The scene of the children going down the river with the animals in the foreground is magical, heartwarming and terrifying all at the same time! Brilliant direction.
Robert Mitchum didn't think much of his films except The Night of The Hunter. Powell was his favorite role and he considered Charles Laughton to be best director he ever worked this.
Mitchum was such a curious person. He kept up a public image of himself which belied the private man, who was psychologically complex . He was known for using weed pretty constantly in a time when that was wholly frowned upon. But he didn't lie about it. These days we know that he was self medicating. in his 30s he even when blind from anxiety. It is no wonder he liked Laughton and Laughton's work. Laughton also being someone who was thoughtful and whose work was enriched by the difficulties of his life. What a film they made together. It is like nothing else. Some people say that Mitchum's performance is like that of Cape Fear. It isn't. This one is very different. Even the way he moves, the angles he holds his head at in that church like bedroom...it is all so baroque.
Still one of my favourite flicks about human "monsters." Francois Truffaut said that this particular film reaffirmed his belief that film could be both art and beauty.
I watched this fabulous movie again last night. One of my favorites. The children in this movie gave a splendid performance. Lillian Gish, loved her in this movie. Shelley Winters, was superb. Robert Mitchem, one word -- sensational performance, it was Oscar worthy, with that booming baritone voice, nothing quite like it.. I didn't want to miss a moment of his performance. One of my favourite actors, loved him. RIP Robert. Missed but not forgotten.
I LOVE THIS FILM! It is so fantastic. The casting, music and sets along with Laughton’s direction is perfect in every way. I’ve always wondered if the children who played Pearl and her brother had PTSD and/or had to get therapy after filming the movie. Robert Mitchum is evil incarnate! He inspired fear in me, and I was an adult when I saw this film the first time. Any time I hear “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” I automatically think of Mitchum!
I read that Charles Laughton didn`t much like children ,didn`t get on with them and that it was Robert Mitcham who was responsible for directing all the children`s acting. If true it is all the more remarkable because in the film they are fleeing in terror from his character ,so he must have had great rapport with the children and greatly gained their trust on the film set. Also he did all his own singing.
A gothic masterpiece. Mitchum nails the role of a wolf in sheep's clothing. Shelly Winters was excellent as the vulnerable, naive widow with 2 small children.
Just caught this for the 1st time,at random on one of those HD bunny ear movie channels. Just totally floored that this came out at peak 1950s cheesy melodrama era Hollywood. Mitchum's performance is viscerally menacing and like all great "villains",enchanting as well. His performance me prognosticates the likes of someone like Denis Hopper's. Frank Booth. Totally understandable this was a total flop though, would love to know how many unsuspecting people it emotionally scared though when it was playing in theaters.
No, the children are played by Sally Jane Bruce and Billy Chapin (brother to Lauren Chapin). Their father is played by Peter Graves. Weird thing to get wrong.
This should’ve been an magnificent directorial debut for Charles Laughton but with its failure at the box office and not looked with favour by the critics, Laughton never directed again, which was a shame.
ITS NEVER BEEN GOD WHO IS CORRUPT IT IS FALLEN MAN ! THERE ARE JUST AS MANY GOOD PASTORS AS BAD -A BATTLE WAGES ! PICK UP A BIBLE AND HELP.OUT, PLEASE!
Throughout the movie R. Mitchum cannot utter the name of Jesus. This is sign pointing to him as a false prophet. Which he is (seductive with people until he show his true colors) .
@@jurebabic4383 Interesting. I've only seen it once, but I didn't notice that detail. I did notice that he didn't really know the hymn, whereas the Lillian Gish character actually knew the correct lyrics. Fascinating movie!
IF hollywood does a remake of this beautiful classic, WHO could play Mitchum well? I think Christian Bale, Joaquin Phoenix or Jon Bernthal could do it well.
