Topic: Night of the Hunter [Curated]

Teague Chrystie

I have a tendency to fix your typos.

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Re: Night of the Hunter [Curated]

When my Sister and I were kids, this movie came on and almost immediately, she laid down on the floor and her eyes were glued to the screen (I had already seen it). It says a lot about this movie's quality that it would grab her attention like that. She tends to lean more towards Adam Sandler movies (although to her credit, Grown Ups must be pretty bad if she thought it was "boring and stupid"). Robert Mitchum is amazing in this. The last thing I saw him in (I think it was even his last part before he died) was Dead Man, with Johnny Depp. Even then, he was crushing it.

I'm fascinated that Teague has only just recently seen Psycho (my personal favorite Hitchcock film) and I hope that means a commentary is eminent.

I wish people would stop perpetuating that bullshit about Black Widow in The Avengers. I feel like Eddie would/should know better. sad

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Re: Night of the Hunter [Curated]

A quick correction for Trey. Peter Graves wasn't in "Them!", he was in the lower budget ripoff "Beginning of the End" which had giant grasshoppers. The climax has them walking on a photo of a building.

I write stories! With words!
http://www.asstr.org/~Invid_Fan/

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Re: Night of the Hunter [Curated]

I'm not saying Black Widow is a completely flawed, bad character.  What I am saying is that her kicking ass in Iron Man 2 (which I totally dug for what it was) tends to be the singular characteristic of strength for a woman in a modern film.  Now, Black Widow in Cap 2: The Cappening, is FAR more interesting, and her strength comes through in ways other than face-punchery.  And again, there's nothing wrong with women facepunching.  But, and I should have been clearer about my reference being limited to Iron Man 2, if facepunching is all you give me to indicate that this female character is strong, then that's not really enough.

Eddie Doty

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Re: Night of the Hunter [Curated]

Eddie, are you posting in the right topic?

Re: Night of the Hunter [Curated]

I'm responding to Pavlich's last sentence in his post above.

Eddie Doty

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Re: Night of the Hunter [Curated]

Yep, I'm a dumbass and didn't see that. It does amaze me though that every single film discussion these days somehow always leads back to superhero movies. I see it time and time again around campus, in class, at bars, with friends, and everywhere else. It's pretty amusing that it's become the major reference point for everything, almost like how Star Wars was for decades. We're talking about Night of the Hunter for fuck sake, can't we focus on Robert Mitchum chilling performance and the incredible cinematography?

Re: Night of the Hunter [Curated]

Eddie wrote:

I'm not saying Black Widow is a completely flawed, bad character.  What I am saying is that her kicking ass in Iron Man 2 (which I totally dug for what it was) tends to be the singular characteristic of strength for a woman in a modern film.  Now, Black Widow in Cap 2: The Cappening, is FAR more interesting, and her strength comes through in ways other than face-punchery.  And again, there's nothing wrong with women facepunching.  But, and I should have been clearer about my reference being limited to Iron Man 2, if facepunching is all you give me to indicate that this female character is strong, then that's not really enough.

Ah, yes. Iron Man 2, okay. If we are just talking about that, then I'd say you're right on the money. I haven't seen Cap 2 yet, but I hear mostly great things, for the movie itself and Black Widow, specifically.

Heh... The Cappening. smile

I think that given the underlying elements of Night of the Hunter, it makes sense that Superhero movies would come up in discussion, mostly because they're so prevalent right now. They're an almost weekly (it seems) example of gender politics in some way or another. They tend to evoke this kind of discussion and this movie further ties into that. In a way, Mitchum's character is a kind of Supervillain, using his status as a White Male to diminish and destroy any potential power to be found in Women and Children. That's part of what makes Mitchum's performance so chilling: Back then, this attitude was not only accepted as "right", it was encouraged. Men and Women were defined by it. Although the Women's Rights Movement happened decades ago, much of its results are just now being widely felt and implemented. For example, Strong Female Characters and Superhero Movies.

So, yeah, sure. I suppose we can talk about the acting and cinematography in Night of the Hunter, but what then? That's all on-the-screen, surface stuff that while amazing, doesn't really tackle what the film is about and why it exists in the first place. Moody lighting is all well and good but let's have a rich discussion about the actual film. Isn't that much more fruitful?

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Re: Night of the Hunter [Curated]

Invid wrote:

A quick correction for Trey. Peter Graves wasn't in "Them!", he was in the lower budget ripoff "Beginning of the End" which had giant grasshoppers. The climax has them walking on a photo of a building.

Yes, you are correct, sir.  Even as I was saying it out loud, my brain was saying "wait, that might not be right...". smile    Another case of conflating similar movies, a la Hunter/Cape Fear.   (I am a very old person.)

P.S. something about Black Widow, just because.

Re: Night of the Hunter [Curated]

Trey wrote:

P.S. something about Black Widow, just because.

What Trey said

God loves you!

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Re: Night of the Hunter [Curated]

James Arness was in Them!, tho. He was Peter Graves' brother.

So that would totally count if you were playing horseshoes.

