Another Lillian Gish favorite film and my Halloween movie pick, The Night of the Hunter(1955). Thriller directed by Charles Laughton. Cast: Robert Mitchum and Shelley Winters.
The film begins in 1930s West Virginia, along the Ohio River. Ben Harper is chased down for a robbery in which two men were killed. Before he is arrested he gives the stolen money to his young son, John.
Reverend Harry Powell, a serial killer pretending to be a preacher with the words "LOVE" and "HATE" tattooed on the knuckles, shares a prison cell with Harper. He tries to get Harper to tell him where the money is before his execution, but.. the only clue he can get out of him, is a Bible verse Harper says in his sleep: "And a little child shall lead them."
Believing that Harper told his children the secret, Powell comes up with a plan to marry Harper's widow. John soon becomes suspicious of Powell and does not share any information with him . One night, Willa overhears her husband questioning the children and she realizes the truth. The children manage to escape downriver, with Preacher following close behind. They finally reach a place where a kindly(Lillian Gish)woman takes them in. Will they be able to save themselves before it is too late?
*spoiler alert* in my opinion this is the ultimate stalker movie. Robert Mitchum, performance was one of his best. I will never forget his tall dark shadow looming over the children. Not to mention the beautiful/horrific under water scene of their mother sitting in the car at the bottom of the lake. This movie had me sitting at the edge of my seat..*
Lillian Gish, was considered for a couple of roles in, Gone with the Wind. Ranging from Ellen O'Hara, Scarlett's mother, to the role of the prostitute, Belle Watling.
Gish made many television appearances from the 1950s into 1980s. Her most well known television performance was, The Trip to Bountiful(1953). Gish became one of the leading advocates on the lost art of the silent film, giving speeches and touring to screenings of classic works. In 1975, she hosted The Silent Years, a PBS film program of silent films.
Gish received a Special Academy Award in 1971 "For superlative artistry and for distinguished contribution to the progress of motion pictures." In 1984 she received an American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Award, becoming only the second female recipient (Bette Davis was first in 1977), and the only recipient who was a major figure in the silent era.
The story is about two elderly widowed sisters near the end of their lives, spending a summer in beach house in Maine. While visiting there they think back to all the summers they had there in the past. They talk about the passage of time, and all the misunderstandings that kept them from having a close relationship.
Libby, played by Davis, is bitter and cold . Sarah, played by Gish, is a softer and more tolerant, wanting very much to have a relationship with her sister. The resentment that Libby has towards her, stifles Sarah's every move at becoming friends.
Vincent Price a fisherman, plays the romantic interest for Gish. Sothern a lifelong friend provides the fun and laughter. In flashbacks actresses Margaret Ladd, Mary Steenburgen and Tisha Sterling (Sothern's real-life daughter) play, the Davis, Gish, and Sothern characters as young women.
Her final performance was a cameo on the 1988 studio recording of Jerome Kern's Show Boat, starring Frederica von Stade and Jerry Hadley, in which she affectingly spoke the few lines of The Old Lady on the Levee in the final scene. The last words of her near century-spanning career: "Good night, dear."
Please click on Lillian Gish's name in the tag line, located at the bottom of the article, to view more information and pictures about this wonderful actress..
0 comments:
Post a Comment