Film Stills Analysis

In order to find some stills to analyse. I decided to watch the 1955 black and white film "The Night Of The Hunter." I was surprised as to how good it was, Robert Mitchum's performance was particularly great. While watching this film I saw at least 20 great stills to analyse, but I managed to choose one:

This still really shone out for me as the best one to analyse, there is so much juxtaposition and so much meaning to this. Here are some of the things which I picked out as what makes this great:

• The shadow, which is cast over Powell's face represents the character as evil, which completely juxtaposes the rest of his body, as he is dressed as a reverend, who should in theory be good. 

•  Powell is looking up raising his left hand as if to reach out to God, however his left had is the one which represents evil and hate, causing irony.

• The light cast on Willa's body represents her as peaceful, which contrasts Powell's evil representation. 

•  The shadow cast on the door gives a sense that there is no escape, and give a hint as to the tragedy to come.

Those are my top 4 reasons, however I feel that this post wouldn't be complete without me putting in what I think is one of the most haunting shots in the film:

The brilliantly portrayed Powell is chasing after the children. This is a great shot as it gives a great sense of the doom impending the children, as Powell is quite literally the monster in the basement.