'Night of the Hunter' | Critics' Picks | The New York Times 

The scene of the children going down the river with the animals in the foreground is magical, heartwarming and terrifying all at the same time! Brilliant direction.

"Don't he never SLEEEP?" Evil never does A haunting film

Robert Mitchum didn't think much of his films except The Night of The Hunter. Powell was his favorite role and he considered Charles Laughton to be best director he ever worked this.

Still one of my favourite flicks about human "monsters." Francois Truffaut said that this particular film reaffirmed his belief that film could be both art and beauty.

I watched this fabulous movie again last night. One of my favorites. The children in this movie gave a splendid performance. Lillian Gish, loved her in this movie. Shelley Winters, was superb. Robert Mitchem, one word -- sensational performance, it was Oscar worthy, with that booming baritone voice, nothing quite like it.. I didn't want to miss a moment of his performance. One of my favourite actors, loved him. RIP Robert. Missed but not forgotten.

I love this movie so much... RIP Robert Mitchum and Radio Raheem

I've seen it twice and am sure I will see it again. It's in my top 10 list for sure.

Correction: Peter Graves played the children's father, not the little boy.

I read that Charles Laughton didn`t much like children ,didn`t get on with them and that it was Robert Mitcham who was responsible for directing all the children`s acting. If true it is all the more remarkable because in the film they are fleeing in terror from his character ,so he must have had great rapport with the children and greatly gained their trust on the film set. Also he did all his own singing.

A British director made a Western movie in the style of German Expressionism. Black and white elegance in the era of colours and colossal.

A gothic masterpiece. Mitchum nails the role of a wolf in sheep's clothing. Shelly Winters was excellent as the vulnerable, naive widow with 2 small children.

The boy was played by Billy Chapin. One of the best child performances ever.

Robert Mitchum plays a perfectly despicable villain brilliantly.

New York Slimes can’t even be bothered to know what it is talking about. No surprise. Peter Graves isn’t John. He’s his father. Classic NYT.

Evil never sleeps.

I LOVE THIS FILM! It is so fantastic. The casting, music and sets along with Laughton’s direction is perfect in every way. I’ve always wondered if the children who played Pearl and her brother had PTSD and/or had to get therapy after filming the movie. Robert Mitchum is evil incarnate! He inspired fear in me, and I was an adult when I saw this film the first time. Any time I hear “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” I automatically think of Mitchum!

Masterpiece

1:19 NOPE Peter Graves is the father, who is hanged. The son is played by Billy Chapin.

Haunting for sure. Great cast.

Cinematic poetry.

Peter Graves played the executed dad, not the son.

Such an amazing movie

Such a great film, thank you so much for the explanation and analysis.

wonderful !!!

Best Hollywood movie ever made

A true classic film ,great acting

so good

This should’ve been an magnificent directorial debut for Charles Laughton but with its failure at the box office and not looked with favour by the critics, Laughton never directed again, which was a shame.

Agee didn't write the screen play! his thick novel of a screen play was thrown out. Laughton basically used the incredible book as the screen play.

It’s just so good!!!

my favourite movie. The set-design is so intentionally fake-looking...as in a nightmare...the shadows...silouhettes...nothing is real

Laughton did such a nice job directing this film. Too bad its the only one he did.

No, the children are played by Sally Jane Bruce and Billy Chapin (brother to Lauren Chapin). Their father is played by Peter Graves. Weird thing to get wrong.

Using black and white and greys to shine a bright light on the sinister nature of the godfraud and human frailty.

This performance may be Mitchum's greatest performance but there is also "The Friends of Eddie Coyle".

I read the novel two or three times around about 1960, when I was 12 or 13. Creeeeepy.

AWESOME AWESOME MOVIE!!!!

I didn't know James Agee wrote the script. If you are looking for something to read try "A Death in the Family" by Agee.

