march 26, 8 pm, Landmark Loew's theater, JFK Blvd, JSQ
Night of the Hunter, Starring Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish. Directed by Charles Laughton
(1955 93mins. B&W)
Robert Mitchum gives one of his greatest performances as a psychotic, misogynistic and phony preacher who insinuates himself into the family of an executed man with whom he had been imprisoned in order to find the hoard of cash the man had hidden away. All that stands between the brutal Mitchum and the money are the other man’s two young children and the indomitable, scripture-quoting old woman, played magnificently by Lillian Gish, to whom the children turn for help. Gish’s faith, courage and compassion are set in breathtakingly stark contrast against Mitchum’s dark, venal perversity – creating one of the screen’s most memorable and successful parables of good vs. evil.
Though obviously influenced by the look of German expressionist cinema, cinematographer Stanley Cortez and director Charles Laughton reshaped that style's visual devices for their own purposes, creating a film that resembles a reflected dream of childhood, foreign and troubling yet also very beautiful. Chilling and disquietly compelling, “The Night of the Hunter” was neither a critical nor box office success when released, but is now widely recognized as one of the most remarkable films of its time – a masterful blend of horror and lyricism.
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