Night of the hunter

This morning in our lecture we watched a 1955 film - The Night of the Hunter, directed by Charles Laughton, his first and only film. I found the film interesting and entertaining. One of my favorite parts of the film was after the children had fleed from Henry Powell and their old house. The shots of the river and the surrounding nature were used in such a way to create an eery, dreamlike sequence which i thought was particuarly effective in reflecting the surreal state of mind the children must be in. My favourite character in the film was Uncle Birdie, i liked how he provided the endangered John Harper with a sense of security and i think it was easy for the audiences to warm to his character. I also enjoyed the character of Walter Spoon, i thought he was successful at representing the stereotypical man and brought a sense of "normality" to the male characters. I found the film in some cases a little absurd and it seemed to me that the film was taking a dig at women for being weak and impressionable (maybe a reflection of society at the time of the film?) until the last half hour or so when Rachel Cooper makes an appearance.

Overall i found the film enjoyable for a Tuesday morning lecture!