The Night of the Hunter (1955)

[dave jenkins]

I like this one...

http://www.fistful-of-leone.com/forums/index.php?topic=6893.msg115250#msg115250

Of course, I suppose in Jenkins world it's perfectly alright to judge a movie by its trailer/TV spots.

Pardon me, "judge a movie"? Where am I making a judgment? I see a string of questions--at the time, quite valid ones. If you will scroll further down the thread you will see that members of the board addressed my concerns, whereupon I promptly shut up. I did, however, continue to contribute to the thread by adding interesting articles and posts I found on the internet. At no time did I express an opinion of the movie. Really, Grogs, this is beneath you.

[sargatanas]

LOVE/HATEed it , lol 

[Groggy]

Commenting on "crap editing," "crap CGI," "crap color pallet," etc. isn't "expressing an opinion of the movie"? What planet are you smoking?

[dave jenkins]

You finally got aware that's my single purpose in life.

Well, it's nice to have a hobby, but what's the expression, de gustibus non est disputandum est? Something like that.

Moving right along, just in case anyone is still reading (not Mike, of course), who else thinks that labeling NOTH a film noir is a big steaming pile of manure (no doubt the product of one of titoli's burro friends). It always gets on people's noir lists, so, of course, once something is on lists, Fanboy Dipshits consider the matter settled. Putting aside the whole vexed question of whether the term film noir has any validity (or utility), what do we actually gain by calling NOTH a noir? In what way does that inform our reading of the film? Isn't one of the interesting things about the film the fact that it is very unlike the films that were made around the same time? It is certainly very unlike the other (so called) noir films that I know.

Couchman in his book argues that NOTH (the novel) descends from the gothic tradition in literature, the novels of Matthew Lewis and Ann Radcliff, but also from such American writers as Charles Brockden Brown. I can't help but remember that not too long ago Glen Erickson suggested looking at Sunset Boulevard--also often categorized as a noir--as a horror film, and it seemed to me that such an approach opened up lots of interesting ways to explore that film. Might it not be equally worthwhile to dump the noir designation for NOTH (the film) and approach it as a gothic work also?

Just asking.

[dave jenkins]

Commenting on "crap editing," "crap CGI," "crap color pallet," etc. isn't "expressing an opinion of the movie"? What planet are you smoking?

Did you notice the question marks at the end of each of those sentences? Granted, I was asking in a provocative way, but those were questions nonetheless. No way could they be considered statements. Questions are not comments.

[Groggy]

If you want to play the old semantics game you're welcome to, but you'll have to play with Titoli, not me. The fact that they are questions doesn't mean you aren't holding forth an opinion - you're definitely expressing an opinion on those aspects of the film.

[dave jenkins]

That is itself an opinion, one I do not share.

[Groggy]

That is itself an opinion, one I do not share.

Get a dictionary.

[dave jenkins]

Dictionaries don't help much with grammar.

[Groggy]

Dictionaries don't help much with grammar.

Neither do your posts.

[titoli]

Finally watched the movie in english and on the big screen. It's much better like this. Still I can't understand why the movie doesn't end with the strong scene of Mitchum's capture and the boy giving him the loot. The marching lynching throng, the xmas presents: WTF? Also, Mitchum isn't always spot on, he's often uncertain whether to ham it up or playing the frightening madman. And yes, jinxy, this is  american gothic: for a hundred reasons evident to all except those who have to sell it as noir.  8/10

[Dust Devil]

Yes, those two things also bothered me. Still, for the sake of the character I guess he had to be multipolar in different situations to get what he wanted.

[Moorman]

WHERE do i start?  I guess i'm just gonna put it out there.  This is the BEST movie i have ever seen. I admit, i'm still new to westerns and classic movies, which are my favorite genres ( 1970 on back), but i'm gonna go out on a limb here. This is the BEST movie i've personally, ever seen.

I first got wind of this movie by looking for something to watch on Turner Classic Movies. I recorded it after reading the description one day back early this year. I sat down and watched it, not really knowing what to expect.  It started a little slow, then built up tension as it went along.  By the time it got to the scene where Mitchum's character had married the widow, i knew this was gonna be special.  From the moment he married her, all the way to the end, this picture had me terrified. I was left speechless.

Everything about this movie. The plot. The acting. The direction. The cinematography. The musical score. EVERYTHING was just top notch. I read numerous reviews of the movie after watching it, and one of them stood out.  The reviewer said what i said about the film. It was if " i had lived this movie before".  The boogeyman was a character, that in this case, was a very believable boogeyman. The acting of Mitchum. I KNEW he wasn't acting. That character is HIM. I later read that Mitchum always said he wasn't acting in his movies, that he was just being himself.  The cinematograpy. The music, the direction, the plot, i could go on for days. The movie was kinda surreal. Its a BEAUTIFUL movie. Its to me, what Orson Welles was always trying to accomplish, but Charles Laughton pulled it off in ONE movie.

Its a shame that Laughton never got the praise he should've for this movie.  The good thing is this movie is now a cult favorite and gets high praise from directors like Scorsese, Lee and others. You can see the influence of this movie in a ton of movies made today. I don't give these out too often, but this gets my two thumbs up rating of a perfect 10 out of 10...

[cigar joe]

Definitely ahead of it's time.

[moorman]

CAHIERS DU CINÉMA currently has this film ranked number 2 in its list of 100 greatest films ever...  I have it ranked number 1 on my personal list...

https://mubi.com/lists/cahiers-du-cinema-top-100