Night of the Hunter (1955)

Whether it’s preaching for pocket money, robbing, or killing, Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) washes himself clean in his religious belief that God is guiding his hand in making the world a better place. Therefore, it is fortuitous that when Powell lands himself in jail he shares his cell with the doomed Ben Harper (Peter Graves) who, in the course of robbing a bank for ten thousand dollars, killed two people. Powell discovers Harper has hidden the money somewhere around his house and upon his release he sets out to woo Harper’s widow Willa (Shelley Winters) who has two children, John (Billy Chapin) and Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce). Soon Powell is convinced that Willa knows nothing about the hidden money and suspects that the children do. However, though Willa and the townspeople have fallen for his ruse as passionate preacher and a thoroughly holy man, John does not trust him. He must continually convince Pearl who is younger and more susceptible to Powell’s charm not to give up their secret. When the children prove to be harder to break, Powell kills Willa so that he can focus his full attention on them.

After a harrowing night spent trying to convince Powell the money is in the basement, John and Pearl manage to escape and float down-river in a small boat. Powell follows on land, practically a step behind. However, bible-thumper and do-gooder Rachel Cooper (Lillian Gish) captures them first. Despite her good intentions, John is wary of the very religious Cooper and does not warm up to her immediately. Suspecting that John is hiding something horrible in his past, Cooper’s suspicions are confirmed when Powell shows up to her farm wanting to claim the children. Unlike all the other adults, Cooper listens and believes John when he says Powell is no father of his. She demands Powell get off her land thus sparking an all night vigil with the very delicate Gish sitting in her rocking chair Mother Whistler style, shotgun at the ready. The game of cat and mouse ends when Cooper shoots Powell and he runs off to her barn howling like a wounded animal. The police arrive shortly after and collect their prisoner. The scene is so familiar to John who saw his real father arrested, that he runs to Powell begging the police not to take him away and giving up the money. A day in court reveals the irony of the townspeople who come out of the woodwork to lynch Powell for his evil doings.

Like the beginning of the film, the story ends on Gish, “I'm a strong tree with branches for many birds. I'm good for something in this world and I know it too. You know, when you're little, you have more endurance than God is ever to grant you again. Children are man at his strongest. They abide. They abide, and they endure.” After all, one must point out that there is difference between being religiously good and religiously evil.

This was the first and only film Charles Laughton’s ever directed and though it was a critical failure upon release, I certainly wouldn’t have minded if he had directed a few more. Some could blame Laughton’s extremely successful acting career up to this point overshadowing what is basically a horror film with elements of humor and dreamy expressionism. Or some could blame not understanding what is essentially the evilest character Mitchum ever played, having built his career on being a care-free outsider not easily angered.  Whatever the reason, Night of the Hunter blends horror, humor, and expressionism together successfully and has obviously become a cult classic. Whether you have seen the movie or not, the image of Powell’s tattooed knuckles are legendary. “Ah, little lad, you're staring at my fingers. Would you like me to tell you the little story of right-hand/left-hand? The story of good and evil? H-A-T-E! It was with this left hand that old brother Cain struck the blow that laid his brother low. L-O-V-E! You see these fingers, dear hearts? These fingers has veins that run straight to the soul of man. The right hand, friends, the hand of love. Now watch, and I'll show you the story of life. Those fingers, dear hearts, is always a-warring and a-tugging, one agin t'other. Now watch 'em! Old brother left hand, left hand he's a fighting, and it looks like love's a goner. But wait a minute! Hot dog, love's a winning! Yessirree! It's love that's won, and old left hand hate is down for the count!”

Throughout the film Laughton uses this dream-like expressionism, mostly with the use of the river the small town sits next to. Directly after we see Powell pounce on Willa, knife in hand, the camera cuts to John being awakened by the loud noise of a car. What follows is a much calmer scene, seaweed flowing breezily under water and as the camera pans over the seaweed begins to mingle with Willa’s hair as she sits upright and anchored to the car Powell has driven into the river after murdering her. Even now, that scene resonates it’s so powerful, so ahead of its time. What may have lost the audience were the scenes after John and Pearl escape down river. Using obvious unrealistic scenery mixed in with nature, the children’s oddessey is the most dreamlike sequences in the film and for me, the very best sequences. It’s quite appropriate for the mood of John and Pearl who are weary from days of trying to mentally outmaneuver Powell and physically running from him. The sequence is interrupted occasionally by Powell’s pursuit on land. Jarring against the serenity of the river, it reminds the audience what the children already know, they still need to be cautious. Powell will not give up easily.

Another aspect I like about this film is that, unlike today with psychotic thrillers, we do not get Powell’s background, the reason why he’s so twisted. Instead of spending part of the film figuring out why he uses his religion to do evil, Night of the Hunter proves that one can be thoroughly entertained by a whole lot of unexplained crazy.


