The Night of the Hunter

I'm hesitant to give this film any kind of rating. I feel compelled to give it a higher rating because of its honest depiction of child abuse, but I had some trouble following the tale or enjoying the overly theatrical acting. I did like the fact that it was a quirky set piece (the river the children escape on flows in five different directions, kind of like they're boating in a Jacuzzi) and I thought Lillian Gish was the tops as the compassionate foster mother at the end, but it was simply way too weird for me to really enjoy. Robert Mitchum plays a fake preacher who marries rich widows, but he's picked the wrong woman this time because she doesn't know where her husband hid the money. He tries to force it out of the kids, who do know, but they prove stronger than him. In fact, the scene I thought was best occurs when the authorities finally take him away and the boy he has abused goes into a tantrum and desperately wants to give him the money he's held back for so long. And won't accuse his stepfather in court. Which is the evidence of child abuse -- the controller is hated by the abused but also embodies the one person that the abused needs to receive love and acceptance from. The cycle of control is something that's very hard to stop. (And if you want a heartbreaking and particularly well-written book on the subject, I heartily recommend A Hole in the World by Richard Rhodes, the autobiography of his childhood.)

year: 1955
length: 93 min.
rating: 3.0
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048424/combined