12/22/10 - The Night of the Hunter

The Night of the Hunter (1955, 93 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048424/

This was a relatively new Criterion that came out in Blu-ray so I was glad to check out this version. I'd heard good things about the movie as it was one of the best depictions of good and evil and had many characteristics of the noir genre that I had grown to love with some of my recent viewings.

The film follows Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) as he tries to woo the widow Willa Harper (Shelley Winters) out of money her husband hid right before he died. It turns out that only her children John Harper (Billy Chapin) and Pearl Harper (Sally Jane Bruce) know the secret. Harry eventually murders Willa which puts the kids on the run where they end up with Rachel Cooper (Lillian Gish).

The great thing about this film is the cinematography. In typical noir fashion, everything is limited to black and white and so the stark contrasts are necessary to convey tension. The Night of the Hunter does not fail to disappoint in the least here as this is one of its best features. The best example for me was when Powell was on the horse and all that was visible was the silhouette on the horizon. For one, this was John's first sight of him while on the run and the eerie shadow made him all the more ominous. The line questioning if he ever slept added even more tension to the scene. It was somewhat sad to learn that this shot was accomplished with trick photography and no Robert Mitchum present. However, the coolness of the shot itself while watching the movie isn't hurt by this revelation.

The other good part about The Night of the Hunter is the evil preacher character. First, the use of a preacher as the antagonist isn't new but it's always cool. Robert Mitchum adds his own talents to the character and I think the most interesting aspect is the LOVE and HATE tattoos. For one, they add really cool imagery as they clash the stereotypical preacher. But they also add to the character by giving him this spiel that he seems to frequently use. This clashing of LOVE and HATE makes him even more likable to the naïve populous as they see it as so charming. One of the necessary characteristics in this story type is to have the preacher incredibly likable to everyone except the protagonist who can see through his lies and Robert Mitchum's excellent performance does just that and allows everything to succeed here.

The bad thing about The Night of the Hunter to me was that not a whole lot happened. I still enjoyed the movie immensely as there was quality acting by Mitchum and surprisingly great acting by Chapin who was pretty young. But really the movie meanders around without much truly happening. There's a chase as John and Pearl attempt to flee Powell but I think what I disliked was that there were just too many secondary characters that ended up not mattering. Everyone in the original town ends up not mattering once the movie leaves the city and then the Ms. Cooper character really only factors in briefly at the end. Powell, John, and Pearl carry the movie well by themselves but I think a quality secondary character would have served well. Willa Harper is probably the closest to being a strong secondary character but she falls short of the type of character I think would most benefit the movie.

Overall, I gave this film a 7/10. The Night of the Hunter is simply beautiful but it falls short in being a fully engrossing movie. The Reverend Harry Powell character wasn't as ominous as I was hoping but the child acting from Chapin and Bruce was far and away better than I was expecting.