Review of The Night of the Hunter (1955) by Jason J — 09 Jun 2010

Robert Mitchum is the menacing and demented fake preacher who's after a $10,000 fortune left in the possession of his ex-prisoner cellmate's children. He worms his way into the widow's life, marries and then murders her. Now he stalks the children who go on the run.......

Mitchum is mesmerising and terrifying as the Bible-spouting bogus preacher. You just don't know what he's capable of doing. It's a very good movie but hardly the masterpiece that everybody claims it is. It's very suspenseful and keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall, this is definitely worth watching, with some good performances all round but the ending feels like it's been tacked on just to give it a nice happy ending.