This was a really weird one to watch. I got so many different vibes from The Night of the Hunter without really knowing why. At times I was thinking of how creepy it was, other times how absurd everyone sounded and always marveling at what a great villain Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) is. Also I couldn't help but think of other movies that this film reminded me of.
Apparently this film was a critical and commercial failure upon its release, but now is heralded as a bonafide classic. Not every classic is a classic right away, it often takes time for people to realize exactly what they've watched. Some of the greatest works of art were universally hated when released. Perhaps I am not mature enough in my movie watching years because I'm sure that I am not appreciating this film as much as I should be. I thought it was decent but not great.
The film starts off with Ben Harper with the cops on his tail. He's just robbed a bank for $10,000 and must hide it. He tells his children John and Pearl where he hid the money and makes them promise to never tell anybody where the money is. Ben is sentenced to death but before he dies he shares a cell with a con man/killer who fancies himself a man of God, Harry Powell. (The very beginning of the film warns of false prophets.) Harry wants to know the location of the money but Ben won't tell him. Harry suspects that his children know and when he gets out finds his way to their little town in Ohio. He manages to gain the trust of John and Pearl's vulnerable mother and they are quickly married. Enter evil step-father angle.
Speaking of which, I didn't see the 2009 release The Step-Father, but there is no doubt that image of his shadowy figure on top of the basement stairs that adorned its box art would not exist without The Night of the Hunter and I'm sure countless other horror films owe the evil step-father angle to this movie as well. So he wants to know where the money is but the kids aren't telling. He loses his patience and the evil side is revealed. The two kids flee the house after its evident Harry is going to kill them and spend the latter half of the film on the run floating upstream the Ohio River with Harry hot in pursuit.
There are a lot of striking visual shots in this film. I could post a bunch of great black and white shots but you could see them pretty easily on Google. One in particular, without trying to give away the plot, is both mesmerizing and terrifying at the same time. If you watch the movie you'll know exactly what scene I am talking about.
There is a lot of religious talk in the movie. The villain, Harry, is a preacher after all and it would be fitting for a bunch of God-fearing folk for the time period in the south. I feared that I might be missing a more important overarching theme here but still can't really figure one out. There is a certain rhythm and lyricism to how people talk, but I wish they would just focus more on the chase. However, that is part of the charm in Harry Powell. He has an eloquent and magnetic voice befitting of a preacher, but is also the same voice of a con man.
I've never heard of Robert Mitchum before, but he is scary good as Harry Powell. He is handsome but clearly dangerous and you wouldn't be blamed if you got the shivers from him. He has a legitimate all time villainous aura here. Roger Ebert mentions in his Great Movies essay of Mitchum's performance that it is timeless in the way that we'd expect Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter will be forty years from now.
However, there is something oddly unsettling about the pace and rhythm of the movie. I couldn't quite get into it one way or another. Perhaps part of it was the odd mixture of styles and genres. It is part horror and part thriller, but also absurd and humorous. It has an almost fairy tale ethos to it, yet we are expected to be genuinely terrified by it as well. These conflicting and contrasting styles may be what make The Night of the Hunter a classic, but it can also be the source for criticism as well.
Grade: B
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