i have a few issues this movie: 1) the mother character is way too helpless. why didn't she try to defend herself when he's about the slit her throat? who's gonna protect her children if she died? 2) the way harry powell is defeated. i had a great expectation when mrs. cooper about to go head to head with powell that night. it's just a bit anticlimactic to me 3) Ruby is way way way too naive like gosh didn't mrs. cooper tell her that the man is dangerous and the fact that he's a murderer? and yet she still say she loves him????? could she be any more dense??? gosh i was so annoyed. too bad this movie really had the potential to be a near perfect masterpiece but those points just make me back up a little. still appreciate tho
nanasshi 07 Another unpopular opinion here. People keep saying that this movie received unfair treatment at the beginning, while I believe that the reason it’s so popular now is due to our tendency to have a soft spot for old films. I myself love it’s story & aesthetics, but I admit there are a lot of glaring baffling directions that the filmmaker took which I think might’ve had affected viewers’ opinions when this movie was released. For example, the part in which Icey invites Harry to a picnic ends with an unintentional sinister look on her face, amplified by the way the scene dissolves into the next. Besides, when Harry first shows up at Ms. Cooper’s house, Pearl straightaway runs to him & hugs him, a man who has been really violent to her & her brother & whom they’ve spent a whole night trying to evade from. I’ve read fans justifying it as her longing for a father figure in her life, but that has been implied in absolutely nowhere else. It just makes her look unbelievably stupid even for her age (which I believe is old enough to know to hold a grudge against someone who has treated her badly). Then of course there’s the climax as you’ve mentioned where Harry just appears out of nowhere inside the house & then shot by Ms. Cooper. It is just unintentionally funny & takes away the intended suspense. Having said these, I still love the movie for other great things it has. I’m just not surprised why others dislike it when it came out.
As for your third issue I think Ruby's character was meant to show how Harry Powell was able to draw these naive and not very bright women in. I also thought it was a little frustrating by I think the point is to explain a bit how Powell's process works of finding and drawing in new victims. It's also part of the film's moral that childhood is sacred and innocence should try to be preserved, as Ruby is trying to grow up too fast. Also, to your first point I don't think the mother knew she was going to get murdered right then or maybe she even thought thats what she deserved as a sinner.
There are plenty of awful old films. Most of we've either never heard of or get made fun of by Rifftrax. Even masterpiece films have flaws. Not sure I agree with all thepoints you laid out, but you obviously picked up on what bothered you, and I can't say you're wrong if those are the things you deem important. I tend to agree with those who say Pearl is yearning for a father figure, but she's also part playacting. She's not dumb, but her intuitions have split two ways.
“What do you say to a man that by his own admission has no soul? Why would you say anything? I’ve thought about it a good deal. But that wasn't nothin' compared to what was comin' down the pike. They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. I don't know what them eyes was the windows to and I guess I'd as just as soon as rather not know. But... there is... another... view of the world out there and there are... other... eyes... to see it and that's where my story is goin'. It has done brought me to a place in my life I would not of ever thought possible to come to. Somewhere... out there... is a true and living prophet of destruction and I don't ever want to confront him again. I know he's real... I have seen his work... I walked in front of those eyes... just once... and I wont ever do it again. I wont ever again push my chips forward and stand up and go out there to meet him. It ain't just cuz I’m getting older. I really wish it was. I can’t say that it's even what you are willin' to do in such a situation because I always knew that you had to be willin' to die to even do this job. That was always true. Not to sound glorious about it or nothin' but you do. If you ain't... they'll know it and they'll see it in a heartbeat. I think it is more like what you are willin' to... become... and I think a man would have to put his soul at hazard. And I wont do that... not again... not ever again... and I think that now... certainly I never would.” - Cormac McCarthy, No Country For Old Men
I think the movie turns a bit too silly by the last half an hour or so. Like when Mitchum gets shot by the "mother goose", that yell they use three times on a loop as he runs to the barn. So silly. And all that weird aftermath with the trial and the lynching mob, and the teen girl who is in love with Mitchum's character after just one scene together.
Right? Not to mention shot point blank by a shotgun, then he goes to hang out in the barn to have a sleep? And the face he makes, reminds me of that scene in burn after reading except that guy DID get his face blown off
Prejudiced against what--the South? It feels like the South, but it could also be in the Midwest, the great plains, plenty of other rural areas in the U.S. You watched this depraved, hilarious, holy and terrifying film and all you got out of it was some imaginary display of "prejudice"?
???? A psychotic killer is funny . Funny is a make believe monster like frankenstein, the, this monster is REAL . He looks like anyone , everyone and they exist for real everywhere . Open any newspaper, anywhere in the world, the murders you read about were horrible, scary to the victims and their families
i dunno. the way Laughton acts in his roles it's clear he is intelligent and has a biting wit. i think some of the humor was intentional especially the way Icey described her 40 year marriage to Walt. Pure comedy.
Not the great classic that it's cracked up to be, in my opinion. Overall, I like the movie but it seems to have a disjointed feel about it. It's at times too self-consciously "arty" but gets away with it more than, for example, Citizen Kane, because it plays like a fairytale. Robert Mitchum"s performance, often credited with being "menacing" or "terrifying" is neither and overrated, in my view. However, there are many surreal, striking and moving scenes in the film that make it worth the watch, the obvious choice being the submerged corpse driver sequence - *impacting* - and also the river journey section with the overdubbed child actress singing that has an enchanted, ethereal feel to it. The film also works thematically in it's contrast between nominal and true religious belief. One wonders what Laughton might have come up with had his directorial career continued and he had opportunity to really hone his craft....
