The Night Of The Hunter

Monday 5th January (start time 20:30) Reel Cinema, Andover 

Release: 1955, 95 mins (cert PG)

Director:  Charles Laughton

Cast:  Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish, Evelyn Varden, Peter Graves, Billy Chapin, Sally Ann Bruce

The Night of the Hunter is the only film directed by Charles Laughton. It didn’t go down all that well with the critics and some people say Laughton gave up directing there and then, rather than face another panning. If he’d only waited a few years, he’d have seen what true cinema-goers really thought: that this tale of the struggle between good and evil is one of the best, most haunting psychodramas ever made. Who knows what Laughton could have given us next?

On the face of it, the story is simple enough: an ex-con preacher is on the trail of his cellmate’s loot … and will stop at nothing to get it. But it’s actually much more than that. The power of the film is in the contrast between the preacher’s holier-than-thou veneer and the psychotic nature of his actions. As the central protagonist, Robert Mitchum gives the performance of his life. It’s as close to a portrayal of evil as we ever get to see on the big screen. 

Laughton’s taken German expressionism to rural America – and kept us in suspense while doing so. It’s a gem.

The Night of the Hunter was revived with a new print in 1999, celebrating the centenary of the director’s birth.

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THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER

The Night of the Hunter was Charles Laughton's only film as a credited director. It is a tale of Good versus Evil. And Laughton doesn’t hesitate to remind us of this at every opportunity.

It’s rural and small-town USA, depression-era, but nonetheless picturesque. A seemingly carefree Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) drives an old Model T and talks to God.
Good versus Evil One: the pretty, springtime background versus the discovery that the man preys on and murders women.
Elsewhere, two children are playing in their well-tended front garden, happy to see daddy come home.
Good versus Evil Two: daddy is not only handsome, he’s a murderer.
He has just enough time to hide his ill-gotten gains - $10,000 are stuffed into his daughter’s doll.
Good versus Evil Three: the proceeds of violent crime versus the innocence of children.

The carefree man, who claims to be a preacher, is sent to prison for stealing the car, where he shares a cell with the handsome daddy, Ben Harper (Peter Graves), who is condemned to death. From here on, the battle lines are drawn. The preacher charms Harper’s widow, Willa (Shelley Winters), as well as the community stalwarts. He’s after the loot.

Good versus Evil illustrations come thick and fast. The cruelty of children singing a hangman’s song is contrasted with the kindness of Uncle Birdie (James Gleason), a retired waterman. The naiveté of the Spoons (Don Beddoe and Evelyn Varden), the couple running the ice-cream parlour, is no match for Powell’s persuasive ways. Powell’s expressions constantly change from open innocence to creepy cunning.

Powell’s ratchets up his attempts to find out from the children where the money is hidden. Their mother gone, they contrive to escape on a small boat.
Good versus Evil Seven: Powell’s singing of hymns reinforcing his murderous intent.
And Eight: the dream-like images of riverbank creatures versus the menace of a black-clad preacher on a stolen white horse.

The film opens with Rachel Cooper (Lillian Gish), talking to children about the dangers of wolves in sheep’s clothing. And it is Cooper who finds the exhausted escapees and takes them in to her home for dispossessed youngsters.
The final reckoning, Good versus Evil Nine, is of course the stand-off between Cooper and Powell.
And just to make sure we get the point, examples Ten (the once innocent Spoons leading a mob baying for Powell’s blood) and Eleven (the hungry hangman leads a peaceful family life) are squeezed in at the end.

Screenwriter James Agee, composer Walter Schumann, cinematographer Stanley Cortez and editor Robert Golden all learned their trades in the 1930s, as did Charles Laughton (as an actor), so it’s hardly surprising that this film feels old-fashioned, even for 1955. That it’s in black and white with a print of only so-so quality adds to the feeling. This is no bad thing; the message is stronger and never hidden behind clever pyrotechnics or whizzery than might happen in a more recent take on the piece. Those cinemagoers weaned on a diet of modern editing might be surprised at the power of a slower pace. They might be critical of the homily at the end, but they won’t forget the story itself. And they won’t forget Robert Mitchum.

The Night Of The Hunter is a classic and a much better film than was credited at the time of release. It’s fully deserving of its place in cinematic history.

Hans van Well

[Reviewer’s opinions are not necessarily those of the Film Club]