541 The Night of the Hunter

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JesusoFmonteVideo
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Re: 541 The Night of the Hunter

#201 Post by JesusoFmonteVideo » Sun Nov 21, 2010 8:01 pm


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Re: 541 The Night of the Hunter

#202 Post by cdnchris » Tue Nov 23, 2010 6:31 pm


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swo17
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Re: 541 The Night of the Hunter

#203 Post by swo17 » Tue Nov 23, 2010 6:48 pm

cdnchris wrote:Easy contender for Blu-ray of the year.
How many times have you said that this year? :wink:

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Jeff
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Re: 541 The Night of the Hunter

#204 Post by Jeff » Tue Nov 23, 2010 9:45 pm

swo17 wrote:
cdnchris wrote:Easy contender for Blu-ray of the year.
How many times have you said that this year? :wink:
But this time he's right. Blu-ray of the millennium!

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jbeall
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Re: 541 The Night of the Hunter

#205 Post by jbeall » Tue Nov 23, 2010 11:31 pm

Ho-lee shit. :shock:

I mean that in a good way! I'd never seen this film before, and watched it with a friend who's got a blu player. Much more than the blu technology (which was nice indeed) was this phenomenal film with some really amazing performances, esp. (surprise!) Mitchum. But the b&w cinematography is just the best I've ever seen.

I can't say if this is the best CC release ever, but for me, it's certainly the release of the year. I seriously couldn't believe how good this film is.

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Re: 541 The Night of the Hunter

#206 Post by cdnchris » Wed Nov 24, 2010 2:01 am

swo17 wrote:
cdnchris wrote:Easy contender for Blu-ray of the year.
How many times have you said that this year? :wink:
Yeah, definitely overused it (it was a good year.) But I really mean it this time!

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domino harvey
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Re: 541 The Night of the Hunter

#207 Post by domino harvey » Wed Nov 24, 2010 6:39 am

The Blu-ray is somehow even the best DVD of the year too!!!!

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Re: 541 The Night of the Hunter

#208 Post by kaujot » Sun Nov 28, 2010 10:34 pm

Did anyone else think of Daffy Duck when Mitchum was shot?

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matrixschmatrix
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Re: 541 The Night of the Hunter

#209 Post by matrixschmatrix » Mon Nov 29, 2010 12:07 am

One of my favorite aspects of the movie is how much more it loathes the conformist old woman, the Evelyn Varden character, than it does Mitchum- Mitchum's a monster, but he's not a hypocrite, and has a perverted honesty to him.

Varden is a fairly clear symbol, but she's so convincingly portrayed that every time she's on screen, I want to yell at her. It's part of the fairy tale structure of the movie, where she's an evil step-sister figure, and the degree to which she feels like a real person makes a lot of the more arch aspects fit in with the prosaic aspects. Mitchum is a Flannery O'Connor nightmare figure, a dark reflection of anger and repression, hard to imagine in real life- but in a town dominated by figures like Varden, it's all too easy to imagine him sliding in without trouble.

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Re: 541 The Night of the Hunter

#210 Post by stwrt » Mon Nov 29, 2010 4:29 am

I'm convinced Will Eisner's black & white 1950s comic strips had quite an influence on Laughton and Stanley Cortez, in particular the scene where a frienzied Mitchum is running upstairs after the children, arms waving rigidly before him - that looks like an Eisner comic strip panel; and immediately after, the scene where John shuts the door on Mitchum's hand, the inky black shadow closing on both the half open door frame and the boy's glimpsed startled face.

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Re: 541 The Night of the Hunter

#211 Post by MitchPerrywinkle » Mon Nov 29, 2010 4:27 pm

kaujot wrote:Did anyone else think of Daffy Duck when Mitchum was shot?
I actually thought of Wile E. Coyote/ Yosemite Sam, though the image of Daffy Duck as a preacher carrying a switchblade is hilarious.
matrixschmatrix wrote:One of my favorite aspects of the movie is how much more it loathes the conformist old woman, the Evelyn Varden character, than it does Mitchum- Mitchum's a monster, but he's not a hypocrite, and has a perverted honesty to him.

