This movie scared the living daylights out of my. Robert Mitchum is evil. It’s starting at 7:00 Central
StG
As I have said before in another thread, I have never thought the same way about the hymn “Leaning on his Everlasting Arms” since seeing Night of the Hunter.
The scene with Shelly Winters in the car scared the crap out of me when I first saw it. It’s terrifying and eerily beautiful at the same time.
Of all the thousands of movies I have considered for my list of the best I have ever seen, Night of the Hunter persists in the top spot. I would have given just about anything to see Charles Laughton have a long career as a director. Everything he does here is wonderful, and is supported by two of the great performances in movie history. If someone is reading this after the airing on TCM, then put this on your Netflix queue.
You won’t regret it.
Watching it right now.
His silouette in front of the darkening sky, calling to the children.
The young boy (Billy Chapin) is truly heroic
Oooh, I love this movie, because every time I watch it, it scares the crap out of me.
I first saw it when I was probably too young to understand most of the movie was about, but the scene where the woman is in the rocking chair, rocking and singing, “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” left a lasting impression on my mind. So much so, that I always thought that hymn was a little creepy even though I wasn’t sure why.
When I was older (probably a teenager or early 20’s) I was flipping through the channels and saw that scene, I totally knew I had seen the movie even though I didn’t know what the movie was. It just stayed with me.
Ooh, and when the kids are hiding in the basement and he’s calling out to them, “children, chiiiilllldren”. Eeeek! I want to run and hide.
Truly one of the best scarey movies of all time.
Let’s hope no one in Hollywood is watching. TNOTH is one of those films that should never, ever be remade.
I am so glad I caught this.
What was with all the animal shots? Rabbits, owls, frogs, sheep, etc, were prominently displayed in this movie.
I have it on DVD.
My favorite is when the boy, trying to sleep in a barn, after a long ride down the river, hears Mitchum singing as he approaches.
The boy practically breaks the 4th wall and says.
‘Doesn’t he ever sleep?’
My one complaint about this movie is I wish it had been done with a slightly bigger budget-for example, the scene where one of the kids is rowing down the stream, the background looks like a painted wood set from a junior high stage play.
The stream looked unnatural to me too. It was more like a canal – no trees or brush on the banks, and so very calm. I think it fit the look of the movie though.
So did the birds, frogs, etc. --they added to the fairy tale tone of the movie. If one of the kids was telling the story, they would have included the critters.
There are plenty of times when it is obviously a ‘set’, practically a stage set. I think those choices are there on purpose and not just budget. The scene I talked about it is clearly a small cut out casting a shadow on a scrim.
I too think it adds a fairy tale element to the story. Kind of a Hansel and Gretle in America.
It was remade as a tv movie some years ago with Richard Chamberlain
What was that other Mitchum film (1960s? 70s?) where he played a guy who tricked his sons into busting him out of jail, but proves still to be psychopathic? He was amazingly evil in that, and it was a truly shocking movie too.
No. No, it wasn’t.
Two-thirds of it was.
Seriously. To those who haven’t seen it, Harry Powell is wading across the river after the kids. The doll gets out of Pearl’s hands, the money falls out, he’s grasping after the money as the undertow pulls him under, while the kids scramble safely to shore. The end.