Is It Worth the Watch?

You know those movies you’ve wanted to see for years but for whatever reason you can’t find them, and then when you finally do, you’re terribly disappointed? That is not the case with 1955’s The Night of the Hunter.

At first I wasn’t sure. I felt first time director Charles Laughton (it is the only film he directed) was telling the story in a creaky, old-fashioned way. It wasn’t long before I realized that that’s the point. This film noir thriller about a faux preacher/serial killer hunting children in the uber-religious South uses expressionistic sets, innovative camera angles, and even stylized acting to explore the struggle between good and evil, and all told from a fugitive child’s perspective, almost as a fairytale. It’s thrilling, involving, and extremely frightening.

Lillian Gish gives one of the finest performances of her long career. I say that upfront, because Robert Mitchum is even better. This is an extraordinary and haunting performance, and there are reasons he is often cited as one of the greatest film villains of all time.

I loved this movie.

Is It Worth The Watch? Absolutely. In fact, I would call it essential.

1955

92 minutes

Starring – Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish, Billy Chapin, James Gleason, Peter Graves, Evelyn Varden

Director – Charles Laughton 

Screenplay – James Agee