The scene of the children going down the river with the animals in the foreground is magical, heartwarming and terrifying all at the same time! Brilliant direction.
"Don't he never SLEEEP?"
Evil never does
A haunting film
Robert Mitchum didn't think much of his films except The Night of The Hunter. Powell was his favorite role and he considered Charles Laughton to be best director he ever worked this.
Mitchum was such a curious person. He kept up a public image of himself which belied the private man, who was psychologically complex . He was known for using weed pretty constantly in a time when that was wholly frowned upon. But he didn't lie about it. These days we know that he was self medicating.
in his 30s he even when blind from anxiety.
It is no wonder he liked Laughton and Laughton's work. Laughton also being someone who was thoughtful and whose work was enriched by the difficulties of his life.
What a film they made together. It is like nothing else.
Some people say that Mitchum's performance is like that of Cape Fear. It isn't.
This one is very different. Even the way he moves, the angles he holds his head at in that church like bedroom...it is all so baroque.
Still one of my favourite flicks about human "monsters." Francois Truffaut said that this particular film reaffirmed his belief that film could be both art and beauty.
I watched this fabulous movie again last night. One of my favorites. The children in this movie gave a splendid performance. Lillian Gish, loved her in this movie. Shelley Winters, was superb. Robert Mitchem, one word -- sensational performance, it was Oscar worthy, with that booming baritone voice, nothing quite like it.. I didn't want to miss a moment of his performance. One of my favourite actors, loved him. RIP Robert. Missed but not forgotten.
Robert Mitchum plays a perfectly despicable villain brilliantly.
I love this movie so much... RIP Robert Mitchum and Radio Raheem
I've seen it twice and am sure I will see it again. It's in my top 10 list for sure.
A British director made a Western movie in the style of German Expressionism.
Black and white elegance in the era of colours and colossal.
WOW what a description and so accurate
Laughton called it a "mother goose" story.
not fully western as it is southern gothic, but your point stands
Correction: Peter Graves played the children's father, not the little boy.
Surprised he made that mistake, considering how well known Peter Graves was.
How does an obviously stupid mistake like this occur? Talking head just reading words not knowing what he's saying. Geez.
Simon Treves peter graves played the boy also.
they shot him full of hormones and had lots of make up on.
I LOVE THIS FILM! It is so fantastic. The casting, music and sets along with Laughton’s direction is perfect in every way. I’ve always wondered if the children who played Pearl and her brother had PTSD and/or had to get therapy after filming the movie. Robert Mitchum is evil incarnate! He inspired fear in me, and I was an adult when I saw this film the first time. Any time I hear “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” I automatically think of Mitchum!
I read that Charles Laughton didn`t much like children ,didn`t get on with them and that it was Robert Mitcham who was responsible for directing all the children`s acting.
If true it is all the more remarkable because in the film they are fleeing in terror from his character ,so he must have had great rapport with the children and greatly gained their trust on the film set.
Also he did all his own singing.
The boy was played by Billy Chapin. One of the best child performances ever.
A gothic masterpiece. Mitchum nails the role of a wolf in sheep's clothing. Shelly Winters was excellent as the vulnerable, naive widow with 2 small children.
New York Slimes can’t even be bothered to know what it is talking about. No surprise. Peter Graves isn’t John. He’s his father. Classic NYT.
Evil never sleeps.
Masterpiece
Such a great film, thank you so much for the explanation and analysis.
Haunting for sure.
Great cast.
A true classic film ,great acting
😀😁😂🤣🤣
Cinematic poetry.
Such an amazing movie
Best Hollywood movie ever made
1:19 NOPE Peter Graves is the father, who is hanged. The son is played by Billy Chapin.
I read the novel two or three times around about 1960, when I was 12 or 13. Creeeeepy.
so good
Just caught this for the 1st time,at random on one of those HD bunny ear movie channels. Just totally floored that this came out at peak 1950s cheesy melodrama era Hollywood. Mitchum's performance is viscerally menacing and like all great "villains",enchanting as well. His performance me prognosticates the likes of someone like Denis Hopper's. Frank Booth. Totally understandable this was a total flop though, would love to know how many unsuspecting people it emotionally scared though when it was playing in theaters.
wonderful !!!
It’s just so good!!!
Although I like many of Robert Mitchum films, but this one is among my 3 favorites besides "Cape Fear" and "Thunder Road ".
