What an incredible film, I caught this on cable last night and was hooked from the first frame, it's like a nightmarish John Steinbeck novel, I was totally surprised to see Peter Graves show up, Robert Mitchum has the most unlikely entrance for a villain but it works, it's unsettling, his running conversation with 'the lawd' about 'pretty things, lacey things, things with hair' just tells us so much about the character.
Shelley Winters has the most interesting character, she goes from single mom to jesus lover over the course of the film, when she walks in on Mitchum attempting to harm Pearl, she has this weird reaction, like she's trying not to grin. The kids who played John and Pearl were remarkably assured, you could feel their fear, I was actively cheering when John got away from Mitchum in the boat.
The cinematography in this film was amazing, it was truly a gothic nightmare, the use of light and shadow in the bedroom scene where Mitchum kills Shelley Winters was stunning to look at and the shot of Winters in the lake was such a beautifully haunting shot.
Even though elements and scenes from this film have been lifted and parodied by other filmmakers, it still managed to draw me in, to marvel at the weird movie reality Charles Laughton created in this film, 50 years on that's pretty amazing.
Shelley Winters has the most interesting character, she goes from single mom to jesus lover over the course of the film, when she walks in on Mitchum attempting to harm Pearl, she has this weird reaction, like she's trying not to grin. The kids who played John and Pearl were remarkably assured, you could feel their fear, I was actively cheering when John got away from Mitchum in the boat.
The cinematography in this film was amazing, it was truly a gothic nightmare, the use of light and shadow in the bedroom scene where Mitchum kills Shelley Winters was stunning to look at and the shot of Winters in the lake was such a beautifully haunting shot.
Even though elements and scenes from this film have been lifted and parodied by other filmmakers, it still managed to draw me in, to marvel at the weird movie reality Charles Laughton created in this film, 50 years on that's pretty amazing.
