The Night of the Hunter

Posted by Clayton L. White (stinky_booties@hotmail.com) on March 2, 2007

With the exception of Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, Charles Laughton’s The Night of the Hunter is the greatest debut by any filmmaker in history. The film has the confidence and the nerve of someone who has directed films all their life. In fact, it’s a greater film than most filmmakers will ever even aspire to make. The remarkable thing about the film is not that it is Laughton’s first film as a director, but that it is his only film as a director. Laughton is best known as an Academy Award winning actor who had worked in films since the early 1930’s. Throughout his career, he worked with directors ranging from Alfred Hitchcock (Jamaica Inn) to Stanley Kubrick (Spartacus), but Laughton’s vision was his own. The film was unique in 1955, and is still so today.

The beginning of the film introduces us to “Reverend” Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum). We see from the first few shots that Powell is only a man of God in his own mind. We see the feet of a dead woman discovered by children. We see Powell driving, talking to God,asking God to send him another widow with a stash of money. Powell knows how God dislikes “perfume smelling things, lacy things, things with curly hair.” Powell is here to do God’s work. We see Powell in a Gentleman’s club. We see his knuckles for the first time, they are tattooed. On the right, the word “Love”, on the left, “Hate.” With his left hand, Powell reaches in his pocket to brandish his switchblade, but he is stopped by the police. Evidently Powell has stolen a car. He shares a prison cell with a man named Ben Harper. Harper is on death row for killing two men in a robbery. The money, however, was never found, but Harper has a wife and two children, and Powell only has a little time left on his sentence.

Once out of jail, Powell finds the Harper family and charms the entire town where they reside, except for Harper’s son John. John knows that Powell isn’t what he’s cracked up to be. He’s seen the hate in Powell’s eyes. John notices the creepy way in which Powell leans on the fence singing an old hymn. Eventually Powell marries John’s mother, Willa. No sooner than the honeymoon do things go bad. Powell begins to press the issue of the hidden money, the only problem is that Willa has no idea where it is. Only John and his sister Pearl know the secret. Realizing this Powell murders Willa, forcing the children to run for their lives across the country side. I will not give away any more, except that the children do find refuge in Rachel Cooper, played by silent film star Lillian Gish. Cooper has devoted her time to taking in and protecting orphans. “It’s a hard world for little things,” she says, and she keeps a shotgun just in case. The final showdown is the quintessential battle between good and evil/love and hate.

To say that the film is visually appealing would be an understatement. The black and white cinematography by Stanley Cortez (Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Amberson’s) evokes equal parts fairy-tale gentleness and nightmarish intensity. Laughton and Cortez, obviously inspired by the German Expressionistic films of the 1920’s, create an unbroken stream of striking images that you will never forget, and Gish, coming out of retirement for this film, gives us one of cinema’s greatest female characters. She is caring and loving, but strict and aggressive at the same time. She is not to be underestimated, and when boxed into a corner, will swing her way out. It’s Mitchum, however, that is the most memorable. One of the greatest and most underrated of all American actors, Mitchum is one of the most likable stars you’ll ever come across, but here he is the very definition of evil. A man who is clearly psychotic, and will stop at nothing to get what he wants. In my opinion, Powell is the greatest villain in cinematic history. Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter and Jack Nicholson in The Departed don’t even come close to this guy.

A failure when it was first released, The Night of the Hunterhas since gained a cult following, and has been praised by critics everywhere as one of the greatest American films. It’s influence can be seen in films by directors as varied as Spike Lee, Terrence Malick, and The Coen Brothers. If you haven’t seen this film, I couldn’t encourage you enough to seek it out. It’s available on DVDwith no special features, but with adequate picture and sound. It’s one of the best films I have ever seen, and it’s one that I watch repeatedly. I know many people nowadays aren’t too keen on older movies, especially ones that are black and white, but this film is as fast paced and fresh as anything released today. Check it out, you won’t regret it.

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