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…

Re-watched this gem today and I am now fairly certain this is one of the best movies I've ever watched. 

The admirable storytelling by Charles Laughton makes me want to cheer and applaude every scene in this movie. 1 hour 32 minutes feels like 3 hours in a good way. There is so much story in this film!! 

I love how Robert Mitchum hauntingly sings his "Leaning" song throughout the entire movie to create such an eerie vibe, to only be topped by Lillian Gish's same version of the song holding her shotgun tight to her chest while adding on Jesus at the end of it.

What surprises me the most about this movie is how well it holds up…

I unfortunately missed Doc Films' 35mm presentation on Thursday, but thought it was a good enough opportunity to revisit one of my very favorite films.

While watching the ending of FIRST REFORMED (2017) last year, I thought a lot about THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER's use of the hymn "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" to chilling effect. Always sung by Robert Mitchum's menacing preacher Harry Powell, the song becomes a warning of his threat, that he's always outside and waiting for the right time to pounce. The music (and Powell's shadow) haunts the children even before he officially enters their lives and continues through the chase downstream, always right behind John and Pearl. In Powell's last performance of the hymn,…

“Would you like me to tell you the little story of right hand, left hand… the story of good and evil?”

In The Night of the Hunter, Robert Mitchum plays Harry Powell— a charismatically sinister preacher, with H-A-T-E tattooed on one fist, and L-O-V-E on the other. Although he narrates the story of struggle between these two values vying for supremacy, we quickly see that, for Harry Powell, it is not much of a competition— he only really embodies one of those characteristics. And its not much of a secret which one that is...

The film as a whole, however, is a remarkably nuanced, balanced tale of good and evil. Contradiction and duality are constantly emphasized throughout, in pairs such…