A very compelling and frightening film, Night of the Hunter is a definite must see!


Did anybody else think for a moment that Harry Powell was Rachel Cooper’s son, the one she lost because of her devotion to religion?


Tonight on TCM!

Good Neighbor Sam (1964) A man poses as husband to his wife's best friend for one day that could turn into a lifetime. Dir: David Swift Cast: Jack Lemmon, Romy Schneider, Dorothy Provine.

Silence is Golden: La Bohème (1926)

Mimi (Lillian Gish) is a poor seamstress unable to pay her rent and about to be evicted, when Rodolphe (John Gilbert), a struggling young playwright who is smitten with her takes her into his circle of bohemian friends. Soon they fall in love and Rodolphe is inspired by Mimi to write his masterpiece. In order to survive while his play is being written, Rodolphe continues to write for a newspaper but is discharged when Mimi submits an article he is late on. In order for Rodolphe not to get discouraged, Mimi pretends to deliver his articles and secretly sews throughout the night to support them both, much to her detriment. One of Mimi’s clients is Vicomte Paul (Roy D’Arcy), a man more interested in Mimi than what she sews for him. When Mimi learns Paul has connections in the theatre, she agrees to attend a play with Paul in order to meet the theater manager. In clothes borrowed from her and Rodolphe’s friend, Musette (Renée Adorée), who may or may not receive gifts from men by doing illicit deeds, Mimi attends the play and accomplishes her goal. However, Rodolphe accuses her of infidelity and they fight, when Mimi collapses from the strain, Rodolphe realizes the sacrifices she has made for him. As he runs to get a doctor Mimi leaves him a note that she will not return to him until his play has become a success. Unfortunately, by the time his play is a success Mimi is in the last deadly stages of her tuberculosis. Despite how ill she is, she makes it home to see Rodolphe one last time before she dies.






Overall, I thought this film was a wonderful depiction of Puccini’s opera with Lillian Gish as ethereal and beautiful as ever. However, John Gilbert seems to come off as a lecher throughout most the film, only redeeming himself in the end when he realizes Mimi’s sacrifice. His constant pawing of Gish is more in line with a randy schoolboy than someone who is inspired by love. The most poignant part of the film for me was how Mimi struggled to get back to Rodolphe, being too weak to climb the hill to their home. The viewer is taken back and forth between the scenes of Rodolphe reluctantly celebrating his success and watching Mimi latch on to the lower step of a street cart to be dragged upon the cobblestones only to collapse at the front steps as she rings the bell for entry.

Side note:
It’s rumored that Gilbert was infatuated with Gish and kept messing up their love scenes so they could do them more than once.


Tonight on TCM!
The Scarlet Pimpernel (1935)A British aristocrat's effete facade masks a swashbuckling hero rescuing victims of the French revolution. Cast: Leslie Howard, Merle Oberon, Raymond Massey, Nigel Bruce Dir: Harold Young

Random Thoughts

I saw this photo of Lillian Gish and immediately thought of one of my favorite poems.

-Ode on a Grecian Urn-

Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thou express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fring'd legend haunt about thy shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?
Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter: therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal - yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!

Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
Your leaves, nor ever bid the spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unwearied,
For ever piping songs for ever new;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!
For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd,
For ever panting, and for ever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.

Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?
What little town by river or sea shore,
Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?
And, little town, thy streets for evermore
Will silent be; and not a soul to tell
Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.

O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede
Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
With forest branches and the trodden weed;
Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty," - that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

-Keats

Silence is Golden: The White Sister (1923)

