Sinister Psalms - "The Night of the Hunter" by Charles Laughton

When I looked through my home archive, I found the disc with the movie The Night of the Hunter. Strongly I do not remember how he was with me, but with someone's hand, a felt-tip pen on it was carefully deduced five stars and a note "American classics".

Naturally, the same evening I postponed all the cases and started watching, as my interest in old films in recent years is akin to real mania and many films of the 50-60's, which by virtue of their age I have not found in theaters, now I look with great pleasure.

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America of the Great Depression, the head of the family, to feed his wife and children goes to the robbery, but everything goes not according to plan - he manages to get money, but to hide, killed two people. In the footsteps of a desperate robber, the police hurry, and the latter does not come up with anything better than to hide money in his house, and the secret about where they are trusting their son and daughter.

Murder is a serious crime and the father is sent to the gallows, but waiting for it in the cell of the verdict is found out by the mysterious murderer Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum), who sets out from prison to reach the stolen money.

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Charles Laughton filmed "The Night of the Hunter" based on Davis Grubb's book, which in turn relied on the story of the real criminal Harry Powers, who was hanged in the 1920s for killing two widows and three children. Powers knew the Biblical texts very well, successfully pretended to be a preacher and easily entered into the trust of people to achieve his goals, but when the money was coming to an end he got rid of his surroundings and sought new victims. Only his last two atrocities were proved to be true, and in fact there could be many more devout women from small towns on his way of life, but whether it is so or not, now it's senseless and utterly unsubstantiated, but the film was simply magnificent.

At one time, he failed at the box office and criticism was not favorable to him, and it's obvious - from Laughton expected a typical for the 50's, noir. With fatal beauties, cruel criminals and detectives with a difficult fate, and got what is now commonly called "American Gothic."

The darkest work in the spirit, thoroughly imbued with biblical motives, unfolding against the backdrop of seemingly ideal American outbacks - with simple-minded townspeople, cute kids and charming housewives. The pastor performed by Mitchum among this idyll looks quite an infernal figure and it is worth acknowledging that Laughton was ahead of the times in many respects, using for the greater effect unusual angles and an abundance of shadows more characteristic of the creations of German Expressionists.

It was thanks to the artistic style and the incredible Mitchum acting that the film got the status of a cult and, I admit, I did not even lazy to look for an English version of this film to assess the villain - Harry Powell, singing psalms. Definitely, it was worth it and I'm glad that I got acquainted with this work of art.

That's just who and when gave me a CD with this film - will remain a mystery :)

Sorry for possible errors - English is not my native language