Effective Use of Montage in the Movie, The Night of the Hunter Essay

Effective Use of Montage in the Movie, The shadow of the HunterA rapid succession of images or scenes that exhibits assorted aspects of the same idea or situation, this is the definition of collage as provided by Encarta Encyclopedia 98. The idea of a montage of attractions was first handlingd by Eisenstein and Pudovkin in the 1920s for the purpose of invoking specific emotions in the viewers. The word picture The Night of the Hunter starring Robert Mitchum and Lillian Gish makes mathematical function of this film technique. The use of montage is unmixed from the beginning of the movie. The first image we depict is Mrs. Cooper (Gish) telling children a story as they are superimposed over the night sky. The next image is a birds eye view of children performing hide and seek and then finding the dead body of a woman in a cellar (which we are later light-emitting diode to assume was a crime committed by Powell). Following this we see Preacher Harry Powell (Mitchum) as he travels , views a burlesque show, and is arrested. Powells scenes are interspersed with Ben Harpers scenes where he speaks to his children, hides his money, and is arrested. It isnt until these two characters scenes fit in the prison that we begin to belowstand whats going on and get a premonition of things to come. This is perhaps the most obvious use of montage in the film. We see this technique later in the movie as well. When Willa Harper is in Spoons shop public lecture to Mrs. Spoon (though we cannot catch what they are saying), all of a sudden we hear a train whistle and see an image of a touching train. Then again we see Mrs. Harper and Mrs. Spoon and again the train. This was a bit odd to understand at first as the transitions between the scenes are rattling sharp and sudden it almost startles you.... ... We see the eternity of the dreamlike river scene and the mothers hair floating under the water scene. Timelessness is a common theme that is representative of childishness and with the gift of the watch we can now see John as a man with the power to use time rather than purge helplessly along with it as he had drifted along with the river. When thinking of a rapid succession of images or scenes, my first thought was that this was an awkward use of film. As the book, Film Theory and Criticism says, Simply stringing separate photographic shots together will not produce intelligible works of optic art. Yet the use of montage in The Night of the Hunter was very subtle so that at points I wasnt aware that I was watching a montage. It also enhanced the films thematic qualities greatly and by doing so convinced me of the values of a montage when used well.