, in some ways not unlike David Lynch's twisted world depicted in 'Blue Velvet' and 'Twin Peaks'. It also reminds me of Flannery O'Connor's Gothic South in her classic novels 'Wise Blood' and 'The Violent Bear It Away'. Some of the scenes involving Powell menacing Winters' children deliberately invoke James Whale's 'Frankenstein', and the sequence depicting the children's journey down the river is charming but blatantly artificial. While I'm a big fan of "outsider" film makers like Russ Meyer, Coffin Joe and Alejandro Jodorowsky, I also greatly admire those who work within the system but still manage to subvert Hollywood with doses of surrealism. I'm thinking of movies such as 'Kiss Me Deadly', 'Shock Corridor' and 'The Manchurian Candidate'. Each of these films are unique but they also remind me of each other and of 'The Night Of The Hunter'. I highly recommend them all and wish that there were a lot more movies like them today. 'The Night Of The Hunter' is essential viewing for anybody interested in American movies!

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 classic film is set during the Great Depression; Ben Harper has stolen ten thousand dollars, killing two people in the process. He manages to get home and gives the money to his children, John and Pearl. They hide it in Pearl's favourite rag doll and he tells them not to tell anybody else, including their mother, about it. Shortly afterwards he is arrested and sentenced to hang. In prison he tells his story to his cellmate, Harry Powell. Powell professes to be a preacher but he preys on women who he murders for their savings. After Ben is executed and Powell's short sentence ends he heads off to befriend Ben's widow, Willa. Everybody except John takes an immediate liking to Powell. It isn't long before Powell marries Willa and soon after that he starts pressuring John to find where the money is hidden. Things soon get very dangerous as Powell will go to any length to get the money.

After over sixty years this film is still gripping and manages to provide some real surprises for the first time viewer. Robert Mitchum manages to be both plausible and genuinely menacing as the evil Powell. The innocent town where the Harpers live certainly isn't ready for a man like Powell. Shelley Winters is solid as Willa and Lillian Gish impresses as the woman who ultimately helps the children. Young Billy Chapin and Sally Jane Bruce are also good in the roles of John and Pearl respectively. Director Charles Laughton did a fine job building the tension, creating the right atmosphere and providing some moments that are surprisingly disturbing for a film of this era. Overall I'd say that this is a must see for any fans of classic cinema in general and certainly for fans of film noir.

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.

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.