The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955)
Rating: 8.7
An incredible script by James Agee reads like an Appalachian folk-tale, telling the suspensful story of a criminal posing as a preacher (Robert Mitchum in his finest role) terrorizing two children who know the where about of the stolen money he pursues. Narratively, "Night of the Hunter" is an under-appreciated classic, considering the number of films and stories influenced by it. As I watched I realized David Gordon Green's "Undertow" (2004) is basically a modern remake that substitutes characters and their relations just enough to pass it off as being an original work. The directing and editing is flawed at times, but the cinematography by Stanley Cortez is very impressive. Although on the surface, this film seems like a simple tale of good vs. evil, there are a lot of things going on here and the ending is especially moving.
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