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DVD (4)
It is a garish, unbelievable but fairly exciting nightmare.
Ultimately the source of its style and power is mysterious -- it is a film without precedents, and without any real equals
This start for Gregory as producer and Laughton as director is rich in promise but the completed product, bewitching at times, loses sustained drive via too many offbeat touches that have a misty effect.
All this has been crisply compacted into clear screen drama by the late James Agee and it is put forth under the direction of Mr. Laughton in stark, rigid visual terms.
One of the most chilling suspense films ever made, it's also the finest role of Robert Mitchum.
Though purely homegrown, Hunter contains no social critique -- the issues are elemental, the morality biblical, the trials Homeric. In terms of cinematic texture, it's a hound from hell.
An astounding thriller with a chilling performance by Robert Mitchum.
... one of the most beautiful pastoral nightmares the cinema has seen.
...quite possibly the most disturbing American film I've ever seen.
an archetypal thriller that bounces relentlessly between hard-edged realism and exaggerated lyricism, giving the impression of a stylized nightmare
Icey Spoon's response to Harry Powell's snakelike jeremiads about says it all for this Criterion release: "Amen, amen!"
A gut-churning Gothic frightmare that is part religious allegory, cautionary tale and fairytale that warns of false prophets and predatory wolves.
A monochrome masterpiece, pure cinematic alchemy and just about every other superlative that spells genius.
An overlooked gem in the history of American film, this creepy curio incorporates elements of horror, noir, thriller and fairy tale.
Corny, yes; pretentious, sure; overwrought, definitely -- but every frame of it is thrilling.
There's the absolute authority of Mitchum's performance -- easy, charming, infinitely sinister.
[Powell's] glibly superficial moralizing is epitomized by an infantile hand-play… [Gish's character] provides an undistorted counterpoint to Powell's diseased religiosity.
Half a century later, actor Charles sLaughton's only film as a director, is as still riveting, haunting, and impressive on any level. Like other masterpieces, it was both an artistic and commercial flop when initially released in 1955.
One of the most legitimately scary thrillers ever made.
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