The Night of the Hunter

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: No
Watched With: Jordan

Another classic I was well overdue in seeing. In fact it's been sitting on my shelf waiting for me to get around to it for well over a year. I knew of it mainly for it's reputation of high key lighting but I didn't know it was going to be as stylised as it was. It does look damn amazing. You can really see every single frame has been immaculately constructed, very painterly, realism be damned.

I can also see why there's an entire generation to which this was the scariest film they ever saw, however I'm sad to say it's lost a little of it's edge in todays film landscape, a major factor being the rather foreign filmic and acting language to what I'm used too. I don't think the kids are very good in this, but kids aside, The rest of the performances are very "of the time" as is much of the writing. Those soliloquies kill me. Imagine trying to do one of them in a film today, you could never get away with it.

Also unexpected, the film is practically a musical the amount of songs people sing in it.

However I can very much appreciate the brilliant direction, the amazing imagery, creepy folk songs and large performances. I'm glad i've finally seen this one, another to cross off the list.