The Night of the Hunter (film)

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The Night of the Hunter
Directed by Charles Laughton
Produced by Paul Gregory
Written by Davis Grubb (novel)
James Agee
Charles Laughton
Starring Robert Mitchum
Shelley Winters
Lillian Gish
Music by Walter Schumann
Cinematography Stanley Cortez
Editing by Robert Golden
Distributed by United Artists
Release date(s) September 29, 1955
Running time 93 min.
Country USA
Language English
Budget $795,000 (estimated)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Night of the Hunter is a 1955 film noir, starring Robert Mitchum and Shelley Winters, and the only film Charles Laughton ever directed. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Davis Grubb, adapted for the screen by James Agee and Charles Laughton. The novel and film draw on the true story of Harry Powers, hanged in 1932 for the murders of two widows and three children in Clarksburg, West Virginia. The film's lyric and expressionistic style sets it apart from almost all other Hollywood films of the 1940s and 50s, and has influenced later directors such as David Lynch, Martin Scorsese, Terrence Malick, and the Coen Brothers.

In 1992, The Night of the Hunter was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in their National Film Registry.

Contents

[edit] Cast

[edit] Plot

The film is set in West Virginia, along the Ohio River. The story takes place in the late 1930s; the film magazine that Ruby is bought features Gone with the Wind on the front cover.

Ben Harper (Peter Graves) is sentenced to hang for his part in a robbery in which two men were killed. Before he is caught he hides the stolen money, trusting only his children John (Billy Chapin) and Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce)—about ten and five years old, respectively—with the money's location. Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum), a self-appointed preacher with the word "LOVE" tattooed on the knuckles of his right hand and "HATE" on the knuckles of his left, shares a prison cell with Harper. He tries to get Harper to tell him the hiding place before his execution, but the only clue he gets is a Biblical quotation Harper mutters in his sleep: "And a child shall lead them."

Night of the Hunter lobby card
Night of the Hunter lobby card

Convinced that Harper told his children the secret, upon his release from prison, Powell woos and marries Harper's widow, Willa (Shelley Winters). He questions them, especially John, about the money whenever they are alone, but they distrust him and reveal nothing. Willa eventually finds out, so he kills her.

Powell finally learns the money's location from Pearl by threatening John, but the children escape with the cash and find sanctuary with Rachel Cooper (Lillian Gish). Powell eventually finds them, but Rachel sees through his false persona. After a climactic standoff between Rachel and Powell, he is arrested by the police.

[edit] Making of the film

The film resulted from a collaboration between a superb and intelligent actor on stage as well as film, Charles Laughton, and one of the most intellectually sophisticated screenwriters of classic Hollywood, James Agee. Agee was also perhaps the best film reviewer of his day. Laughton drew heavily on the harsh, angular look of German expressionist films of the 1920s, such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

The film's music, composed and arranged by Walter Schumann in close association with Laughton, features a combination of nostalgic and expressionistic orchestral passages. The film also includes two original songs by Schumann, "Lullaby" (sung by Lillian Gish's character) and the haunting "Pretty Fly" (sung by Pearl). A recurring musical device involves the preacher making his presence known by singing the traditional hymn "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms". Mitchum also recorded the soundtrack version of the hymn.

In 1974, film archivist Robert Gitt Anthony Slide retrieved several boxes of photographs, sketches, memos and letters relating to the film from Laughton's widow Elsa Lanchester for the American Film Institute. She also gave the Institute over 80,000 feet of rushes and outtakes from the filming. In 1981, this material was sent to the UCLA Film and Television Archive where, for the next 20 years, they were edited into a two-and-half hour documentary that premiered in 2002, at UCLA's Festival of Preservation.

[edit] Themes/Motifs

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  • Love/Hate -- The struggle between Good and Evil, most memorably in the scene where Powell tells the story behind his tattooed knuckles.
  • Faith in God -- Powell's twisted belief in God is part of why he kills people (in the name of the Lord). He also pretends to be a preacher and preaches the Gospel, a further claimed connection with God. Conversely, Rachel lives by the Bible, and quotes it.
  • Perverse Sexuality --Powell's knife has phallic connotations, and the pain and death he inflicts with it substitute for sexual fulfillment. His marriage to Willa, for example, is never consummated -- instead, he cuts her throat.

[edit] Response

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Stanley Cortez' striking cinematography has been much noted and imitated, and Mitchum's chilling and sinister performance has been especially praised. Nevertheless, Night of the Hunter was not a success with either audiences or critics at its initial release, which probably explains why Charles Laughton never directed another film. Over time, Night of the Hunter acquired a cult following, in part thanks to frequent screenings on television, and came to be praised as a masterpiece and one of the finest examples of film noir.

Roger Ebert wrote of the film, "It is one of the most frightening of movies, with one of the most unforgettable of villains, and on both of those scores it holds up ... well after four decades."[1]

Night of the Hunter was rated #34 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills ranking, and #90 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.

[edit] Remake

A 1991 made-for-television version of Night of The Hunter starred Richard Chamberlain as Powell.[2]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Roger Ebert (November 24, 1966). The Night of the Hunter (1955). rogerebert.suntimes.com.
  2. ^ IMDb film entry

[edit] Further reading

  • Callow, Simon: The Night of the Hunter, BFI Film Classics, BFI (British Film Institute) Publishing, 2000. 96 pages.
  • Jones, Preston Neal: Heaven and Hell to Play With: The Filming of The Night of the Hunter, Limelight Editions, 2004. 400 pages.

[edit] External links

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[edit] DVD reviews

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