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

Zarban's House of Commentaries

Re: Night of the Hunter [Curated]

Hey Eddie, good call on this. I watched it, and appreciated it, but watching it again with your commentary really helped unpack it. There was a lot more going on than I thought. Really interesting film (that I otherwise wouldn't have ended up seeing), thanks!

Last edited by Herc (2014-06-13 04:58:30)

Disclaimer: if you dislike the tone of a post I make, re-read it in a North/East London accent until it sounds sufficiently playful smile

Re: Night of the Hunter [Curated]

Thanks, man!

Eddie Doty

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Re: Night of the Hunter [Curated]

It was James Agee guys, not Steve.

He was actually a great writer/film critic. One other interesting note is that he was friends with a young Kubrick. Kubrick forced him to watch Fear and Desire, 3 days later Agee died.

http://ohmygodd.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/stanley-kubrick.jpg

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Re: Night of the Hunter [Curated]

This was the documentary I mentioned in the commentary about the making of Bat For Lashes 2nd album, Two Suns.  At 2:10, Natasha performs the riverboat song and talks about Pearl as an inspiration to this album.  While there's a track on the album called, "Pearl's Dream," the main song that's sorta about Pearl and really, the heart of the whole album, is Siren Song.

Last edited by Eddie (2014-06-25 01:50:21)

Eddie Doty

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Re: Night of the Hunter [Curated]

Okay, now Natasha Khan is just fucking with me.  After reading an interview with her I realized that THIS:

Was inspired by THIS:

Please, no one ever show her A Serbian Film

Eddie Doty

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Re: Night of the Hunter [Curated]

Watched this tonight and loved it. There were several shots that made my jaw drop, particularly the shots of the corpse in the car underwater. Thanks, Eddie!

"The Doctor is Submarining through our brains." --Teague

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Re: Night of the Hunter [Curated]

Glad you liked i!

Eddie Doty

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Re: Night of the Hunter [Curated]

Here's the actual tagline for the TV remake from the 90s:

He preached against 'suffer the little children.' Then he went out and practised it.

Btw, to Teague's point about the noisy print, Criterion likes to leave in some grain to preserve authenticity, and sometimes with older movies there's only so much you can do anyway. Their whole philosophy is that they'll clean as much as they possibly can without leaving obvious traces of restoration. They'd rather leave in a scratch than take it out and leave the seams showing.

Last edited by Doctor Submarine (2014-07-18 02:42:11)

"The Doctor is Submarining through our brains." --Teague

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Re: Night of the Hunter [Curated]

Here's something I realized recently: Reverend Powell is a clear inspiration for Kent Mansley in The Iron Giant.

Both are adult men in positions of power that are usually trustworthy.

Both stalk and menace children, because the children have information that they need. These children are, in both cases, being raised by a single mother.

Both are intimidating most of the time, but they both also fall into slapstick antics when thwarted.

Both have a scene where they stay up all night hoping that their opponent will fall asleep before they do.

"The Doctor is Submarining through our brains." --Teague

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Re: Night of the Hunter [Curated]

So, firstly: I just love the lyrical filmmaking on display here, the expressionist shadow play, the battle of hymns and the gorgeous river scene. I wish we had more of these movies daring to be more directly poetic. The body in the car, sumptuous. The surreal nature of the movie gives it a dark fairytale quality that very effectively evokes the horror of the situation, is there really anything more scary than the prospect of being eaten by an ogre?

Secondly, on another musical note: I was quite surprised and thrilled to discover this movie to be the source of the “pretty fly” song, because it is quoted in its entirety on the Dies Irae album by Devil Doll. An Italian/Slovenian musical project active in the 80s and 90s, whom I listened to religiously back in the day. A truly unique patchwork of rock, synth, folk, choral and orchestral music woven into compositions about 40 minutes of quasi theatrical narratives. Perhaps the most notable and trademark feature of the act is the so called "sprechgesang" performed by main composer and vocalist going by the stage name Mr. Doctor.

To anyone not intimidated by the weird, dark, and surreal I suggest having a listen. “Pretty fly” isn’t the only work referenced, in fact all through their catalogue you’ll find quotes musically, lyrically and cinematically in nature, their first album “The girl who was…death” is actually entirely based on the 60s series “The Prisoner”, and a good starting point by the way. Not easy listening by any stretch of the imagination, kind of demands your attention. All their music can be found on youtube, I’ll link the on topic Dies Irae here, “pretty fly” quoted at 28:30.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FBPahhsU6E

Last edited by Snowflake (2014-08-23 00:16:16)

The Low Frequenter

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Re: Night of the Hunter [Curated]

I'm glad we did this movie. Thanks for the recommendation, Eddie.

*checks watch*

What, too soon?

Teague Chrystie

I have a tendency to fix your typos.

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Re: Night of the Hunter [Curated]

I just referred someone to this episode too.

Eddie Doty

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Re: Night of the Hunter [Curated]

Just gonna leave this here.

https://i.imgur.com/xVBhWwE.png

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