donaldricco Robert Mitchum singing "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" is just about one of the creepiest things on film! And his silhouetted outline is another! Dang, that man can play a bad guy! And this time he's a bad preacher terrorizing two children! Yikes! And Lillian Gish makes her character, Rachel Cooper, come alive as his opposite! It's a good movie, mostly due to Mitchum, but it does have some issues with choppy story telling and/or film editing. But the overhead shots are pretty cool for an older film, and overall, this is was a pleasure to watch! And those LOVE/HATE tattoos on the preacher's knuckles are creepy as heck! As is this quote, my final thought on the film: " I can hear you whisperin' children, so I know you're down there. I can feel myself gettin' awful mad. I'm out of patience children. I'm coming to find you now." eeeeee.....

jc-osms Who knew!?! Charles Laughton, the distinguished if sometimes hammy veteran actor, directed but one film and this near-masterpiece was the almost unbelievable result. Coincidentally, I've just recently watched and reviewed Orson Welles' butchered-but-brilliant "The Magnificent Ambersons" and now know that they were both shot by cameraman Stanley Cortez. He himself is believed to have once said he only worked with two directors who understood light, Welles and Laughton and it is clear from the outset and is sustained all the way through that he's working with a kindred spirit here.Some of the pictorial compositions are breathtakingly good - as well as the justly famous shot of Mitchum and his horse in silhouette travelling up and over a bridge in slow but sure pursuit of the two young children who are concealing the ill-gotten gains of their lately executed father (played by a young Peter Graves) there are memorable shots of Shelley Winters's doomed young widow returning to the house at night while Mitchum's evil preacher menaces her two children within and of course the scenes at the end when this situation is reversed and Mitchum is outside old Mother Goose Lilian Gish's house brazenly threatening intent as she devoutly out-sings him and reclaims God as being on her side in protecting her young charges.The story is as crazy as Preacher Harry Powell of course but helped by Laughton's sure direction, the viewer is held every step of the way. It's really just the grimmest, Grimm-est fairy tale brought to life with echoes of Snow White, Rumpelstiltskin and especially Hansel and Gretel as Powell pursues his relentless would-be slaughter of the innocents in his search for the missing $10000. Mitchum of course is brilliant as the bible-quoting, switch-blade toting psychopath, a role he was to play again just as effectively years later in "Cape Fear" although the duality of Powell's character and ability to charm all and sundry differs from Max Cady's single- minded mission in the latter film. I must also say I doubt I've seen better child acting than by the young pair here while the afore-mentioned Graves and Winters also come off well in their shall we say truncated parts.For a one-shot film directorial task it's almost amazing that Laughton came up with a dark thriller the equal of the best of Welles, Lang or Hitchcock and sad that he never got behind the camera ever again. Still, what a keepsake to leave behind, a remarkable, unforgettable film on so many levels.

Ghenghy No wonder Loughton was ever allowed to direct another film, this is probably the worst piece of crap I have ever seen, but for a good laugh it was worth the cost of admission. Listen, we all know Mitchum was a one dimensional hack, his best role came in What a Way to Go, but this thing? Holy Mary mother of god. And to add insult to injury, the dumbed down idiots in this country hail it as one of the great masterpieces of cinema. Seriously, what planet am I on? BTW, my dad was in the theater business, he refused to run this tripe because of the general reception in Nashville... it was totally panned, and ended its run after 3 days. LOL And yes, its that bad!

DonAlberto I don't quite remember when I heard about this movie but it might have been just about the same time I found out who Robert Mitchum was, that is, my teen years. Those beautiful years that will never come back and that taught me so many things, showed me there was some American actor whose name was worth remembering. Growing up in the early 90s with no Internet didn't give you much of a chance to watch movies from previous decades. Still, the name found its way into my memory and hasn't move from there. It wasn't up until some years ago that I came across these movie at a public library. Mitchum was on the cover, all black and white, his eyes staring at you. Bang! It rang a bell almost straight away. I took the movie home and watched it the next day.The Night of the hunter is the story of a priest brilliantly performed by Robert Mitchum with a taste for not so holy pleasures. The storyline is one of mystery. Before being handcuffed and taken away by the police a father dressed in rags hides 10000 dollars. So far..so good but for one mistake: he had told their children where the money was hidden. Meanwhile, the priest comes along. The first look we have of him could not be more indicative of his personality traits. Driving around in his car, looking up into the sky and talking to god. You can tell straight away just judging by the look of his face that Mitchum lives up to the highest expectations. Given a character as cold-blooded as ice, Mitchum repertoire of expressions and gestures has room to shine. On top of it all, it's the fact that whenever that he has to keep up a reputation as a normal priest would do. That's when you know Mitchum deserves a place in Hollywod's Eden. The transition between merciless bastard and middle age respectable man is so smooth that you'd think he does so effortlessly.