Day 104: "It's 'Love' that won, and old, left hand, 'Hate' is down for the count."

1955's The Night of the Hunter is one of the creepiest movies I have seen in a while.  I 'd heard many things about the movie, including, but not limited to: "...the best villain this side of Darth Vader..."  Any comparison to this particular bad guy, I gotta see.  This movie is extremely atmospheric, the black and white treatment giving it a very noir feel, and I truly believe it would have suffered if shot in "glorious Technicolor."  Every shadow has the possibility of being evil.  The story involves The Preacher, a truly, genuinely evil man, on a quest to "relieve" a family of it's wealth.  While in prison, this "Man of God" overhears his cellmate describing the crimes he is imprisoned for, and learns that that man's children are the sole people who know where $10,000 taken during it is hidden.  From this point forward, those children and the entire family are marked.  The rest of the story is the Preacher's attempts to get that money.  Any way he can; from the subtle to the cruelly outrageous.  This is a story of how true evil can manipulate its way into lives and subsequently ruin them.  Terrible to watch, but impossible to turn away, this is a classic of American cinema.

Robert Mitchum, in quite possibly his greatest role, is the deliciously evil preacher: Harry Powell.  His vision and portrayal of a complete psychopath is magnificent.  This is a man who truly believes he is on a mission from God, and will accomplish said mission with extreme prejudice.  Harry Powell makes Robert DeNiro's Max Cady (Cape Fear, 1991) look well adjusted and socially responsible.   The Preacher Powell has no qualms destroying what or whoever get in his way.  Peter Graves is Powell's unfortunate cellmate: Ben Harper, a young Shelley Winters is his wife Willa, and screen legend Lillian Gish is Rachael Cooper.  The hunted children are wonderful.  I honestly believe that director Charles Laughton probably did his best to terrify them before each take to get the performances he got from them.

I have to put this as one of the all-time great novel adaptations.  It's up there with To Kill A Mockingbird, Silence of the Lambs, and The Shawshank Redemption.  Incredible movie, and one not to be missed.  A portrait of pure evil, The Night of the Hunter is one film I am really glad I finally saw.  9/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!