Effective Use of Montage in the Film, The Night of the Hunter :: Movie Film Essays

Effective Use of collage in the Film, The Night of the huntsman In the pullulate The Night of the Hunter, director Charles Laughton uses montage on seven-fold occasions to create a variety of visual and emotional effects. Montage is used to slow time and create emphasis, as a adumbrative device, and as a symbolic depiction of the films conflict. Towards the break of the film, when John and fall Harper escape from pr separatelyer Harry Powell via the river, montage is skillfully utilized to slow time, thus enhancing the drama of the moment. As the children outfox down the riverbank to the rowboat, the frame alternates between a high tilt crevice of the children by the river and a low angle shot of the sermoniser on the hill. With each successive shot, the Preacher moves steadily closer to the boat, late building the scene to its dramatic climax and the childrens narrow escape. By alternating the shots in this montage, the entire scene takes longer to depict than if the t elevision camera merely showed a stationary long shot. This additional time amplifies the tension of the moment, making John and Pearls escape all the more(prenominal) dramatic. As Eisenstein discusses, montage can also be employed as the combination of two unrelated images to create a third, unrelated concept, interchangeable to Japanese writing. Laughton uses this technique in the candy shop scene, when Willa Harper is told she ineluctably a man in her life to take care of her and the children. The shot then changes to a large, black oncoming draw a bead on, with loud, bass-heavy music in the background. spunky contrast lighting and the dramatic music intensify the fear the train produces. These two shots alternate several times, the train coming closer each time. The combination of the unrelated images ominously foreshadows the terror and fear to come when Willa meets Preacher Harry, and he begins to lie and scheme his way into her life and secrets. Harrys domination and con trol eventually lead to Willas murder, and John and Pearls desperate escape. This montage in the first half of the film establishes the fearful tone of the remainder of the film.Laughton also uses montage to illustrate the inhuman treatment of nature and society during the childrens trip down the river, in the imprint of close-up shots of various animals, both predator and prey.