Angela Chiaromonte (Lillian Gish) and Captain Giovanni Severini (Ronald Colman) are deeply in love, but Angela's wealthy father, Prince Chiaromonte (Charles Lane), does not know this and arranges her marriage, without her knowledge, to the son of Count del Ferice (Roman Ibanez). However, the prince is killed as the result of an accident while riding to hounds.
While Angela grieves, her older half-sister, the Marchesa di Mola (Gail Kane), takes the opportunity to look through their late father's papers and secretly burns one of them. No will can be found, so not only does the entire estate go to the Marchesa, but because the prince's second marriage was not registered with the civil authorities, it is not considered legally valid, making Angela "nobody". With that, Count del Ferice dissolves the marriage contract between Angela and his son.
The Marchesa orders Angela to leave the palace that very day, revealing that she has always hated her step-sister for "whining" her way into their father's affection and more recently for taking Giovanni, the only man she ever loved. Madame Bernard (Juliette La Violette), Angela's companion and chaperon, offers her a place in her home.
Giovanni finally finds her there, but has some bad news. He has been appointed to command an expedition of engineers being sent to Africa and must leave the next morning. However, he promises they will be married the day he returns.
Unfortunately, his camp is attacked by Arabs, and Italian newspapers announce that all have been massacred. When Angela hears the news, she becomes catatonic. She is taken to the Santa Giovanna d'Aza hospital, which is run by nuns. After several days, the painter Durand (Alfredo Bertone), himself hopelessly in love with Angela, creates a portrait of Giovanni and brings it to the hospital, hoping it will help. Angela at first mistakes it for Giovanni, kissing it several times, but then comes to her senses. After a while, she informs Monsignor Seracinesca (J. Barney Sherry), an old family friend that she intends to become a nun, a white sister, in honor of Giovanni.
However, Giovanni is still alive. For two years, he languishes as a captive until the death of his sole comrade gives him the chance to overpower their guard and escape. On the ship back to Italy, he is ordered not to speak to anyone until he has seen the Minister of War. That same day, Angela takes her final vows in a solemn ceremony, dedicating her life to the Catholic Church.
Giovanni's older brother, Professor Ugo Severi (Gustavo Serena), breaks down after years of research trying to harness the power of Mount Vesuvius and is taken to the Santa Giovanna d'Aza hospital. Giovanni is given permission to visit him, and by chance, meets Angela. After their initial shock, he embraces and tries to kiss her. She responds at first, but then remembers her circumstances and runs to her room. Monsignor Saracinesca restrains Giovanni from following, explaining that Angela is now married to the church.
Giovanni refuses to accept that. He lures Angela by false pretenses to his brother's observatory. He tries to get her to sign a petition to the Pope requesting to be released from her vows, but she refuses. When Giovanni sees that all his pleadings are useless, he allows her to leave.
The Marchesa tries to persuade Monsignor Saracinesca that Angela has gone willingly to be with her lover. He does not believe her, but sets out for the observatory anyway. Meanwhile, Giovanni notices that his brother's invention indicates that Vesuvius is about to erupt. He rides to warn the townsfolk, passing Saracinesca on the way.
The Marchesa's carriage is wrecked when her horses bolt, startled by lightning. Fatally injured, she crawls and stumbles to an empty church, her only thought to confess her sins before dying. By chance, Angela seeks shelter there. Not recognizing her, the Marchesa confesses she burned the will out of hatred and asks if her sister will forgive her. After a visible struggle with her emotions, Angela says she does, before her sister passes away.
Vesuvius erupts, sending lava down its slopes and breaking a water reservoir. However, Giovanni has been in time. Most of the townspeople are saved. Giovanni though drowns helping a mother and her children. Afterward, Angela asks God to keep him safe until they can be reunited. -Wikipedia (and it's accurate!)

My poor DVR had a meltdown over the length of this film so the last few moments were not to be seen. Personally, I was done about forty minutes in. It was lovely to see Lillian Gish in action for the first time and to see a very young and dapper looking Ronald Colman, but I felt the length of the film far exceeded the plot. However, that's not to say there were not some truly beautiful, touching, and suspenseful parts of this film.
When Angela awakens from her comatose state to find the large portrait of Giovanni staring at her, I could not help tearing up as she kissed and touched the portrait as if to bring him back to her. When Angela is marrying herself to the church while Giovanni is anxiously pacing the ship that will bring him back to her- the scene is cleverly drawn out going back and forth between the church ritual and Giovanni being told he could not speak to anyone before reporting to the war office. The scene is full of suspense- you want so badly for him to get there on time and then suddenly Angela is a nun and Giovanni is debarking the ship. When they finally reunite by accident it's touching to see Giovanni rail at the church and the Monsignor for taking his love away.
The painter, Durand has her dubbed as "The White Sister" because she is above all earthly love, untouchable- Gish aptly plays the part as she possessed a very ethereal beauty and I was impressed with how much emotion she could carry in her eyes alone. I have read elsewhere that Gish also possessed very expressive fingers and I would concur. Though this is the only silent film I have seen her in, it was refreshing to see that she could express so much more with her eyes and simple finger movement than any of the other actors (especially of that era) who depended upon big, sweeping gestures and flailing themselves across the screen to prove a point.


Side note:

Helen Hayes played in the 1933 version of The White Sister with Clark Gable and Lewis Stone. She also happened to be Lillian Gish's lifetime friend. Gish was the godmother of Hayes' son James MacArthur and Hayes was the beneficiary to Gish's estate.





Tonight on TCM!
Emma (1932) A housekeeper faces unexpected snobbery when she marries her boss.
Cast: Marie Dressler, Richard Cromwell, Jean Hersholt, Myrna Loy Dir: Clarence Brown