|-|UNTE|) 1 1952

Hntd is a painful film about childhood that offers an unusual image of male tenderness and nurturing, a melodrama in which the vulnerable individual is pitted against overwhelming and oppressive odds.
In Hunted, young Scots boy Robbie runs away from his adoptive London home and attaches himself to a young tearaway, Chris (Dirk Bogarde), Robbie fears his father and the marks of beatings on his back confirm that he is right to do so. Robbie confesses to Chris he has set a house (his home) on fire, yet in reality he has only left some curtains smouldering. Chris is a murderer on the run from the police, who first tries to use and then to help Robbie. Chris is at first brusque and uncaring but he gradually takes on the responsibility for Robbie's guileless devotion as the two flee from London.

As the journey gets tougher, Chris has to cajole Robbie to keep him going, to carry him in his arms and to hold him, against the cold, as they sleep. The film ends with Chris's self-sacrifice; escaping on a stolen boat, he turns back to the harbour when he realises Robbie is ill. In the powerful final shots, the fishermen watch silently as the boat returns; Chris, carrying the child in his arms, walks up the steps of the quay and disappears into the male crowd. There is no family to return Robbie to, only the waiting police. Although the discourse of childcare is not directly called on in Hunted, the image of the vulnerable child and the caring father is powerfully represented.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• FILM

[norristerse]

the locations are amazing. why did london have to get all gentrified, sanitised and characterless?

i know the smog can't have been much fun, or the war and its aftermath, but still....

[gawagney]

@onceaboy1947 Yes, I understand. It is a great shame so many YouTube comments turn into cheap jibes or rage-driven bile, but.....that's life in the 21st Century, huh?

[onceaboy1947]

@gawagney Take no notice of belbuc, he (or she) doesn't make any sense. David Rayner was merely pointing out that sometimes, art mirrors life and, although events in Hunted were not exactly like those he experienced, there were similarities. However, belbuc appears to be incapable of understanding this.

[gawagney]

@belbuc You really are a vile little shit of a human being aren't you, with your pathetic, nasty small minded comment?Is this how your mother and father taught you to be?

[gawagney]

@DavidRayner1947 It's a shame people are so nasty re. their unfeeling, and I repeat, nasty, comments on YouTube ie. belbuc.....I have experienced it myself [nasty comments]. Very poor show and indicative of society, Worldwide, nowadays.....

[intrepidame]

Very beautiful and sad story , thank you so much for uploading it !

[johnnynoirman]

a dream film of mine..thank you.

[Phillipa1]

Jon and Dirk Bogarde enjoyed working on this film together. Bogarde said Whitely was a real actor, not just a child actor, and Jon remembered Bogarde as friendly, helpful, generous.

They didn't have so good a time with "The Spanish Gardner," 1956. But it's also a good film, and the color cinematography is great (not distorted, faded, or oversaturated).

[DavidRayner1947]

The filming must at first have been traumatic for 6 years old Jon Whiteley. Early scenes called for Dirk to be very rough with him and grab and shake him violently and shout at him at the top of his voice. Jon burst into tears, believing that his new found friend had inexplicably turned against him. Dirk took Jon to one side, consoled him and explained it was only acting and he wasnt really angry with him. After that, Jon entered into the spirit of the film and put everything he had into it.

[DavidRayner1947]

Well, I'm certainly not going to put any X-rated details about what happened to me in 1953 on a public website like this, so I guess you'll just have to read between the lines, as they say.