Philosophy of Film
Professor Langguth
April 21, 2014
The Night of the
Hunter
The
film “The Night of the Hunter” is considered a thriller focused on a crime committed
at the beginning where a man does what he has too to help his family. In the film Mr. Powell is a preacher that
thought he was listening to the Lords truth when in reality he had his own
motives. When Powell was in jail with
John and Pearl’s father, Powell discovered that their father stole $10,000 and
hid it somewhere that only the two kids knew where. He worked really hard after getting out of
jail in finding the location of the money since he knew the father was dead
because of his crime.
He
began by marrying the mother of the children and befriending the family friends
turning them against the children. He
soon then kills the mother and he is the only one left for the kids. The kids then run away finding Ms. Cooper and
the three kids she is caring for already.
Ms. Cooper took them in and treated them as her own. When Powell came looking for them, she knew
something was wrong and did not allow him to take them back.
Throughout
the entire movie secrets played a big role.
The director Charles Laughton does an excellent job of using the medium of
keeping secrets throughout the film.
This was shown first when John and Pearl’s father made them swear not to
tell where the money was hidden. This
was important due to the fact of the money was Powell’s motive throughout. Powell tries hard through the entire film on
telling the children, especially Pearl not to keep secrets with him and tell
him where the money is. He turns Pearl
at one point, but John takes her away before she tells. However at one point John lies about the
money and with the curse on Pearl she tells Powell where the money is hidden,
in Pearls doll.
Another
example of secrets in the film is when Powell lies about the mother and the disappearance
of the children. He wants the people to like
him so he lies telling everyone that he and the kids were going to his sisters
to get away for a while, not that they ran away. At the end of the film a riot breaks out because
Powell gets arrested and the people blame it on the children. This shows the loyalty that Powell put on
them or in other words the curse.
In
my opinion, Laughton created a good thriller for his time. It was not a bad film; it was just not what I
was expecting in the sense of modern film.
In my eye it is poorly set up for a modern film. However, I have to remember along with others
that this is not modern; this was made in the fifties. One can see the early acting being a
distraction to the story if based on today’s society. The set designs were a little “cheesy” in
that you could tell that some were two dimensional designs. For the films time, Laughton portrays the meaning
of crime and the consequences that follow, all while creating the suspense that
makes this film a thriller. If a remake
were to be done with the modern set materials making it look real, the film
could be portrayed as a thriller like back in the day.
All
in all, the film is something that I would recommend if you are not to be very judgmental
and won’t get distracted by the past film settings. We cannot forget that this film “The Night of
the Hunter” does use good medium specificity that makes a film good for its
time. Without it creating some suspense
you couldn’t tell the trills in it or secrets.
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