Varden is a fairly clear symbol, but she's so convincingly portrayed that every time she's on screen, I want to yell at her. It's part of the fairy tale structure of the movie, where she's an evil step-sister figure, and the degree to which she feels like a real person makes a lot of the more arch aspects fit in with the prosaic aspects. Mitchum is a Flannery O'Connor nightmare figure, a dark reflection of anger and repression, hard to imagine in real life- but in a town dominated by figures like Varden, it's all too easy to imagine him sliding in without trouble.
You hit the nail right on the head, my friend. In addition to what you said, I also think Mrs. Spoon's attitude throughout the film makes
SpoilerShow
her over-the-top aim to lynch Powell near the end
believable. She seems to be a metaphor for all of the adults who cling to whatever they want in the world and in the process shed any code of morality.

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Jeff
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Re: 541 The Night of the Hunter

#212 Post by Jeff » Mon Nov 29, 2010 6:53 pm

kaujot wrote:Did anyone else think of Daffy Duck when Mitchum was shot?
The old school Daffy of "Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo-woo-woo-hoo!" Absolutely. Hadn't thought of that before, but Mitchum actually does a pretty great impression. That's from when Daffy was truly daffy rather than sardonic and cynical.
matrixschmatrix wrote:One of my favorite aspects of the movie is how much more it loathes the conformist old woman
She just lies there and thinks of her canning.

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Brian C
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Re: 541 The Night of the Hunter

#213 Post by Brian C » Tue Nov 30, 2010 2:10 pm

cdnchris wrote:Blu-ray
A correction - or rather clarification, I guess - of your review, Chris: according to the "About the Transfer" section, the UCLA restoration was of the film's audio track. There's no mention of them working on the film's video, which is what the review credits them for.

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PfR73
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Re: 541 The Night of the Hunter

#214 Post by PfR73 » Wed Dec 01, 2010 12:10 pm

Has anyone else noticed that in the first appearance of Corey Allen & Billy Chapin's brother, one of the pieces of graffiti behind them says "John loves Pearl"? I can't find any reference to this except for this paper, which I have not paid to read (Google search results linked to it).

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Re: 541 The Night of the Hunter

#215 Post by Damien » Mon Dec 06, 2010 5:42 am

There appears to be no need to add more information about the quality of the blu-ray transfer as all the reviews seem to point in the same direction: lots of devotion was put into this, and the image is more cinema like, clean but not overly so (there is more grain than ever), than ever.

What could be said however is that the improvements have in my opinion more to do with the copy itself than the blu-ray. Of course the blu-ray is marvelous but there is no point to compare it the the previous MGM DVD, R1 or even R2 (the european edition is rather different as all the grain was taken away). Only a comparison between this blu-ray and the new Criterion DVD would be fair so that the buyer knows what will rock his boat.

The main issue is that the MGM DVD was not faithfull to the cinematography. There is no bright landscapes in The Night of the Hunter, the shots during the river sequence all convey an end of the day feeling, even the long shots shot by Terry Sanders' crew in Virginia. That is in my opinion something new, something you could not know if your main reference was the MGM material.

What maybe should direct the viewer more toward the blu-ray is the unusual attention to the depth of field in The Night of the Hunter. There seems to be a constant attention to the play of shadows in the background, to little details that are obviously there not by random. The cellar sequence has appeared in a new light to me. I do not know if this is the case with the new DVD, I would be glad to check this out if I had the luxury to buy a DVD I will only watch one time.

Of course the blacks are blacker than ever but we already knew about Tri-X film and the wishes of Stanley Cortez, we could already guess what we would get with a proper restoration in our hands.

So I can only congratulate the restoration team and Criterion team to have given us what we could expect and more.

The "Charles Laughton directs" is the most precious gift ever. Lillian Gish told more than once about the gift made by Charles to the world. This is the most precious gift I ever received as a movie fan and a movie critic who has had the privilege to publish a book about the picture (no need to look in your local library, you won't find it, it is in french).

I only regret that R. Gitt has not chosen to put footage of the barn sequence which contains the most famous shot of the picture. The river sequence should have gotten more coverage as it is the beating heart of the film. Very interesting recording of Pretty Fly by Sally Jane Bruce though, and to see how the way the stars were added is a fairy-tale come true.

One final word about the audio commentary. It is not the first time I hear that Night of the Hunter was such a brilliant success for a first picture, this can be read in Preston Jones' book (not his own words but those found in the interviews). But to hear it again is rather surprising after more than fifty years have passed since the initial release.

If you have any idea how to improve the film, how it should have been done had it been made under the supervision of a more skilled director, please let me know!

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Re: 541 The Night of the Hunter

#216 Post by dad1153 » Wed Dec 08, 2010 1:57 pm

During the Thanksgiving holiday I (gently) co-erced my folks to watch a movie a day on their 52" Samsung LCD. Click here for details, but all you need to know is that they're not cinephiles.