No, the children are played by Sally Jane Bruce and Billy Chapin (brother to Lauren Chapin). Their father is played by Peter Graves. Weird thing to get wrong.
So agree. Shoddy work on his part, especially in regard to the cast. This is the best the NY Times has?
This performance may be Mitchum's greatest performance but there is also "The Friends of Eddie Coyle".
Harry Powell, Eddie Coyle, and Phillip Marlowe are my favorite Mitchum roles !
He's especially nasty and great in Cape Fear as Max Cady.
Peter Graves played the executed dad, not the son.
Laughton did such a nice job directing this film. Too bad its the only one he did.
After the film did poorly at the box office, Laughton could never again raise enough money to see some of his other ideas made into motion pictures.
I didn't know James Agee wrote the script. If you are looking for something to read try "A Death in the Family" by Agee.
AWESOME AWESOME MOVIE!!!!
Awesomely hilarious 😁😂🤣🤣
This should’ve been an magnificent directorial debut for Charles Laughton but with its failure at the box office and not looked with favour by the critics, Laughton never directed again, which was a shame.
He wasn't given the chance. Such a loss.
Using black and white and greys to shine a bright light on the sinister nature of the godfraud and human frailty.
ITS NEVER BEEN GOD WHO IS CORRUPT IT IS FALLEN MAN ! THERE ARE JUST AS MANY GOOD PASTORS AS BAD -A BATTLE WAGES ! PICK UP A BIBLE AND HELP.OUT, PLEASE!
my favourite movie. The set-design is so intentionally fake-looking...as in a nightmare...the shadows...silouhettes...nothing is real
Thats one of the most remarkable things about that film - apart from the lighting: the fake sets - the way its all done: works perfectly.
he sings "leaning"while she sings"lean on Jesus"
Throughout the movie R. Mitchum cannot utter the name of Jesus. This is sign pointing to him as a false prophet. Which he is (seductive with people until he show his true colors) .
@@jurebabic4383 Interesting. I've only seen it once, but I didn't notice that detail. I did notice that he didn't really know the hymn, whereas the Lillian Gish character actually knew the correct lyrics. Fascinating movie!
A GREAT FILM
I did not realize the scene with radio Raheem had its genesis in this film.
IF hollywood does a remake of this beautiful classic, WHO could play Mitchum well? I think Christian Bale, Joaquin Phoenix or Jon Bernthal could do it well.
i have a few issues this movie:
1) the mother character is way too helpless. why didn't she try to defend herself when he's about the slit her throat? who's gonna protect her children if she died?
2) the way harry powell is defeated. i had a great expectation when mrs. cooper about to go head to head with powell that night. it's just a bit anticlimactic to me
3) Ruby is way way way too naive like gosh didn't mrs. cooper tell her that the man is dangerous and the fact that he's a murderer? and yet she still say she loves him????? could she be any more dense??? gosh i was so annoyed.
too bad this movie really had the potential to be a near perfect masterpiece but those points just make me back up a little. still appreciate tho
nanasshi 07 Another unpopular opinion here. People keep saying that this movie received unfair treatment at the beginning, while I believe that the reason it’s so popular now is due to our tendency to have a soft spot for old films. I myself love it’s story & aesthetics, but I admit there are a lot of glaring baffling directions that the filmmaker took which I think might’ve had affected viewers’ opinions when this movie was released.
For example, the part in which Icey invites Harry to a picnic ends with an unintentional sinister look on her face, amplified by the way the scene dissolves into the next. Besides, when Harry first shows up at Ms. Cooper’s house, Pearl straightaway runs to him & hugs him, a man who has been really violent to her & her brother & whom they’ve spent a whole night trying to evade from. I’ve read fans justifying it as her longing for a father figure in her life, but that has been implied in absolutely nowhere else. It just makes her look unbelievably stupid even for her age (which I believe is old enough to know to hold a grudge against someone who has treated her badly).
Then of course there’s the climax as you’ve mentioned where Harry just appears out of nowhere inside the house & then shot by Ms. Cooper. It is just unintentionally funny & takes away the intended suspense. Having said these, I still love the movie for other great things it has. I’m just not surprised why others dislike it when it came out.
As for your third issue I think Ruby's character was meant to show how Harry Powell was able to draw these naive and not very bright women in. I also thought it was a little frustrating by I think the point is to explain a bit how Powell's process works of finding and drawing in new victims. It's also part of the film's moral that childhood is sacred and innocence should try to be preserved, as Ruby is trying to grow up too fast. Also, to your first point I don't think the mother knew she was going to get murdered right then or maybe she even thought thats what she deserved as a sinner.
