The Night of the Hunter (1955)

Director:

Charles Laughton
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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 | Religious Fanatic

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:
Emmett Lynn	...	Birdie Steptoe (scenes deleted)
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)
Terry Sanders		(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	....	makeup artist (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)
• Stjärnfilm (1958) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Svenska Filminstitutet (SFI) (2004) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1955) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Valio-Filmi (1959) (Finland) (theatrical) (cut)
• Criterion Collection, The (19??) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Criterion Collection, The (2010) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2010) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• SF Home Entertainment (2005) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Warner Home Vídeo (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

93 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 | Australia:PG (TV rating) | Sweden:11 (re-rating) (2004) | Sweden:15 (re-rating) (1958) | USA:Unrated | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:14A (video rating) | Finland:(Banned) (1955) | Norway:16 | Portugal:M/12 | Sweden:(Banned) (original rating) (1955) | UK:12 | USA:Approved (certificate #17385) | West Germany:18 (f) | UK:X (original rating)

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Paul Gregory Productions

Trivia:

The studio tank at Republic studios, where John Wayne shot Wake of the Red Witch (1948), was where the dummy of 'Shelley Winters (I)' in the underwater sequence was shot. The eerie shots were filmed by an underwater cameraman in a scuba outfit and a camera that had to be held by him on a hook.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Willa Harper is lying in bed talking to Harry her mouth movements are out of sync with the dialogue.

Quotes:

Rev. Harry Powell:Chiiilll... dren!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Mallrats (1995)

Soundtrack:

Cresap's Landing Party

Overwhelming

I was lucky enough to see this in a cinema with a restored print. I had previously caught a snatch of it while channel surfing cable TV, and saw enough in about 30 seconds to realise that this was worth watching through if I got the chance.

I could barely speak at the end of the film. Pauline Kael called it one of the scariest movies ever made, and she was absolutely right. Robert Mitchum becomes the embodiment of evil, and his pursuit of the children is so relentless, and so menacing, that it becomes impossible to believe that they can escape. The images are brilliant; there's a depth to black and white that colour somehow lacks, and it is used superbly here to create a sense of brooding terror.

I didn't mind the homily at the end. Like everything else in the film, it is done with utter conviction, and this makes it work. Charles Laughton saw it as the indispensable conclusion to the film, and the strength of his belief makes it indispensable.

The images are so much part of the film that it must lose a great deal on the small screen, although my minimal exposure to it in that environment showed that it was still well worth watching, but if you get a chance to see it in a cinema, jump at it.