The Night of the Hunter

Extract One "Ben Harper" (0h04 à 0h06)



Choix du premier extrait:
.deuxième séquence du film, juste après la présentation du "bad guy": séquence d'ouverture et d'exposition des personnages ; mise en place de l'intrigue: disparition du père, bientôt exécuté par la justice
.partage du secret entre père et fils, le fils s'impose comme le personnage central, détenteur du secret, responsable de famille: il subit le rite initiatique
.grande diversité de plans cinématographiques aisément reconnaissables
.riche bande sonore (musique champêtre, sirène de police..)
.nombreux appuis visuels, notamment symboliques, pour faciliter l'interprétation
.dialogues courts, vocabulaire limité: compréhension de la langue largement facilitée


Objectifs:
.culturels (voir introduction)
.méthodologique: désignation des plans par terminologie idoine et interprétation de toute leur symbolique, de la position des personnages, du cadrage, des éclairages...
.lexical: vocabulaire de l'innocence, la pureté; de la peur; de la surprise; de la douleur et du chagrin
.linguistique: la modalité, passé et présent
 

Etude de l'extrait en trois parties
 

1-First still: A high- angle shot = as if seen by an angel, from above
Description: Two children are playing in a field/ meadow/ garden/ lawn, full of flowers/ flowery. They are playing with a toy, a doll.
Interpretation (shot, music, and picture): It conveys an impression of innocence, purity, happiness....

 

2-Viewing until Ben's line:" That's the place"

First shot: An opposite sight/camp = from the children's point of view/ as the children can see it.
Description: A car is driving up, speeding. A man climbs out of the car, and stumbles.
Interpretation: the man is the children's father, because the little boy cries/ shouts:"Daddy" and jumps up to meet him.
the scene/ film/ movie must take place in the 1930s because of the car.
The man may be hurt/ injured/ wounded because he stumbles.

Second shot: A low-angle shot = as seen from the little girl's eyes, as if we were sitting with the little girl : the man looks taller, stronger.
Description: the man is holding a gun/ weapon/ revolver in one hand, and a wad of money in the other (bank notes or dollar bills).
Interpretation: He must be a robber, gangster, a killer, he must have robbed a bank. He must have committed a robbery, a hold-up.

Third shot: Opposite camp/sight = as seen from the man's eyes.
Description: the little boy steps backwards : he is surprised/ stunned/ frightened to see his Dad bleeding (He says:"You're bleeding, Dad).
Interpretation: his Dad must have been hurt/ injured/ wounded/ shot by the police during the robbery, the shooting…

Fourth shot: A close shot = as if we could read the man's mind
Description: the man is looking for something, he is looking around. He looks anxious, tense, worried.
Sound: We can hear a police siren in the distance.
Interpretation: the police must be coming after him so he is in a hurry because he must find a place where to hide the money ($10,000).

 

3-Viewing until John walks away, alone

Inside the police car: An insert = while the father is hiding the money.

Second shot: A medium-shot = we're closer to the family (than to the police).
Description: the man no longer holds the money, but he still has the gun.He must have hidden the money somewhere...The father and the son face each other/ they're face to face.The father is kneeling, so the boy is now taller than his father.The father makes his son swear/ promise to keep a secret: never to tell where the money is, and to guard his sister all his life.
(the boy's name is John, the little girl's Pearl).
Interpretation: John has now taken over from his father.

Third shot: a medium shot
Description: The little sister doesn't swear, she just nods/agrees. She doesn't raise her hand as John did.
Interpretation: John is now responsible for the money, he is in charge of it, he must keep a secret and he can't tell anyone about it. Moreover, he is responsible for his sister, who is too young to understand how serious the situation is.

Fourth shot: A long shot = the father is going to be driven/ taken away by the police.
Description: the police drive up and arrest the man. His name is Ben Harper.The little boy is hurt, sad, upset. He suffers as much as (or more than ?) his father.He grabs his stomach in pain.
The mother comes home from shopping. She is helpless, too astonished to move. John walks away, on his own.
Interpretation: the father is going to prison/ jail. The children are fatherless.John has taken over from his father. He has become a man. He must take care of both his sister and mother…
 

Follow up work 1
Where do you think Ben Harper hid the money? Justify with the film.
What is going to happen to Ben Harper? Why ?
What is going to happen to the children? Imagine the story.
 

Follow up work 2

Extract One

On a flowery lawn in the small town of Cresap's Landing on the Ohio River, a young nine-year old boy John is playing happily with his little sister four-year old Pearl and her doll named Miss Jenny when he sees a car speeding down the road. He cries: "Daddy" and jumps up to meet his father Ben Harper. He stops suddenly when he sees his agitated father climb out of the car, bleeding from a bullet wound in the shoulder. He is also holding a gun in one hand and a wad of money in the other.

As sirens approach closer from the distance, Ben thinks of places to hide his stolen money, almost $ 10,000: "The rock in the smokehouse, no, the bricks in the grape arbor, no, no, they'll dig for it. Sure. That's the place." He picks a place no one will guess . Then, he has his son swear or promise:

Harper: First, swear you'll take care of little Pearl, guard her with your life boy. Then, swear you won't never tell where the money's hid, not even your Mom.

John: Yes Dad.

Harper: Do you understand?

John: Not even her?

Harper: You got common sense. She ain't. When you grow up, that money will belong to you. Now stand up straight, look me in the eye. Raise your right hand, now swear. 'I’ll guard Pearl with my life,'...'And I won't never tell about the money.' ... You Pearl, you swear too. (Pearl nods.)

Two police cars roar into the yard and four policeman cautiously approach, taking Ben Harper's gun away, knocking him to the ground, and handcuffing his hands behind his back. His young son clutches his stomach in pain as he watches them arrest his father. John's mother Willa comes outside, takes Pearl into her arms, and watches as her husband is driven away.