This is a movie that I have heard so much about over the years that I had to put in on my wish list.  Critics have raved about the strong performance by Robert Mitchum, the suspense that the movie builds, and how Charles Laughton has directed one of the best films of all time.  Boy was I disappointed.  Let me be the first to apologize for this flick.  I'm not going to say that all of the built up hype is crap, but come on, the film was not that good.  As far as a film-noir, I thought it was a little weak, especially in comparison with Touch of Evil, Notorious and The Third Man.  The dialogue seemed forced at times and just down right silly at others.  The best dialogue in the movie came from Uncle Birdie and Rev. Harry Powell and that was only a few lines at most.

  Night of the Hunter started out strong with the "interrupted" game of Hide and Seek that kids were playing.  The aerial camera shot made the scene believable so when the legs are spotted you feel like you're there. Then the cut to Mitchum talking to God as he drove away was very effective (I love crazy religious folk!).  Drop Gish's voice over and the scenes would have been perfect.  I thought I had a real winner in front of me, but except for a couple of other scenes, the movie seemed to slide downhill from there.  Don't get me wrong, I loved Mitchum's performance, but that was about the only thing about the movie that I really enjoyed.  This performance has been copied so many times that I don't even think it is worth listing examples.  You can see his Max Cady from Cape Fear surfacing throughout the entire film.  Just like Christopher Plummer, Mitchum is at his best when he plays the vile villain.

  The ladies in the film, Shelly Winters and Lillian Gish, really didn't do it for me in this one.  Sure Gish had a strong screen presence, but her character seemed so "mother bearish" that I thought the Gods of Cliché were going to strike her down.  Just her sitting in the chair with a blanket over her legs and the shot gun across her lap made me yell BOOOO! at the screen.  Granted that this film may have been the first film that Hollywood has created this image, but for the love of Pete! Winters, let's just call her Mrs. Cellophane.  There was nothing to her character except for plot advancement.  The children Billy Chapin (John) and Sally Jane Bruce (Pearl) did an okay job, but the close ups to see there facial expressions should have been re-shot a couple more times.

  The "love" and "hate"  tattoos on Mitchum's hands were a great touch, even if his story seemed a little over the top when he told it.  I liked it when Peter Graves (Ben Harper) socked Mitchum in the prison cell.  But my favorite scene was when we saw Willa Harper chained to the car on the bottom of the river.  That takes some breath holding let me tell you.

  I rate the movie better than Darling but not as good as the others I have watched so far.  I don't know what to rate the movie unfortunately.  I give Mitchum an A, some of the scenes a solid B+, but the overall film was a disappointment.  I have to give it a C.