The Night of the Hunter (1955)

Director:

Charles Laughton
(more)

Writers:

Davis Grubb (novel)
James Agee (screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

24 November 1955 (Argentina)

Genre:

Drama | Film-Noir | Thriller

Tagline:

The wedding night, the anticipation, the kiss, the knife, BUT ABOVE ALL... THE SUSPENSE!

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.

Plot Keywords:

Widow | Money | Preacher | Children | Secret

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Robert Mitchum	...	Harry Powell
Shelley Winters	...	Willa Harper
Lillian Gish	...	Rachel Cooper
James Gleason	...	Birdie Steptoe
Evelyn Varden	...	Icey Spoon
Peter Graves	...	Ben Harper
Don Beddoe	...	Walt Spoon
Billy Chapin	...	John Harper
Sally Jane Bruce	...	Pearl Harper
Gloria Castillo	...	Ruby (as Gloria Castilo)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Corey Allen	...	Young Man in Town (uncredited)
Paul Bryar	...	Bart the Hangman (uncredited)
Cheryl Callaway	...	Mary (uncredited)
Michael Chapin	...	Ruby's Boyfriend (uncredited)
Mary Ellen Clemons	...	Clary (uncredited)
Kathy Garver	...	Child (uncredited)
James Griffith	...	District Attorney (uncredited)
John Hamilton	...	Townsman Who Greets Rachel (uncredited)
Kay Lavelle	...	Miz Cunninghan (uncredited)
Gloria Pall	...	Burlesque Dancer (uncredited)
George Wallace	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Charles Laughton
Robert Mitchum		(uncredited)

Writing credits
Davis Grubb		(novel)
James Agee		(screenplay)
Charles Laughton		screenplay contributor (uncredited)

Produced by
Paul Gregory	....	producer

Original Music by
Walter Schumann		(music by)

Cinematography by
Stanley Cortez		(photography by)

Film Editing by
Robert Golden

Casting by
Millie Gusse		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Hilyard M. Brown		(as Hilyard Brown)

Set Decoration by
Alfred E. Spencer		(as Al Spencer)

Makeup Department
Don L. Cash	....	make-up (as Don Cash)
Kay Shea	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Ruby Rosenberg	....	production manager
Frank Parmenter	....	production manager: second unit (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Milton Carter	....	assistant director
Frank Parmenter	....	second unit director (uncredited)
Terry Sanders	....	second unit director (uncredited)
Jack Sonntag	....	first assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Joe LaBella	....	property man (as Joe La Bella)

Sound Department
Stanford Houghton	....	sound (as Stanford Naughton)

Special Effects by
Louis DeWitt	....	special photographic effects (as Louis De Witt)
Jack Rabin	....	special photographic effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Seymour Hoffberg	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Harold E. Wellman	....	camera: second unit (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Jerry Bos	....	wardrobe
Evelyn Carruth	....	assistant wardrobe

Music Department
Arthur Morton	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Saul Bass	....	publicist (uncredited)
Robert Mitchum	....	director: children (uncredited)
Denis Sanders	....	unspecified assistant (uncredited)
Terry Sanders	....	unspecified assistant (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Paul Gregory Productions (presents)

Distributors

• United Artists (1955) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures Corporation (1955) (UK) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1956) (France) (theatrical)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1991) (USA) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1994) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• BFI Films (1999) (UK) (theatrical) (re-release)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Filmmuseum Distributie (2007) (Netherlands) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Adams Filmi (1955) (Finland) (theatrical) (banned)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical) (35mm print)
• Valio-Filmi (1959) (Finland) (theatrical) (cut)
• Criterion Collection, The (19??) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Warner Home Vídeo (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 (1959) (cut) | South Korea:15 (2003) | Brazil:14 | 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)

Filming Locations:

CBS Studio Center - 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Paul Gregory Productions

Trivia:

The sequence purportedly showing the preacher riding a horse in the distance was filmed in false perspective and was actually a midget astride a pony.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When John and Pearl are in the barn at dusk, there is a time-lapse sequence of the crescent moon rising. A crescent moon shortly after sunset is always setting and the lit portion should be tilted toward the point where the sun has recently set.

Quotes:

Rev. Harry Powell: Open that door, you spawn of the devil's own strumpet!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Ladykillers (2004)

Soundtrack:

Hing, Hang, Hung

Innocence shattered

It's a shame Charle Laughton, the distinguished actor, didn't direct more films. As he clearly indicates with "The Night of the Hunter", he had a rare gift for guiding a production into achieving greatness. This film, which didn't receive the attention it got when it was released, has turned out to be something discerning movie fans saw from the start, a classic.

Charles Laughton was basically a man of the theater, then came the movies, but he was at heart someone who was equally at ease working on the stage, or performing in front of a camera. Mr. Laughton undertook to direct this screen play written by another distinguished American writer and critic, James Agee, based on the David Grubb's novel.

The result is a magnificent film about to what extreme a man will go in order to steal from two young and innocent children something their father had left for them in trust. The evil character of Harry Powell, a charlatan preacher taking advantage of poor and unsophisticated country folk, is one of the best creations in the novel. Harry Powell doesn't care what he must do to get his hands in the money. He marries the children's mother, a widow who was hoping for some happiness in her life, only as part of his overall scheme of things.

The film is a poetic account of the story with great emphasis on the kindness the children receive at the end from Rachel Cooper, a woman with a heart of gold who took John and Pearl into her home when they needed it.

Robert Mitchum is the evil Harry Powell. It's without a doubt, one of Mr. Mitchum's best screen work. As guided by the director, the actor gives a performance that still surprises whoever watches the film for the first time. Shelley Winters plays Willa, the widow who can't sense the danger connected to the man she marries. Lillian Gish is another luminous presence in the film because she projects no-nonsense kindness and sweetness toward the children she takes into her home.

The film also is enhanced by the brilliant black and white cinematography by Stanley Carter. The film still shows a pristine look fifty years after it was released. Also, the musical score of Walter Shumann adds another layer in the film's texture.

"The Night of the Hunter" is ultimately a work of art that moves the viewer because of the tremendous work its director, Charles Laughton, gave to the movie.