After many years I was finally persuaded to watch this by daughter who likes it, if she'd reciprocate and force herself to watch All Quiet On The Western Front for me. It's a well made engrossing film with some tremendous eye-cutting black & white acetate film photography and a storyline that is still disturbing, for me at least. Cape Fear I mean.
Ex-con Mitchum hunts down lawyer Peck who nailed him 8 years before to revenge himself by raping his young daughter Nancy. Mitchum's plans and Peck's thwartings are the film. Favourite bit: Nancy running away from Mitchum out of the crowded street into the empty schoolhouse - such hokeyness would be laughed at by people today from a 1930's film, but here it's treated as gripping and essential. Peck beautifully photographed in the long grass in the dark reminded me of Shere Khan from The Jungle Book. I half expected Mitchum to try to applaud Peck's closing speech. The kind of censorship thankfully displayed in this film is mostly ridiculed nowadays but would this version have been as popular if it had been as graphic as possible and if remade again will they scrap the limit on how young the child can be to satisfy todays voyeurs artistic revenge lust?
Reading the other reviews it appears most people consider the remake as inferior, or certainly more "liberated", so I'll avoid that based on this. Also somebody put this should be seen once by all "crime/thriller" fans - I enjoyed the 102 minutes with reservations but am afraid that applies to me, I'll stick to The Count Of Monte Cristo (1934).
Ex-con Mitchum hunts down lawyer Peck who nailed him 8 years before to revenge himself by raping his young daughter Nancy. Mitchum's plans and Peck's thwartings are the film. Favourite bit: Nancy running away from Mitchum out of the crowded street into the empty schoolhouse - such hokeyness would be laughed at by people today from a 1930's film, but here it's treated as gripping and essential. Peck beautifully photographed in the long grass in the dark reminded me of Shere Khan from The Jungle Book. I half expected Mitchum to try to applaud Peck's closing speech. The kind of censorship thankfully displayed in this film is mostly ridiculed nowadays but would this version have been as popular if it had been as graphic as possible and if remade again will they scrap the limit on how young the child can be to satisfy todays voyeurs artistic revenge lust?
Reading the other reviews it appears most people consider the remake as inferior, or certainly more "liberated", so I'll avoid that based on this. Also somebody put this should be seen once by all "crime/thriller" fans - I enjoyed the 102 minutes with reservations but am afraid that applies to me, I'll stick to The Count Of Monte Cristo (1934).