The Night of the Hunter
d. Charles Laughton, 1955
Easily one of the strangest American films of the 50s, Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter stands as one of the best of all film-noirs. This is, however, in no way a conventional one. It is way more eerie and has a completely different tone from films like, say, Double Indemnity or The Big Sleep.
The film stars Robert Mitchum as a "preacher" who goes to prison, meets a guy who is to be hanged the next day. Apparently, he murdered someone and stole 10,000 dollars. The money is now hidden somewhere in his home, with only his two kids knowing where it is. After he gets out of prison, he finds the farm and the rest of the film is that of him trying to get the money.
Though that is essentially what the film is about, it is hardly what truly makes it great. The tone it evokes is so strange (largely due to Mitchum's performance) that you are not likely to ever see anything like it, nor forget it once you see it. The movie was obviously inspired by expressionist films, and The Night of the Hunter does an amazing job at mixing frightening images, dark humor, original photography and set design, as well as the rare ability of being able to turn these elements into a cohesive story of such power that it makes one wonder why the film isn't as highly regarded as other films of the time.
