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IMDb > The Night of the Hunter (1955)
The Night of the Hunter
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The Night of the Hunter (1955) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 4% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Writers:
Davis Grubb (novel)
James Agee (screenplay)
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Contact:
View company contact information for The Night of the Hunter on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
24 November 1955 (Argentina) more
Tagline:
The wedding night, the anticipation, the kiss, the knife, BUT ABOVE ALL... THE SUSPENSE! more
Plot:
A religious fanatic marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real daddy hid $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery. full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
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Awards:
1 win more
NewsDesk:
Shelley Winters: 1920-2006
 (From IMDb News. 14 January 2006)

User Comments:
Sleep, Lit'le ones, sleep... more
US TV Schedule:
Tue. July 214:15 PMTCM   

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)
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Additional Details

Runtime:
92 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Aspect Ratio:
1.66 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Recording)
Certification:
Finland:K-16 (1959) (cut) | South Korea:15 (2003) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:14A (video rating) | Finland:(Banned) (1955) | Norway:16 | Portugal:M/12 | Sweden:15 | UK:12 | USA:Approved (certificate #17385) | West Germany:12 | UK:X (original rating)

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Reports that James Agee wrote an incoherent screenplay have been proved false by the 2004 discovery of his first draft. That document, although 293 pages in length and manifestly overwritten (as is common with first drafts), is scene for scene the film Charles Laughton directed. Likewise false are the reports that Agee was fired. Laughton, however much he gnashed his teeth at having such a behemoth of a text in his hands with only five weeks to go before the start of principal photography, calmly renewed Agee's contract and directed him to cut it in half. He did. In Laughton's stage work (GALILEO, CAIN MUTINY COURT MARTIAL, etc), the great actor demonstrated he was a script editor of genius -- he could induce the most stubborn and prideful writer to cut, cut, cut. And so he did in Agee's case. Later, apparently at Robert Mitchum's request, Agee visited the set to settle a dispute between the star and Laughton. Letters & documents located in the archive of Agee's agent Paul Kohner bear this out -- they were brought to light by Laughton biographer Simon Callow, whose excellent BFI book about NIGHT OF THE HUNTER diligently sets this part of the record straight. The Agee first draft may eventually be published, but it has been read by scholars -- most notably Prof. Jeffrey Couchman of Columbia University, who published his findings in an essay, "Credit Where Credit Is Due." To assert Agee's moral right to his screen credit in no way disputes Laughton's greatness as a director -- clearly, he was as expert with writers as he was with actors -- but Agee has been belittled and even slandered over the years, when his contribution to NIGHT OF THE HUNTER was of primary and enduring importance. (Submitted by F.X. FEENEY, film critic and author, who has read the original Agee script.) more
Goofs:
Continuity: On the riverside when Willa and Harry are talking, Willa's hands and purse are resting on the edge of her knees. In the next shot, however, her hands and purse are in her lap. more
Quotes:
Icey Spoon: [about sex in marriage] A woman's a fool to marry for that. That's somethin' for a man. The Good Lord never meant for a decent woman to want that. Not really want it. It's all just a fake and a pipe dream. more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Mr. Nanny (1993) more
Soundtrack:
Cresap's Landing Party more

FAQ

Is this movie based on a novel?
A Note Regarding Spoilers
How did Harry get out of prison?
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99 out of 128 people found the following comment useful:-
Sleep, Lit'le ones, sleep..., 23 September 2002
10/10
Author: paulhjrickards from London, England

I still hear the lullaby singing sweetly in my head, like a hazy, haunting dream that won't go away.

From the opening scene of the beautiful Lillian Gish and her children, watching over the world in a starry sky, this movie just sinks you into a mesmeric fairy tale land. The camera takes us down in one sweeping move to a scene of children playing, a hot sunny day, and right to the feet of a murder victim. And that sweet music turns on us like a twisted nightmare as the scene chases after a car speeding along a country road to find one of movies worst villains.

Charles Laughton, in sadly his one and only stab at directing, created a masterpiece of horror with Night of the Hunter. The moments of sugar coated sweetness only make this movie even more disturbing as you wonder how the two can inhabit the same world.

Mitchum is terrifying. More-so in a town full of simple folk ready to match him up with the local widow who needs a father for her lit'le n's. Its like he's walked into the middle of a Frank Capra movie and he's going to do what he wants to.

This is not just a great horror movie, but an artist achievement to rival Welles' Kane. The river scene is one of many moments of pure visual splendor. And that sound track just keeps drifting alone, as if trying to coax you into slumber, till the singing madman of your nightmares comes over the hill, relentless. "Chil-dren, Come along now"

You don't watch this movie, it watches you. ...Hush, Lit'le ones, Hush.

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