The Night of the Hunter

(1955)



Trying to explain "The Night of the Hunter" to anyone is difficult. It's not the story that matters so much as how it's told, as directed by Charles Laughton in his one (credited) directorial effort. It is said he never directed again because the reviews of "The Night of the Hunter" discouraged him so much.

Robert Mitchum is "Reverend" Harry Powell, a self-appointed preacher who preys upon lonely widows - "What'll it be now, Lord? Another widow?" - killing them for their money as he believes the Lord has instructed him, and then moving on to the next victim. While in prison briefly on a car-theft rap, he shares a cell with Ben Harper (Peter Graves, best known for his role on the old TV show "Mission Impossible").

He tries to worm the location of the money from Harper before the execution. When he is released from his brief prison stay, he heads straight for Willa Harper (Shelley Winters); Ben's weak, sweet, sexually frustrated, somewhat dense widow, and her two kids.

There is just so much going on in this film: biblical references and symbolism; Freudian symbolism (Powell's knife brandished in a couple of scenes as a warped version of a phallic symbol); Mitchum's and Gish's amazing performances; various other, interesting, smaller storylines; a scene reminiscent of "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (1919); Powell's tattoos of "Love" and "Hate" on his knuckles; and the dream-like, surreal riverboat escape sequence. The children, played by Billy Chapin (John Harper) and Sally Jane Bruce (Pearl Harper) give effective performances. There's also the over-the-top campiness in some of Mitchum's acting, which fits in perfectly with the stylized direction of the film; the sexual undercurrent and its repression that runs throughout (and no one played whiny, sexual frustration in those days better than Shelley Winters, as evidenced by this and other roles such as the mother in "Lolita" (1962): "Harrrrrry! I'm lonnnnnnnely!" and her role as the cast-aside pregnant girlfriend in "A Place in the Sun" (1951).

Lillian Gish is wonderful in her portrayal, standing up to the evil Harry Powell, and Robert Mitchum is perfectly cast in what some see as his best film role; his charismatic, handsome, oily, smooth portrayal of the serial killer Harry Powell surely must stand as a study guide for today's actors. Mitchum seemed to reprise much of his technique for this performance for his subsequent role in "Cape Fear" (1962).

I really can't say much more without going on and on for pages. Each scene could be written about and analyzed in detail; each scene is lit and photographed and told in a manner that has a director's hand prints all over it. It's a true artist's film, and we will never know what other wonders Charles Laughton could have directed. I have read of some viwers who laughed through much of this movie, which is unfortunate. I find it difficult to comprehend that reaction from any intelligent viewer who was really paying attention. I guess you either "get it", or you don't, which may have something to do with the film's dismal success when it was released.

This under-appreciated film is a ghoulish twist on a classic story, directed (and mostly written, it is said, by Laughton, after his arguing with James Agee over the rendition of the screenplay) in a masterful manner by a man best known for his own portrayals of classic film characters such as Captain Bligh in "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935), and Quasimodo in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1939).

The hymn "Everlasting Arms" recurs throughout, and could never sound the same again after this film.

Go. Go at least to rent this movie, or better yet, buy it. It's a one-of-a-kind masterpiece, IMO.