There are plenty of awful old films. Most of we've either never heard of or get made fun of by Rifftrax. Even masterpiece films have flaws. Not sure I agree with all thepoints you laid out, but you obviously picked up on what bothered you, and I can't say you're wrong if those are the things you deem important. I tend to agree with those who say Pearl is yearning for a father figure, but she's also part playacting. She's not dumb, but her intuitions have split two ways.
I like this movie.
The boy's name is Billy Chapin.
children?
Peter Graves is the dad, not one of the children.
Terrifying? Okay. Relajate por favor.
PETER GRAVES PLAYED THE FATHER N O T ONE OF THE CHILDREN.
An Awesome Movie
“What do you say to a man that by his own admission has no soul? Why would you say anything? I’ve thought about it a good deal. But that wasn't nothin' compared to what was comin' down the pike. They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. I don't know what them eyes was the windows to and I guess I'd as just as soon as rather not know. But... there is... another... view of the world out there and there are... other... eyes... to see it and that's where my story is goin'. It has done brought me to a place in my life I would not of ever thought possible to come to. Somewhere... out there... is a true and living prophet of destruction and I don't ever want to confront him again. I know he's real... I have seen his work... I walked in front of those eyes... just once... and I wont ever do it again. I wont ever again push my chips forward and stand up and go out there to meet him. It ain't just cuz I’m getting older. I really wish it was. I can’t say that it's even what you are willin' to do in such a situation because I always knew that you had to be willin' to die to even do this job. That was always true. Not to sound glorious about it or nothin' but you do. If you ain't... they'll know it and they'll see it in a heartbeat. I think it is more like what you are willin' to... become... and I think a man would have to put his soul at hazard. And I wont do that... not again... not ever again... and I think that now... certainly I never would.”
- Cormac McCarthy, No Country For Old Men
I had to watch this film my Introduction to Film Studies classm
Just listen to that bass baritone voice
One of the few times I agree with the NY Times ...
@justthink5854Better than The Ny Post.
I think the movie turns a bit too silly by the last half an hour or so. Like when Mitchum gets shot by the "mother goose", that yell they use three times on a loop as he runs to the barn. So silly. And all that weird aftermath with the trial and the lynching mob, and the teen girl who is in love with Mitchum's character after just one scene together.
Right? Not to mention shot point blank by a shotgun, then he goes to hang out in the barn to have a sleep? And the face he makes, reminds me of that scene in burn after reading except that guy DID get his face blown off
At no place in the film is Mitchum’s character depicted as “Southern”. Nice display of prejudice.
lhasa7 the film and all its characters are set in West Virginia- this is prejudice?
Prejudiced against what--the South? It feels like the South, but it could also be in the Midwest, the great plains, plenty of other rural areas in the U.S. You watched this depraved, hilarious, holy and terrifying film and all you got out of it was some imaginary display of "prejudice"?
He’s not talking about Mitchum’s character. He is talking about James Agee who grew up on Tennessee. Don’t know why you are claiming prejudice.
This was one of the most un-intentionally funny movies that was ever made. Robert Mitchum came off as extremely humorous. 😀😁😂🤣
???? A psychotic killer is funny . Funny is a make believe monster like frankenstein, the, this monster is REAL . He looks like anyone , everyone and they exist for real everywhere . Open any newspaper, anywhere in the world, the murders you read about were horrible, scary to the victims and their families
i dunno. the way Laughton acts in his roles it's clear he is intelligent and has a biting wit. i think some of the humor was intentional especially the way Icey described her 40 year marriage to Walt. Pure comedy.
Not the great classic that it's cracked up to be, in my opinion.
Overall, I like the movie but it seems to have a disjointed feel about it. It's at times too self-consciously "arty" but gets away with it more than, for example, Citizen Kane, because it plays like a fairytale.
Robert Mitchum"s performance, often credited with being "menacing" or "terrifying" is neither and overrated, in my view.
However, there are many surreal, striking and moving scenes in the film that make it worth the watch, the obvious choice being the submerged corpse driver sequence - *impacting* - and also the river journey section with the overdubbed child actress singing that has an enchanted, ethereal feel to it. The film also works thematically in it's contrast between nominal and true religious belief.
One wonders what Laughton might have come up with had his directorial career continued and he had opportunity to really hone his craft....
really
Good actors on a terrible script. One of the worst movies I have ever seen
Don't quit your day job.
If this is one of the worst movies you have ever seen, I want to know what movies you're watching, man.
You're in a minority of one.