The B&W photography and use of shadows is something to truly marvel at and the film picks itself up after Laughton's bombards us with piercing musical bits to let us know Mitchum is the bad guy, who's absolutely perfect as the gold-digging rotten scoundrel. The problem with this film is the abrupt change in tone, going from lighthearted to arresting thriller in a blink of an eye, lacking appealing elements to make it continuously compelling. And how the fuck did you get that knife into prison ?!

Worth watching for its stylized visuals, memorable music and three fantastic performances: Mitchum's, Winter's and above all Gish's.

Lots of production codes that are all great along with Mitchum being the center of attention every time he's on screen should of been enough. The tone switches too often and the ending fails to deliver.

The word 'idiotic' summarizes it perfectly.

The most surreal film noir, not to mention one of the best. Little by little it lulls you into something straight out of a child's worst nightmare. A child with a great imagination, that is. The black and white photography is fittingly creepy and unnatural, and Robert Mitchum gives a truly bone-chilling performance as Pastor Harry Powell. It ends on an unfortunately campy (though not altogether unfitting) note, but the rest is perfect. "Leeeaaaning on the everlaaaasting aaaaarm..."

It starts off better than it ends, though Mitchum excels at being terrifying. The expressionistic cinematography is a highlight.

In my top ten of all time, The Night of the Hunter draws on the Gothic horror tradition as it spins a disturbing tale of the suffocating power of evil, the way it takes over people's lives, and the need for courage to stand up against it. Laughton uses the camera beautifully, and Agee's script offers a complex portrait of small-town America: its underplayed sexual obsessions, its mob mentality, and its religious diversity/confusion. A great, great film.

There is genius here. Didn't like it till the spider web, where it picks up a brutal Darwin vibe.

Great gothic movie. So beautifull and disturbing att the same time. This was the only movie Charles laughton ever directed, but what a film he made. Still holds its place in movie history thanks in no small part to Mitchum's inspired and scary acting.

My favorite film. Not enough words, but here's one: singular.

It's filmed like a child's bizarre nightmare, the over-stylized sets, the impossible lighting, the looming, threatening shadows and the people who just don't act quite right. Mitchum is threatening and creepy with a presence that takes charge of every scene. The only issue is that the film kind of fizzles out at the end.

Beautiful set design and photography. Like a dream, it has the tendency to swing quickly back and forth between emotional extremes. As a stylistic choice, seemingly used to convey the connectedness of good and evil, it fits with the rest of the film but it can be very jarring when one isn't prepared.

Robert Mitchum monster movie.

Stylistically amazing, with a perfect use of shadow and silhouette. The cinematography is simply fantastic, especially in the wedding night scene and the classic trip down the river. If not for a few issues I have with it (the dumb-ass slapstick in the basement scene, the meandering third act) it would be one of my absolute favourites of all time.

great cinematography

bad ending, good movie

Dated even by 1950's standards -Could be scary if youre only 10 years old.

Atmospheric noir tale with beautiful expressionistic b/w cinematography and a terrific Robert Mitchum.

"Charles Laughton's Night of the Hunter is the character actor's now-classic jab at godliness gone awry." - Ed Gonzalez

What would have been a classic is done a great disservice by its disastrous third act, which takes what could have been a better film and cheapens it to the point that it feels like a thoughtless holiday movie, even going so far as to break the fourth wall. Robert Mitchum is wonderful, but it's a shame that one of cinema's great villains is wasted on a film that desperately tries to shed the menacing tone it achieves early on.

37

Great film about the struggle between good and evil seen primarily from a child's perspective. Robert Mitchum is my idea of the devil. Thank goodness the Good Lord made angels like Lillian Gish!

Striking and unusual thriller, more expressionist than noir, with abstract and rhetorical moments as well as visceral chills. Not at all what I expected.

I did like Mitchum's character and the story, but the last section of it was just dreadfully abrupt.