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Watched the 1955 film, "Night Of The Hunter", directed by Charles Laughton
last night on video. Interesting film, very suspenseful at times, Robert
Mitchum's performance as the psychopathic, self-proclaimed "preacher" was
great up until the climax, which pathetically floundered. Up to that
part, his performance was reminiscent of his portrayal of another psychopath, Max Cady, in the 1961 "Cape Fear". The climax involved Harry
Powell (Mitchum) getting past Rachel Cooper (Lillian Gish), a kindly but
staunch old spinster with a shotgun who was protecting something in her home that Powell wanted, namely, $10,000 hidden in a child's ragdoll. The
climax could and should have been riveting and terrifying: NOT!
A major blemish on an otherwise good film. Still definitely worth a watch
if one has never seen it. - AH
I agree with you that the climax is lackluster, but the rest of the film is so interesting that I can forgive the weak finish. Some of the images in NOTH are unforgetable, and the mood Laughton achieves makes the film seem almost like a bad dream. I wish he'd directed more.
I think Laughton missed a potentially great terror/suspense scene when the two
kids were in the barn and Mitchum was riding nearby on horseback; they
got away unnoticed by him. One could imagine how terrifying the
scene could have been, with the kids cringing up in the loft with Mitchum
inside, under them; Pearl accidently makes a sound, Mitchum comes up the
loft, narrowly missing them as they barely escape to the boat. I can
just hear John and Pearls little hearts a thumpin' now up in that loft!
Then the following scene, a longish, somewhat boring downstream voyage by the kids, would have been a welcome relief. - AH
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