Although I like many of Robert Mitchum films, but this one is among my 3 favorites besides "Cape Fear" and "Thunder Road ".

he sings "leaning"while she sings"lean on Jesus"

i have a few issues this movie: 1) the mother character is way too helpless. why didn't she try to defend herself when he's about the slit her throat? who's gonna protect her children if she died? 2) the way harry powell is defeated. i had a great expectation when mrs. cooper about to go head to head with powell that night. it's just a bit anticlimactic to me 3) Ruby is way way way too naive like gosh didn't mrs. cooper tell her that the man is dangerous and the fact that he's a murderer? and yet she still say she loves him????? could she be any more dense??? gosh i was so annoyed. too bad this movie really had the potential to be a near perfect masterpiece but those points just make me back up a little. still appreciate tho

Just caught this for the 1st time,at random on one of those HD bunny ear movie channels. Just totally floored that this came out at peak 1950s cheesy melodrama era Hollywood. Mitchum's performance is viscerally menacing and like all great "villains",enchanting as well. His performance me prognosticates the likes of someone like Denis Hopper's. Frank Booth. Totally understandable this was a total flop though, would love to know how many unsuspecting people it emotionally scared though when it was playing in theaters.

A GREAT FILM

I did not realize the scene with radio Raheem had its genesis in this film.

The boy's name is Billy Chapin.

PETER GRAVES PLAYED THE FATHER N O T ONE OF THE CHILDREN.

I like this movie.

“What do you say to a man that by his own admission has no soul? Why would you say anything? I’ve thought about it a good deal. But that wasn't nothin' compared to what was comin' down the pike. They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. I don't know what them eyes was the windows to and I guess I'd as just as soon as rather not know. But... there is... another... view of the world out there and there are... other... eyes... to see it and that's where my story is goin'. It has done brought me to a place in my life I would not of ever thought possible to come to. Somewhere... out there... is a true and living prophet of destruction and I don't ever want to confront him again. I know he's real... I have seen his work... I walked in front of those eyes... just once... and I wont ever do it again. I wont ever again push my chips forward and stand up and go out there to meet him. It ain't just cuz I’m getting older. I really wish it was. I can’t say that it's even what you are willin' to do in such a situation because I always knew that you had to be willin' to die to even do this job. That was always true. Not to sound glorious about it or nothin' but you do. If you ain't... they'll know it and they'll see it in a heartbeat. I think it is more like what you are willin' to... become... and I think a man would have to put his soul at hazard. And I wont do that... not again... not ever again... and I think that now... certainly I never would.” - Cormac McCarthy, No Country For Old Men

Peter Graves is the dad, not one of the children.

children?

I had to watch this film my Introduction to Film Studies classm

Terrifying? Okay. Relajate por favor.

One of the few times I agree with the NY Times ...

An Awesome Movie

Just listen to that bass baritone voice

I think the movie turns a bit too silly by the last half an hour or so. Like when Mitchum gets shot by the "mother goose", that yell they use three times on a loop as he runs to the barn. So silly. And all that weird aftermath with the trial and the lynching mob, and the teen girl who is in love with Mitchum's character after just one scene together.

This was one of the most un-intentionally funny movies that was ever made. Robert Mitchum came off as extremely humorous. 😀😁😂🤣

At no place in the film is Mitchum’s character depicted as “Southern”. Nice display of prejudice.

Not the great classic that it's cracked up to be, in my opinion. Overall, I like the movie but it seems to have a disjointed feel about it. It's at times too self-consciously "arty" but gets away with it more than, for example, Citizen Kane, because it plays like a fairytale. Robert Mitchum"s performance, often credited with being "menacing" or "terrifying" is neither and overrated, in my view. However, there are many surreal, striking and moving scenes in the film that make it worth the watch, the obvious choice being the submerged corpse driver sequence - *impacting* - and also the river journey section with the overdubbed child actress singing that has an enchanted, ethereal feel to it. The film also works thematically in it's contrast between nominal and true religious belief. One wonders what Laughton might have come up with had his directorial career continued and he had opportunity to really hone his craft....

Good actors on a terrible script. One of the worst movies I have ever seen