This picture doesn't do justice to how creepy this movie really is. Robert Mitchum played an evil son-of-a-bitch.Ben Harper (Peter Graves) killed two men while robbing a bank. Before the cops arrested him, he hid the money and only his two children know where. Ben is hanged before his cell mate, the self-proclaimed Reverend Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum), can weasel the location of the money out of him. But that's okay by Harry. He likes widows, especially young, pretty ones like Willa Harper (Shelley Winters). Ben's son, John (Billy Chapin), knows that Harry is up to no good but who will believe a child? He takes it upon himself to run away with his baby sister Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce) before Harry murders them for the money. Eventually, the two wash up at the house of Ms. Cooper (Lillian Gish), a no-nonsense woman with a habit of raising abandoned children. With Harry right on their heels, John and Pearl put their lives in the hands of one little old lady.
Not only is Robert Mitchum horrifying as a murderous preacher, this film has the best use of shadow and silhouette that I have ever seen. It's amazing what the right pair of hands can do with black-and-white film. Modern filmmakers that choose B&W over color for their movies would do well to watch this and see how you can create suspense purely out of lighting. It is amazing.
Charles Laughton directed this the year before he starred in Witness for the Prosecution, and it is his only full-length directorial feature. If he wasn't such a good actor, I would say it was a damn shame he didn't direct more but I can't really fault his career choices. It would be hard to top this one.
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