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List Price: $14.95Price: $9.95 You Save: $5.00 (33%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786301973236
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, NTSC
ISBN: 6301973232
Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Languages: EnglishOriginal LanguageAnalog
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD)
Release Date: September 01, 1998
Running Time: 94 minutes
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Theatrical Release Date: 1955
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com essential video:
In the entire history of American movies, The Night of the Hunter stands out as the rarest and most exotic of specimens. It is, to say the least, a masterpiece--and not just because it was the only movie directed by flamboyant actor Charles Laughton or the only produced solo screenplay by the legendary critic James Agee (who also cowrote The African Queen). The truth is, nobody has ever made anything approaching its phantasmagoric, overheated style in which German expressionism, religious hysteria, fairy-tale fantasy (of the Grimm-est variety), and stalker movie are brought together in a furious boil. Like a nightmarish premonition of stalker movies to come, Night of the Hunter tells the suspenseful tale of a demented preacher (Robert Mitchum, in a performance that prefigures his memorable villain in Cape Fear), who torments a boy and his little sister--even marries their mixed-up mother (Shelley Winters)--because he's certain the kids know where their late bank-robber father hid a stash of stolen money. So dramatic, primal, and unforgettable are its images--the preacher's shadow looming over the children in their bedroom, the magical boat ride down a river whose banks teem with fantastic wildlife, those tattoos of LOVE and HATE on the unholy man's knuckles, the golden locks of a drowned woman waving in the current along with the indigenous plant life in her watery grave--that they're still haunting audiences (and filmmakers) today. --Jim Emerson
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
Interesting, and somewhat engaging, but odd. Robert Mitchum's performance is over-the-top, the other performances are lackluster, except for the character of the older woman who takes the children in. Mitchum's role especially presages Robert De Niro in the reamke of Cape Fear.
Rating:  -
As you watch this film, the irrational, troubling feeling that you know it... that the horror you mother tried to soothe away with a sip of sugar water saying, hush, it was only a dream... which you've always tried to forget, had been lurking here all the time, waiting for the unguarded moment to get you....
The Night of the Hunter awakens a primal sense of evil and fear as no other film I know. Robert Mitchum embodies evil which is profound and petty, vicious and maudlin, prescient and idiotic, and always, always relentlessly bearing down on what we fear most..
This is sustained, inspired filmmaking of the highest order. Action and character unfold together, seamlessly. There is not one scene superfluous to the film as a whole, nothing you could or would do without.. And the counter to Mitchum's evil (Mrs. Cooper - Lillian Gish) is afforded just the right weight.. As for the two children, well, I have no idea how Charles Laughton coaxed these performances out ... Read More
Rating:  -
This movie is so well-loved in certain quarters that I hesitate to trash it, but I simply cannot recommend it.
Charles Laughton's quasi-expressionistic direction is extremely stilted and out-of-date. The actors are dreadfully hammy, particularly Robert Mitchum as the scenery-chewing baddie at the center of the film and Shelley Winters as the zombie-like woman he kills. What little acting she does is not only cut short by Mitchum's knife but by ridiculously rapid cutting from scene to scene, while long scenes in which her children float downriver to escape from the evil con-man preacher are supposed to be artsy but struck me as dull and pretentious. And the corny lines that the actors are forced to utter are frequently beyond embarrassing.
I found the story lacked all suspense, which is the most damning thing I can say about what is purported to be a suspense film. For a character to be menacing, he must be unpredictable, but Mitchum's character is so one-dimensional, ... Read More
Rating: -
Lillian Gish opens this movie w/ a warning to beware of wolves in sheep's clothing. This sets the stage for the Reverend Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum from the equally classic Cape Fear), who roams the countryside searching for converts (aka: victims) to his special brand of fire-and-brimstone religion. This religion includes Powell's "listening to the voice of God", which will lead him to a town where he can prey upon the ignorant souls within. Enter Shelley Winters (Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?, Poseiden Adventure) as the widow of an executed robber / killer (Peter Graves), who has hidden $10,000.00 somewhere on their property. Unfortunately, Powell shared a cell with dear hubby and tried without success to get him to reveal the location of the money. Now released, Powell sets out to find the place, marry the widow, and collect the fortune. Mitchum is supremely creepy as the reverend. He will make your skin crawl and your stomach flip! Set in a far more innocent / ignorant time, Powell is truly a ... Read More
Rating: -
The best kind of horror comes not from monsters or ghosts, but from other human beings. "Cape Fear," "Heavenly Creatures," and other such movies are brilliant examples of this.
But one of the most compelling examples is "Night of the Hunter," a haunting movie that slowly descends into an exquisitely-filmed, brilliantly-acted nightmare about a malign preacher and the two children who are trying to escape. Like an old fairy tale by a modern Grimm, it's full of terror, magic, beauty and darkness -- and Robert Mitchum's amazing, chilling performance.
Murderous preacher Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) is arrested for car theft, since the police don't know that his hatred of women has led him to repeated murder. He shares a prison cell with bank robber Ben Harper (Peter Graves), who stole ten thousand dollars. Powell tries to coax the location of the money from Harper, but the thief takes it to his grave. Only his son John (Billy Chapin) knows its location -- and he's sworn not ... Read More
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