After a week of highs ("Apocalypse Now," "Network") and lows ("Mon Oncle," "Battleship Potemkin") my folks were in a good mood and actually asking to see a movie (as opposed to me begging them to watch one with me). So we sat to eat a home cooked meal on a table set directly in front of the huge TV (my idea, hoping once the movie got rolling they'd be hooked long after they finished eating) and I unleashed the Blu-ray of Laughton's "TNOTH" on their unsuspecting minds. To say they were blown away by the movie would be an understatement, they were transfixed and entertained by the whole thing. They both recognized Robert Mitchum the moment he appeared and, since they thought there was a good chance his preacher character would come out ahead (I have a reputation for liking 'weird' and 'negative' movies), didn't expect "Night of the Hunter" to unfold the way it did. Only when Mitchum and Lillian Gish engaged in their sing-off duel did they lose it a little and started mocking the scene, "MST3K" style (which kind-of defused with laughter one of the most tense moments in the film) but then they got quiet again. Afterwards we engaged in a very intense debate about the movie and its historical setting (they didn't know about the abandoned children of the Great Depression or the historical setting in which the movie took place). Not since I showed them "400 Blows" on BD a year prior were they so eager to talk about a movie.

Personally (this was my 2nd viewing of "TNOTH") I love how the Spoon couple (Evelyn Varden and Don Beddoe) are partially guilty of the death of Shelley Winters' character (Icey practically handcuffs Willa to Powell's hand), yet you don't hate or despise the couple because that was the way many a good folk was back then. And whoever cast young Billy Chapin as Peter Graves' son deserves kudos because they do look like father & son. Though very grainy at spots (not in a bad way but noticeable) the B&W cinematography of this movie is borderline stunning. This movie's failure robbed Laughton out of a potentially great second career as a director, but there are many directors with bigger filmographies that don't come close to the near-perfection that is this odd duck of a children's horror fairytale is. When I came back to Gotham I rewatched "TNOTH" with the commentary track and it's so much fun to hear a group of professional fans practically running over each other to get a word edgewise before the running time expires. The two documentaries are next.

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matrixschmatrix
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Re: 541 The Night of the Hunter

#217 Post by matrixschmatrix » Wed Dec 08, 2010 2:27 pm

dad1153 wrote: Personally (this was my 2nd viewing of "TNOTH") I love how the Spoon couple (Evelyn Varden and Don Beddoe) are partially guilty of the death of Shelley Winters' character (Icey practically handcuffs Willa to Powell's hand), yet you don't hate or despise the couple because that was the way many a good folk was back then.
Really? As I commented above, I thought Icey easily the most despicable character of the movie- hypocritical, conformist, blood-lusting (remember her crazed hate at the end of the movie, which seems to be motivated solely by a desire to run the crowd) and repellently hateful towards any idea of intimacy not based on something public and under the control of people like her and Preacher. She may be a common type for the time, but I thought that was the most damning statement the movie had to make- Mitchum and Gish are both iconoclasts, in their own ways, but the pressure of society is all on Mitchum's side and not on Gish's.

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Re: 541 The Night of the Hunter

#218 Post by Feego » Wed Dec 08, 2010 3:25 pm

I have to agree with matrixschmatrix that Icey Spoon was a pretty despicable and off-putting character, precisely because she was such a blind follower. Her urging Willa to marry Powell had little to do with her concern for Willa or the children's well-being and everything to do with keeping up appearances and making sure Willa retained the image of a "respectable" woman, whatever the cost. And her call to lynch Powell in the end seemed driven more by drunkenness than by a desire to see justice served.

Interestingly, Varden gave essentially the same performance the very next year in The Bad Seed, in which she plays another loud-mouth who once again enables a psychopath and unwittingly pushes a distraught mother into a potentially lethal situation. Hillariously, she responds to said mother's breakdown after witnessing a man burn to death by telling her to lie down.

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Re: 541 The Night of the Hunter

#219 Post by Brian C » Wed Dec 08, 2010 3:51 pm

Feego wrote: And her call to lynch Powell in the end seemed driven more by drunkenness...
Maybe that too, but I think her basic motivation was to hide her own complicity. Leading the call to lynch Powell was a way to distract (probably herself, mostly) from how easily she was fooled by Powell's supercilious preacher talk.

