One of cinema’s great travesties is that Charles Laughton only directed one official film. So poorly received, both critically and commercially, was The Night of the Hunter that Laughton never helmed another film again. Whilst many works of art go unappreciated in their creator’s lifetime it still begs the question: why were people in 1955 such fucking idiots?

To miss this film’s brilliance is difficult to comprehend. Laughton has created one of the great American films of the ‘50s, a decade positively bursting with classics. It is hard to pigeonhole (and may well be the reason for its poor reception upon release) because whilst it is a noir thriller it feels more like a twisted bedtime story. It blends the…

The Night of the Hunter is a classic Gothic fairytale: an evil being charms an unsuspecting parent, while only the children are aware that things are not what they seem. It was only while watching the film, enthralled but also deeply unsettled, that I fully realized just how insidiously terrifying the stories of our childhoods are. It's probably not the kind of entertainment that children should be absorbing, but there you are.

When Reverend Powell arrives in town, singing a hymn in his deep, carrying voice, he immediately charms everybody but the children he wants to steal ten thousand dollars from. Little John and Pearl have been burdened with an enormous secret: to keep this vast amount of money safe…

Noir-November Challenge! Movie #32

Astounding on so many different levels I cannot begin to comprehend how an audience or critic could be immune to its haunting beauty! The cinematography (lighting, shadows, noteworthy angles) is nothing less than a fine work of art to be revered by generation after generation of cinephiles around the world!

A nightmarish vision that gave birth to one of the most vile, most foul villains in cinema history Reverend Harry Powell! Wicked good fun ensued as Robert Mitchum seemed to relish the deviltry required for this role! Which resulted in one of his most glorious, most dark, most unforgettable performances of his entire career!

The creep factor was off the charts! The hackles on the back…

I started to watch the new Netflix show Mindhunter on monday, I'm on episode 2 and I was talking with some guys on Facebook about serial killers and thrillers about them, I love the genre, it's one of my all-time favorites. Someone mentioned this film and while I've heard about it before, I never actually got the chance to watch it.
It has nothing to do with the show but the film is the adaptation of a novel inspired on a real-life serial killer.

And how is the film? it's incredible, it's so good, the story, the way in which was filmed, the noir style, the narrative, the performaces, especially Robert Mitchum, who's at the same time charming and a…

One of those films everybody else seems to love but I just can't see why. Mitchum's performance is magnificent, but there's just so many odd choices in this film with performance and direction that it just annoyed me. It felt like the film was constantly trying to teach me a lesson or a moral, and it just felt odd.

Take for example how quickly Mrs Harper falls in love with and marries Harry Powell, it's nearly instantaneous. On top of that, she never seems to even grieve for one second after the death of her husband. Stranger yet is that Mr Harper is arrested for murder and stealing $10,000 yet the policemen arrest him and leave the scene immediately, as…

Though the film was unsuccessful upon its initial release (and tragically so, especially since that resulted in this being director Charles Laughton's only film), it's remarkable just how much this film was able to get away with, content-wise. At the height of the Production Code era, THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER was bold enough to tell the story of a serial-killing, child-hunting preacher who twists the teachings of Christianity to suit his depraved worldview.

The narrative of the film is far from a logical one; instead, its strengths lie in expressionism. Information that is conveyed in a clunky-fashion via writing is expressed powerfully through simultaneously dreamlike, emphatic visuals that give the film the feeling of a distorted, 20th-century fairy tale…

Not a bad thriller, but not a great one either. There are some creepy moments in this movie to be sure, and Robert Mitchum terrorizing two little kids will make you cringe or maybe have you urging them to run. The shot director Charles Laughton captures of Shelley Winters in the lake is excellent, and Mitchum’s ‘L-O-V-E’ on the knuckles of one hand with ‘H-A-T-E’ on the knuckles of the other is iconic. Oh, and it was fantastic to see 62-year-old Lillian Gish, who turns in a suitably feisty performance.

On the other hand, Laughton’s direction is heavy-handed and clunky at times, and there are plot moments that just don’t seem quite right. The acting ranges from poor to so-so,…

This debut (and only) feature from Charles Laughton is better than most things veteran directors would make 20 years into their career.

Every shot in this movie is fucking amazing. There is gorgeous cinematography throughout this film, with the dark contrasting the light in the film. The shots at night look like beautiful paintings, with my favorite being the overhead shot of John and Pearl on the canoe in the river with a spiderweb, and with them seemingly coming out of it, they are leaving their broken life with Powell and trying to start anew.

The Night of the Hunter is a film that shows duality. Powell has "Love" and "Hate" tattooed on his fingers. The film has an outstanding…