Charles Laughton's The Night Of The Hunter and Howard Hawks' The Big Sleep are two primary examples of the genre known as film noir. During the 40s and 50s film noirs were produced regularly in America. They featured grotesque men who lurked in shadows, seductive women who were rarely seen and large, looming camera angles that made their subjects look like misshapen monsters.
My kind of movie.
Few films can send genuine shivers down your back; The Fugitive, Jaws and of course Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. Charles Laughton's The Night Of The Hunter is capable of doing this. It's a smashingly scary romp that demonstrates big, important special effects aren't needed to scare your socks off. If you want your heart to stop don't read the following plot summary. ( I knew the plot before I saw the movie; like Psycho it's a modern legend. )
*Plot summary* A psychotic preacher charms a town and marries a recent widow. ( Her husband was hanged for stealing money he showed to his children before the fatal day. ) He hopes to find the money himself and then move on. He kills his wife and chases the children down the river in a nail biting scene that somehow feels magical. The children are taken in by an old woman who has the preacher arrested. *Plot summary*
Ok, you say, what's so scary about that; and honestly nothing is or would be scary if it wasn't for the direction. This was Laughton's only film, reggretable because it is apperant that he could have been a great director. As made by Hitchcock, this would have been more refined and elegant. As made by Laughton it's mind numbingly suspensful, a rip your hair out treat. For example here is a synopsis of one scene.
The children are hiding in the basement with the girl's doll in which the money is hidden. Slowly the preacher comes down and finds them. He pins the boy on a barrel and puts a sharp knife to his neck. "Where is it?", he growls, Overcome the girl yells "It's in my doll." He laughs. "It's the last place I would have looked." He sits down against the wall and the boy drops a shelf on his head. He's dazed but he jumps out after them and chases them up a flight of stairs with his arms stretched out in front of him like a zombie. They slam the door on his fingers and quickly lock it.
And the direction isn't subtle.
The story is everything; many films ( see below ), are about style over substance; The Night Of The Hunter is about substance.
In The Big Sleep the story is nothng because it doesn't make much sense. If in the middle of the screening I attended a man had leaned over and whispered "What's going on?", I could have told him. If he had said "What is this about?", I would have answered "Who knows?".
A quick summary: Marlowe is hired by a rich guy to get a blackmailer off his back. The rich man has two daughters, Carmen and Mrs. Rutlidge. Alot of people appear and get shot and Marlowe falls in love.
That's it. The Big Sleep is one of those movies that works entirely, but only in it's own universe. The fact that it is pretty incomprehensible is famous. Who knew it was this bad? ( Or this good? ) Watching it is like watching something you go to see because your kid makes you. You put your criticsms on hold and try to enjoy the show.
Howard Hawks directs with a crisp and refreshing to-the-pointness that has you smiling at the sheer fun of it all. ( Is it a great movie? Yeah. It's also greatly enjoyable. ) Max Steiner wrote the wonderful score that brings it the same air as Casablanca which he also composed. ( He objected to the use of 'As Time Goes By'. ) And how are the stars? Wonderful. Humphrey Bogart - the ultimate noir man - and Lauren Bacall sizzle onscreen.
I saw it in the prerelease edition currently showing across the country - and you should go see it now. Funny and entertaining, a breezy delight. At the theater there was hardly a seat left. From the first shot to the last the audience was drawn in, completely.
The only drawback was the final documentary shown afterwards of the version originally released to theaters. Seen seperately I would have been fascinated but with and after the film I was bored. I should have walked out, still high on the experience and I wasn't given that opportunity. Still it's a wonderful movie. ( It looks like a much better version then the original which they show part of. ) An example of what can be done with all the right people and nothing to work with.
The Night Of The Hunter: A+ The Big Sleep: A+
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