Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame VI

From a visual standpoint, Night of the Hunter is an incredibly intriguing film. It frequently presents its viewers with striking imagery, imaginative camera angles, and fascinating compositions. Partial sets engulfed in shadow, and contrast-heavy lightning techniques are clearly inspired by German Expressionism, a style I always find beautiful. So it really is a shame that the film is plagued by strange editing choices, and awkward pacing.

If I hadn't been watching a Criterion release, I honestly would've thought that parts of the film were missing. Had all existing reels of the film been damaged beyond restoration or repair, I trust that they would've at least put a disclaimer in at the start. Since that wasn't the case, I have to assume the choppy editing, and huge leaps in time and characterization I witnessed were all intentional. The tone is also all over the place, to the point that my room mate asked if I was watching two different films.

Religion is featured throughout, and I was never certain what impression it was supposed to leave. Early on I was worried it was supposed to be sincere, because it seemed so antiquated, even considering the time the film was made, but I was relieved when its presentation shifted to being a justification for horrific behaviour. However later in the film Ms Cooper was also preaching bible verses, but there's no distinction made between how her faith is meant to be perceived in comparison to the cult-like townspeople from the beginning. Because of that, the film's messaging felt incredibly confused.

Along that same vein, I could never quite get a grip on Robert Mitchum's character, or even his performance for that matter. There are some scenes where he is impressively menacing, but they're retroactively ruined by other parts of the film where he's a hilariously incompetent villain. In between those two extremes, he's occasionally charismatic, but never to the point where I'd believe everyone falls for his charade. I still can't decide if he did a good job or not, but given my issues with the rest of the film, the problem might just be the material he had to work with.

I laughed on a number of occasions, but never for a reason that anyone involved with making The Night of the Hunter would consider a compliment. I did enjoy the cinematography, and the film's unusual style did manage to keep me interested the entire time, but sections that felt like a skipping DVD, scene changes that gave tonal whiplash, and Powell cartoonishly running away scared, shouting that he'll be back at nightfall weigh the film down so much it's hard to have a positive overall opinion of it. I really want to like this more than I ultimately did, but I think the scales are just too unbalanced for me.