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Re: 541 The Night of the Hunter

#220 Post by dad1153 » Wed Dec 08, 2010 4:39 pm

matrixschmatrix wrote:
dad1153 wrote: Personally (this was my 2nd viewing of "TNOTH") I love how the Spoon couple (Evelyn Varden and Don Beddoe) are partially guilty of the death of Shelley Winters' character (Icey practically handcuffs Willa to Powell's hand), yet you don't hate or despise the couple because that was the way many a good folk was back then.
Really? As I commented above, I thought Icey easily the most despicable character of the movie- hypocritical, conformist, blood-lusting (remember her crazed hate at the end of the movie, which seems to be motivated solely by a desire to run the crowd) and repellently hateful towards any idea of intimacy not based on something public and under the control of people like her and Preacher. She may be a common type for the time, but I thought that was the most damning statement the movie had to make- Mitchum and Gish are both iconoclasts, in their own ways, but the pressure of society is all on Mitchum's side and not on Gish's.
Let me explain. I see the Spoons as a couple, one in which Walt is henpecked by his wife but not an idiot, and it's their collective worth to the movie that I see. Walt's the only character besides lil' John Harper to show doubts about Harry Powell's intentions. That he doesn't act on them and lets his wife placate his doubts is Walt's downfall, but one bore out of his personality (shy man married to a strong woman) and not malice. His anger at Harry during the lynching mob scenes is justified (it confirms what he knew all along but repressed) while Icey's is a little more for show, but they're both equally entitled to their anger at Powell. Yes, Icey is an easily-led and easily-manipulated follower. But I don't see malice in Icey's actions, just the easily-minulated mentality of someone that is (a) too trusting (Harry Powell looks/acts like a preacher = good enough for Icey) and then (b) deeply upset when the trust she placed on Powell is betrayed. She's like a Tea Party member being told to be mad at Obama for raising her taxes (which she does promptly and on cue for the cameras) even though the President has done the opposite. The Spoons are shown as ignorant fools rather than despicable morons, and I (like I do Tea Party zealots) pity their stupidity and taken-advantage of naivette rather than dislike or hate them. Don Beddoe's performance of a henpecked hubby that defers to his wife is easily overshadowed by Evelyn Varden's Icey (both in intensity and screen time) but I see the Spoons as a couple and thus can't bring myself to hate Walt!

BTW, now that you mention it, my folks brought something up when we were watching the movie during the lynch mob scenes. When Icey spots Mrs. Cooper and the kids at the restaurant and she points them my dad's wife asked me if she (Icey) was trying to get them (Cooper and kids) lynched, and why. Since it was only my 2nd viewing I didn't really now, but the intensity with which Varden embodies Icey's scenes when she's practically leading the mob took me (and my folks) by surprise. It's clear on repeat viewing with the commentary what was going on, but seeing it kind-of new with my parents I had a brief lapse in which I didn't quite know what Icey was pointing at Mrs. Cooper and the kids for.

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matrixschmatrix
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Re: 541 The Night of the Hunter

#221 Post by matrixschmatrix » Wed Dec 08, 2010 4:54 pm

I don't think that it's an accident that the mob's rage appears to be as much directed at Gish and co. as at Mitchum- I think the cutting intentionally blurs them at that point, and the mob has become the avatar of Icey's society, enraged at anyone who can escape their dictates.

I agree about the dynamic between Icey and her husband, but I don't see Icey's actions as innocent ignorance- she's not a follower, she's a leader and an opinion-maker, and she manipulates a lot of the key events of the movie into existence. She's manipulating the mob just as surely, with no sign of remorse or self-doubt, and I don't know that there's a single moment of screentime for her when she's not awful.

Actually, one of the oddest parts of the Charles Laughton Directs material was seeing Varden drop character- when she made a mistake in performance, she would suddenly be charmingly self effacing and humble, hugely contrasting her persona in the movie. It was a reminder of how effectively acted her role was, since it's easy to forget that it's not just some awful old woman on screen.

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Re: 541 The Night of the Hunter

#222 Post by RidgeShark » Fri Dec 17, 2010 1:17 pm

Amazon's reduced the blu-ray's price to $24.99. It's actually cheaper than the DVD now.

Update 12/19 - And just like that, the price is back up to $34.99. Glad I snagged it when I did.

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Re: 541 The Night of the Hunter

#223 Post by Feego » Fri Dec 24, 2010 5:43 am

Just got received my Blu-ray yesterday (early Christmas present \:D/ ) and, after watching the film for the umpteenth time (though it feels new again in HD) and watching "Charles Laughton Directs...," I must concur that this is the release of the year.

