5/5 A night you will never forget...
  by Andrew Ellington (Mulholland Drive)
My favorite film of 1955, one of my favorite films of the 50's and honestly, one of my favorite films ever made; `The Night of the Hunter' is an astonishing film that truly didn't get the love it deserved upon its release. Thankfully it has reached `masterpiece' status today and is revered as one of the best thrillers ever filmed; a film that has really yet to be rivaled no matter how many have attempted to do just that.

Beautifully (and horrifically) meshing religious fanaticism, childish fairy-tales and good-old-fashioned horror techniques, `The Night of the Hunter' is one of those movies that feels organic in its completion; a film that really couldn't have been done any better. Telling the chilling tale of a wayward preacher who happens to wind up sharing a jail cell with a bank-robbing death-row father. This `preacher', Harry, is convinced that he can find the loot this man hid before getting arrested, and so he travels to this man's small town and woos his naïve widow. Stopping at nothing to unearth this money, Harry realizes that he may have to go as far as to slay some children to get his hands on it.

He has no problem with that.

Without the dedicated performances this film could have become clichéd, forgettable and merely `good', but each and every actor gives this their all and elevates the film into something so much more than just `good'.

Robert Mitchum delivers one of the most chilling villains I've ever seen on film. He has shown a level of comfort in this genre (watch him brew in `Cape Fear' as well) but this is his golden ticket so-to-speak. With a booming voice that stirs emotions you didn't think you had (that `Leaning' song is just so gothic in its delivery) and a stance that overtakes you even through a television screen, this may very well be one of those iconic performances that history books were made for. Both young ones (Billy Chapin and Sally Jane Bruce) are capable, but of the two it is Chapin who steals the show. His stunning portrait of betrayed adolescence is marvelously redered on screen with a bravado rarely seen in young performers. Both Shelley Winters and Lillian Gish are just incredible in their supporting roles (not to mention the infectiously charming, and nosy, Evelyn Varden). Gish really controls the films finale with her charm, wit and unbelievable understanding of her character's warm devotion.

But Winters...OMG!

In discussing this performance with friends it's easy to see why it is so astonishing. There is a moment in the film where Winters character, Willa, is commanded to approach herself in the mirror and tell Harry what she sees. There is an instant awareness of what Willa is understanding about herself and about her current situation. She doesn't quite comprehend it, but she knows that it is there. As her character develops over the next few scenes she completely evokes what the entirety of this film is all about, giving us a subtle yet profound look at a woman who is coming to terms with the fact that she (as one friend put it) `fears what she was fearing all the time but not confessing to herself'.

Like I said; OMG!

The film is expertly handled by director Charles Laughton (the flamboyant actor who made this film and apparently couldn't take the criticisms so he never made another film) and especially cinematographer Stanley Cortez, who just captures such a marvelously eerie mood reminiscent of a children's fairy tale gone very, very wrong.

Each scene is a beautifully rendered piece of art, art we can all thoroughly enjoy.

5/5 The Night of the Hunter
  by New Birth Community Church (Austell, Georgia)
This movie is a really intriguing older movie...really bizarre and funny in certain parts of it. You will probably never forget this one!

4/5 at once beautiful and terrifying
  by Caraculiambro (La Mancha and environs)
From an email I wrote to a friend:

"You were right when you said I was going to like this. I actually think I like it a little more than you do. Despite my pretensions at being an amateur film historian, I can't remember every hearing of this. Mitchum is completely terrifying -- mainly because he actually does believe a warped version of what he preaches. It's certainly the scariest movie I've seen in about 15 years or so, despite being around 40 years old. I had to keep stopping it because I simply couldn't take the suspense. What's new to me about this movie was that you were admiring the lyrical photography all the while scared out of your wits."

The reason I give it four stars, though, is that Laughton seemed to drop the ball in the ending: I found nearly everybody's actions in the final act both disappointing and hard to believe.

5/5 They don't make 'em like this anymore!
  by paula
This will keep you on the edge of your seat. A classic: suspenseful, funny, great cinematography. Robert Mitchum at his best.

1/5 Beyond All Boundaries Of Bad
  by Quiero Cafe (South Texas)
I consider it my civic duty to warn anybody approaching this master-clunker after having been steered to it by numerous All Time Classic guides. Don't believe it! This movie is just plain awful. One of the worst things I've ever poured down my eyehole. The writing has all the subtlety of a Jimmy Swaggart sermon. The plot is ridiculous from first to last. But what makes it nails-to-chalkboard offensive is the acting. The acting, the acting, oh the agony of the acting! It would have to rise a few levels just to be bad. You might have to watch the movie just to believe how awful it really is. But it will take you days to wash the stain from your soul. You may even swear off movies altogether. You'll certainly have to redefine your views of what Classic and Great mean to movie list compilers (not to mention the majority of parrots here and on IMDB).