The Night of the Hunter (1955) is an Evocative Magic Lantern Show

May 25, 2024 — The Night of the Hunter (1955)

4/5 Stars

This film is like a magic lantern show. Brilliant and evocative, with powerful performances and phenomenal cinematography, The Night of the Hunter (1955) is well worth watching. It is flawed most prominently in the pushy presence of its moral: the digitally cut-out heads of the children at the beginning of the film and breaking the fourth wall at the end of the film to speak about the tough experience children face is purely unnecessary.

I imagine if I was a religious mother of three in the 1950s, I might find this affecting and moving; but alas, I am not. Nevertheless, it’s an entertaining and engaging film.

Robert Mitchum stars as Harry Powell, a corrupt preacher who travels from town to town, consoling widows and stealing their fortunes. That is, when he’s not killing them or stealing cars. After spending 30 days in jail for stealing a car and being put in a cell with Ben Harper (Peter Graves) and hearing about ten thousand dollars he stole and left to his family, Harry takes it upon himself to get close to the family. He marries Ben’s widow, but when she begins to catch on to his act, he kills her, and deadset on getting his children to tell him where the fortune is hidden. A woman, Rachel Cooper (Lilian Gish) eventually takes the children in and protects them.

This is one of those films I’d watch purely for the performance of one actor. Mitchum steals every scene he’s in, with his grandiose speeches, with “love” and “hate” tattooed on his knuckles. He talks to God, sings eerily to the children, and charms half of everyone he comes across (the other half, rightly, is repulsed by him). His sinister intentions are evident from his mannerisms and his prolific, non-stop lies, but he has the charm of a clever conman. I know he’s up to no good, but as a viewer, I was excited to watch him carry out his schemes.

Apart from Mitchum’s performance, the best part of this film is easily the jaw-dropping cinematography and set design. Through black and white shots with stunning emphasis on light and shadows, almost every single scene showcases spectacular lighting. Watching the two children John (Billy Chapin) and Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce) as they are drawn into Harry’s games and later as they evade him, is like watching an elaborate show of shadows. The light and dark are beautifully used time and time again; there is always something in the foreground and the background, light shining on rippling waves, or a perfect spotlight on Harry’s face. The shot of John and Pearl’s mother (Shelley Winters) dead at the bottom of the lake in her car with her throat slit is utterly gorgeous, long hair flowing in the water alongside the weeds.

This film is indisputably good, but it has its issues. The morals are too overwrought to truly enjoy the cinematic beauty, and there isn’t nearly enough of the preacher or his new wife, Willa.

Small details also get in the way of the film. For instance, I found it hard to watch John and Pearl floating down the river in a small boat and not think how unrealistic it is for them to survive on a single potato each. It doesn’t make sense that they wouldn’t miss their mother, or that Pearl, talkative through the first half of the film when things get hard, suddenly stops talking, and is in less and less of the film as Gish as the children’s protector takes them in (a role she shines in). The soundtrack, too, is nothing special and sometimes distracts from the drama as it plays out. Even so, the haunting singing that takes place in the film from time to time greatly helps the haunting atmosphere.

The Night of the Hunter (1955) is truly unique and well worth watching, but it falls short of great.