"Charles Laughton Directs..." has to be one of THE most fascinating behind-the-scenes features I have ever seen. Perhaps it's because Laughton creates such a distinctive and absorbing alternate universe in his film that it is startling to see the actors behind the characters and to hear Laughton's own voice interjecting commands. I was especially touched by little Sally Jane Bruce who at times is just a giggly little munchkin who can barely get a line out without looking in the wrong direction, and at other times goes into baby-diva mode, complaining about a line or how many times she has to do a take. She even lightly "scolds" Mitchum for forgetting his lines!

Also, I had to laugh when Mitchum uttered the word "poontang" TWICE during the outtakes, and nobody, not even saintly Lillian Gish, seemed to notice. Along those lines, the main menu on Disc 2 of the Blu-ray contains a photo of Mitchum shooting the finger (with the L-O-V-E hand, no less). Oh, Mr. Pow-well!

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[...]

#224 Post by skuhn8 » Sat Dec 25, 2010 6:21 pm

attempting to expunge drunken xmas posts...

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dad1153
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Re: 541 The Night of the Hunter

#225 Post by dad1153 » Tue Feb 08, 2011 5:26 pm

Spent the weekend with my sister, brother-in-law and eight-month old niece. After the baby went to sleep it was movie time and the first time they were going to use their shiny new BD player on the 55" Toshiba w/surround sound. I brought along "Night Of The Hunter" on Blu in the off-off chance they might spring for a B&W oldie, which I was sure they would not. Surprisingly, either because the other BD choices didn't interest them ("Social Network," "Beauty and the Beast") or were too long ("Avatar"), they went with "NOTH" based primarily on the movie's description and its short running time (little over 90 min.). Also, because it was mono, it wouldn't be too loud which allowed us to hear if the baby woke-up with the monitor.

I'm convinced that, when watching classic B&W movies with non-cinephiles (relatives, friends, etc.), a certain amount of sniping at the movie's age and the bygone eras shown in them is inevitable. The trick is to be selective about the B&W classics one picks to show others. To make sure that, after an early period of adjustment on their part to something unfamiliar to their regular viewing (fast-paced edited color stuff, like the "Family Guy" episodes my sister and her hubby love), the quality of the movie will be sufficient-enough to reel them in and make them forget about making fun of it. Such was the case this time. 'Not very subtle at all, ehhh?' my sister remarked when Powell was having his chat with God early on while driving the car. Then Mitchum pulls out his switchblade in the strip show and she & hubby quiet down. There were some infrequent snarky remarks afterwards (most of them about how stupid and awful Mrs. Spoon was) but they were pretty much riveted by the movie up until near the end, when the Gish-Mitchum sing-off duel made them laugh (same thing happened when I showed "TNOTH" to my dad and his wife). During the basement scene my sister shouted she couldn't stand the tension anymore when Powell was threatening to cut the kids like hogs (the chase up the stairs actually made her scream). Later, when Powell appears (we hear him singing first) in the horizon while the children were in the barn, I looked over at both my sis and bro-in-law and they were completely riveted and with their mouths wide open. It was one of those moments we cinephiles live for when you know the movie has worked it's magic on your chosen subjects and you say to yourself 'Gatcha!' in quiet ecstasy. When the Spoons showed up at the end leading the mob my sister points out laughing 'is that Mrs. Spoon with an ax?' I hadn't noticed before she had one in her hands (and Walt carries the rope), Good Lord!

Me? I was in tears at the final Christmas scenes (they're syrupy and corny but, after 90 min. of near-constant nightmare, it's an earned happy ending) and during the 'Leaning' singing standoff (its my favorite scene in the movie, a purely A/V cinematic interpretation of the classic 'good vs. evil duking it out for the souls of the innocent' mythical battles that have been passed along since forever). Talking with my sister and her hubby afterwards I'm amazed it was easy for me to explain Mrz. Cooper as being the same character as Harry Powell but coming from diametrically opposite places to understand the importance of that singing duel that had made them laugh so much. It was plain as day to me this time but it hadn't occurred to me before until we got talking about why sis and bro-in-law laughed when Cooper and Powell confronted each other. They, for example, hadn't noticed Gish inserting 'Jesus' into her version of 'Leaning,' or that she was the same lady that appeared quoting bible verses from high in the dark sky at the start of the movie (until I pointed this out to them). Overall a great BD debut with which to introduce these guys to Blu-ray, even though 95% of their viewing is done through whatever happens to be on Netflix Instant Watch.

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