The Night of the Hunter
Charles Laughton | USA | 1955
| Director: Charles Laughton Producer: Paul Gregory Screenplay: James Agee, based on the novel by Davis Grubb Cinematography: Stanley Cortez Editor: Robert Golden Music: Walter Schumann | Robert Mitchum (Preacher Harry Powell) Shelly Winters (Willa Harper) Lillian Gish (Rachel Cooper) James Gleason (Uncle Birdie Steptoe) Billy Chapin (John Harper) Peter Graves (Ben Harper) Evelyn Varden (Icey Spoon) |
Rating: PG Runtime: 92 minutes
Set during the Great Depression, the film centres on Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum, in a truly chilling performance) a self-styled reverend who claims to preach “the religion the Almighty and me worked out betwixt us”, who travels the American South marrying widows and then killing them off for their money. He charms Willa Harper (Shelley Winters) after her bankrobber husband is executed, and then pursues her two children who know the location of some hidden money.
The dark fairytale elements of the film are elevated by the iconic black and white cinematography inspired by German Expressionism. It’s a film truly unlike any other. We know that this will look incredible on the Embassy screen.
“It’s the most haunted and dreamlike of all American films, a gothic backwoods ramble with the Devil at its heels’
—Time Out.