The Third Man

(Carol Reed, 1949)

IMDB

Shot in a mixture of studio sets and on location, the film is known for it's music creating a part of the narrative. Set in post war Vienna, the streets are filled with rubble and reminders of war. It features fine design and important photography and revolves around a complex narrative of espionage/ thriller.

The famous zither music repeats throughout, complimenting the fine interiors of Vienna's crumbling streets. Anna resides in a once lavish apartment, furnished with a brass bed and several potted plants. On the wall are dust marks where pictures had been hung. There's also a stylish spiral staircase.

The doctor's house is full of collectables and various beautiful and desirable statues and ornaments, and the walls are lined with mirrors and paintings.

The Night of The Hunter

(Charles Laughton, 1955)
IMDB

The terrifying Robert Mitcham, a real life bad boy, plays the leading role of a preacher, complete with love and hate knuckle tattoos. Laughton experiments with a lot of different shots, including aerial/ above shots and even a with camera attached to the front of a car.

Mitcham appears terrifying and looming, a black figure at the end of the garden in the shadow of a single street lamp, accompanied by the booming, great music each time he appears. He speaks with musicality and authority, casting a shadow over any other characters within his scenes.

In the attic room scene, there's a single bedside lamp that provides little light. The light from the single window casts across the set and the mother lies in bed, within the white light. The preacher casts a looming shadow over her and the room plunges into darkness as he stabs her. Later her body sits upright in a white car at the bottom of the river. Her hair blows with the current of the water, in synchronisation with the underwater reeds.

The preacher later appears haunting as a silhouette on the hill at dusk, chasing the children from their homes. And the children appear drifting downstream in a rowing boat, silhouetted against the the dark riverbank.