December 7, 2011

The Night of the Hunter

from my 1st Ebert’s Great Movies Marathon, part 6 of 13



The Night of the Hunter, 1955. A mad "preacher" is after money that two kids have hidden. Directed by Charles Laughton. Written by James Agee, based on a novel by Davis Grubb. Starring Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish, Billy Chapin & Sally Jane Bruce.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 4/4 (Great)
Characters: 4/4 (Great)
Dialog: 4/4 (Great)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 4/4 (Great)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great, 4/4). Powerfully suspenseful and visually beautiful. Mitchum's preacher is one of the scariest movie characters of all time. It's a strange movie, combining expressionist horror and noir crime thiller - taking the best from both worlds without much regard for the audience's expectations. I appreciated and enjoyed it a lot more the second time around.
Objective Rating (Average): 3.7/4 (Great)

(update of a previous post - original is here)

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