Customer Reviews

The Night of the Hunter (BFI Film Classics)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

A fascinating book about an equally fascinating and very under-rated movie. I don't remember where or when I first saw "The Night of the Hunter," but I do remember being scared, horrified and thrilled all at the same time. As was usually the case when he played a villan, Robert Mitchum was terrifying as he roamed off in the distance as a silhouette on horseback (which, by the way was actually a stand-in midget riding a donkey -- now THAT's creepy!). And the rest of the cast, including the great Lillian Gish and the incomparable Shelley Winters, as well as the two child actors, is absolutly steller; not to mention that this movie was Charles Laughton's one and only (unfortuately) foray into directing. My reason for spending so much time praising the movie is that this book deserves equal praise for bringing the movie back so vividly to the reader. Again, it's a fascinating read -- and in some ways, almost as spooky as the movie. All of the books in the BFI Film Classics series that I've read are wonderful, and this is one of the best. Go get it!

Simon Callow's "The Night of the Hunter" is a fairly engrossing and respectable addition to the BFI Film Classics series, though I have to admit that it's not without its problems. After a brief introductory section, Callow delves at length into David Grubb's novel in order to illuminate how Laughton's excellent film closely mirrors the novelist's work. Also, we're given information concerning Laughton's acting career. As distinguished and idiosyncratic as it was, this inclusion, like the extensive quoting from the novel, takes up valuable space. And since Laughton does no acting in the film, it's somewhat superfluous. Be that as it may, Callow goes on to provide a thorough recounting of the collaborative process surrounding the making of "The Night of the Hunter", which falls soundly within the realm of pertinence. Unfortunately, there's scant discussion about the actual film itself as a completed entity, which brought to mind Schickel's BFI monograph on "Double Indemnity". The 'Reputation' segment is good, with comments from diverse critics. Callow finally hits his stride in 'Coda: A View', which contains a brief, if more or less in-depth commentary about the film.
Overall, I liked this book. But, for me, it lacks the zest and infectious passion of, say, Jim Kitses' "Gun Crazy", and the analytic ferocity of, for example, David Rudkin's "Vampyr".

The book has small font and can be hard to read because of this but has a lot of great information about the movie and reads like a documentary that provides information from many different perspectives.

these little books are very helpful for deepening the understanding of a favorite film.

they are well written, not too boring and perfect for a day of travelling by air or train because they're not bulky. they slip right inside a computer case; then you pop a dvd in of the film you've read about and you're set!

total edutainment!