Review of The Night of the Hunter (1955) by Hiatt N — 24 Jul 2012
The haunting imagery of the film hints at the simple black/white morality of the German Expressionist films that inspired the cinematography, but nothing could be further from the truth. If you want to look at this as a straightforward thriller, you have to ignore layers of sexual and violent subtext that create a simmering potpourri of darkness and horror.
A morally barren nightmare world is created in The Night of the Hunter, and it's one of the few films to successfully show a story from a child's perspective. The children think everything is good and evil, but Laughton has given us enough to see that there's really much more going on here.
Absolutely incredible.
This review of The Night of the Hunter (1955) was written by Hiatt N on 24 Jul 2012.
The Night of the Hunter has generally received very positive reviews.
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