The Night of the Hunter
THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (PG)
D: Charles Laughton
United Artists (Paul Gregory)
US 1955
93 mins
Thriller
W: James Agee [based on the novel by
Davis Grubb]
DP: Stanley Cortez
Ed: Robert Golden
Mus: Walter Schumann
Robert Mitchum (Preacher Harry
Powell), Shelley Winters (Willa Harper), Lillian Gish (Rachel), Evelyn Varden (Icey Spoon), Peter Graves (Ben Harper), Billy Chapin (John), Sally Jane Bruce (Pearl), James
Gleason (Birdie)
Robert Mitchum gives one of the most sinister performances
of all time as a villainous, corrupt preacher who seduces a widow so he can locate the whereabouts of a fortune hidden by her children's father.
The brooding, atmospheric photography only adds to Charles
Laughton's tense direction, itself feeling like something Hitchcock, the master of suspense, would have brought to the screen.
One of cinema's all-time great thrillers.
9/10
