Review of The Night of the Hunter (1955) by Lad Z — 10 May 2010
The night of the hunter is a different kind of thriller, it's main influence are obviously from German expressionist films and the movie uses a lot of expressionist sets to create a dreamlike feeling and thus a very beautiful film.
Robert Mitchum gives perhaps his finest performance and the children are adorable to watch. The reverend is pure evil chasing the innocent children and this frightens us and the film uses dark imagery and silhouettes just to do that.
The pace of the movie is slowed down when the children are drifting down river and we hear a sweet lullaby and can see frogs and rabbits on the bank,enchanting these scenes are.
The film does not lose it's thrill but changes into a much lighter tone once the children meets the old lady. There is a final confrontation between good & evil and this is where it really gets tense and scary. Ultimately the children are safe and mitchum gets caught and punished for his killings.
When it came out this was not a popular film but over the decades it received more attention and critical appraisal.
It still remains one of the greatest thrillers, battle of good and evil and most of all a spellbinding movie that is so beautiful to watch.
This review of The Night of the Hunter (1955) was written by Lad Z on 10 May 2010.
The Night of the Hunter has generally received very positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
