Discover or catch up on one of the classics of cinema history, currently available on Amazon Prime Video.
Be careful, this cinema classic is not to be put in front of everyone’s eyes: released in France in 1956, it is the only film by its director, and the best role of its main actor Robert Mitchum. This is obviously The Night of the Hunter, currently available on Amazon Prime Video.
The story is that of Harry Powell, a rogue preacher just released from prison. Seeking to get his hands on the hoard hidden by his ex-co-convict, he goes to his widow and his two children. His presence and his insistence on finding the money will gradually cause the whole family to feel uneasy.
How could such a simple story have entered the history of cinema? This is due to several factors, the first of which is perhaps his way of telling a tale (two children abused and manipulated by an “ogre”, a monster) by coupling it with dark themes and real problems (recovering from money).
MGM
There is in the relationship between the preacher and the children the same kind of disturbing unease that one can feel in a film like Killer Joe, by the late William Friedkin. The main characters of the two feature films have in common that they are not recommendable and allow themselves to impose the unthinkable or the humiliation on others as if these people belonged to them. A very dangerous combination.
And if because of the time of its release (1956), The Night of the Hunter cannot go as far as a Killer Joe released in 2012, the film by Charles Laughton (his only realization, a common point that he shares with many actors) still has plenty to chill your blood.
MGM
His secret? Its minimalism in effects, and its assurance that Robert Mitchum will know how to infuse the character with everything it takes to be scary, crazy and unpredictable. And in making those decisions, Laughton was right. Mitchum acts as a terrifying threat and we fear with every word that he will go too far. All while using very few demonstrative effects and no gore effects.
MGM
Experimental and very dark for its time, The Night of the Hunter was a total commercial failure. But his plans inspired by German expressionism, his choice to place himself from the point of view of a child, and his way of diverting the codes of the fairy tale have made him an object of cinephile adoration. To see or see again without moderation!