Amazon.com essential video

In the entire history of American movies, The Night of the Hunter stands out as the rarest and most exotic of specimens. It is, to say the least, a masterpiece--and not just because it was the only movie directed by flamboyant actor Charles Laughton or the only produced solo screenplay by the legendary critic James Agee (who also cowrote The African Queen). The truth is, nobody has ever made anything approaching its phantasmagoric, overheated style in which German expressionism, religious hysteria, fairy-tale fantasy (of the Grimm-est variety), and stalker movie are brought together in a furious boil. Like a nightmarish premonition of stalker movies to come, Night of the Hunter tells the suspenseful tale of a demented preacher (Robert Mitchum, in a performance that prefigures his memorable villain in Cape Fear), who torments a boy and his little sister--even marries their mixed-up mother (Shelley Winters)--because he's certain the kids know where their late bank-robber father hid a stash of stolen money. So dramatic, primal, and unforgettable are its images--the preacher's shadow looming over the children in their bedroom, the magical boat ride down a river whose banks teem with fantastic wildlife, those tattoos of LOVE and HATE on the unholy man's knuckles, the golden locks of a drowned woman waving in the current along with the indigenous plant life in her watery grave--that they're still haunting audiences (and filmmakers) today. --Jim Emerson ... Read more

Reviews (125)

Three-Dimensional Menace
It is as difficult to describe this film as it is to forget it. The only film directed by Charles Laughton, with James Agee's screenplay based on Davis Grubb's novel of the same title, The Night of the Hunter explores the ageless conflict between pure goodness and pure evil. The former is represented by the two Harper children and especially by their resolute defender, Rachel Cooper (Lillian Gish). Pure evil is represented by Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum), a psychopath who claims to be a preacher. I can think of few other films in which script, direction, acting, cinematography (Stanley Cortez), and musical score (Walter Schumann) work so well together. Credit must obviously be shared. What saddens me is the fact that Laughton was so discouraged by initial reactions to the film that he never directed another. The plot is rather straight-forward and consists of three phases: Powell's arrival and subsequent marriage to widow Willa Harper (Shelley Winters); her death and the gradual revelation of Powell's true nature; and finally, his pursuit of Rachel Cooper and the two children after they flee from him. It would be a disservice to those who read this brief commentary for me to say any more about the plot.

Paradoxically, this is among the most beautiful and most frightening of films. Mitchum's portrayal is among his greatest performances. According to some who were associated with the production, he also agreed to direct Billy Chapin and Sally Jane Cooper because Laughton despised child actors. If true, Mitchum reveals an off-screen talent I wish he had developed further. For me, the only problematic performance is Gish's. Perhaps it is because it seems (to me) derivative of an acting style more appropriate to a previous era when she was featured in so many other films. Those who have not as yet seen this film are urged to do so. It is in so many ways an "original" which deserves the acclaim denied it when first released in 1955.

Deserves to be ranked with "Citizen Kane."
Charles Laughton, one of the greatest actors of Hollywood's Golden Age, made his directorial debut at age 56 with "Night of the Hunter." The film flopped so badly with critics and public that Laughton was never allowed to direct a movie again. It's hard to tell which is worse: the tragedy for the cinema, or the idiocy of the critics and the public. "Night of the Hunter" deserves to be ranked with "Citizen Kane" and the works of Pabst and Murnau among the great Expressionist film masterpieces. Its artiness probably meant it would never be a great popular success, but it deserves to be more than a cult favorite. Its combination of stark realism and extreme stylization, of magical beauty and Hitchcockian suspense, has never been replicated in any other movie. The performances are all superb and, in the cases of Robert Mitchum and Lillian Gish, extraordinary. Mitchum pushes the envelope just enough as the evil preacher Harry Powell, giving a performance that might seem way over the top if a scene were taken out of context, but which masterfully evokes diabolical menace as a whole. As for Gish, she creates an unforgettable character in Rachel Cooper, whose prim, strict exterior barely conceals a combination of wisdom, backbone and moral splendor rarely found in the cinema. Shelley Winters is also very fine as a woman blinded by desire and guilt. Too little, I think, has been said of the supporting players in "Night of the Hunter." Billy Chapin is very touching as the little boy Powell menaces, but the standouts have to be Don Beddoe and Evelyn Varden as Walt and Icey Spoon, a sort of Richard and Hyacinth Bucket gone to seed. Icey is all idiot compliance with the loathsome Powell, taking his protestations of piety at face value while imagining herself the arbiter of morality and common sense. Walt, her henpecked husband, occasionally voices doubts but is quickly brought into line. So when Powell is revealed as the murderous monster he is, who leads the lynch mob? Why, Walt and Icey, of course! There are hundreds and hundreds of Walts and Iceys in small-town America. I know that firsthand.

Surreal Mitchum
I've always been a fan of Robert Mitchum's stoic style. But he's anything but stoic in this very unique film. The atmosphere created by Laughton's direction - and apparently his rewriting of the script - is as surreal as it gets. Once you realize you're watching an adult fairy tale about good and evil, you'll be mesmerized. This film is one artist's only offering, and worth the time to watch.

Sappy & crappy.
I adore Robert Mitchum and I do not disagree with much that has been written here, but the religion was laid on with a trowel. So hokey. So corny. The angelic voices, the hymns...Lillian Gish looking up to heaven...please! What I thought would be film noir turned out more like a rally for George Bush Jr.!

"I'm out of patience children. I'm coming to find you now."
Charles Laughton's "The Night of the Hunter" is one of the most notable atmospheric films ever made. One wonders what other works may have followed had Laughton decided to further pursue a career in directing. The dream-like visual imagery he employed in "The Night of the Hunter" is groundbreaking, beautiful, haunting, and breathtaking all at the same time.

Reverend Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) arrives in a small town one day with the letters H-A-T-E and L-O-V-E tattooed on his knuckles. Powell has learned of $10,000 in hidden money which was stolen by a man who used to live in the town. Seeking out the man's widow, Willa Harper (Shelley Winters), Powell hopes to find the hidden money and keep it for himself. The widow's two children, John (Billy Chapin) and Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce) know the location of the money but refuse to tell the mysterious preacher where it is. So begins a cat-and-mouse game between Powell and the children.

Laughton was ahead of his time in making such effective use of visual imagery. The shadows and lighting he employed added deeper layers of meaning to the proceedings. Especially noteworthy are the moments in the bedroom set and the shot depicting Willa Harper's final fate - both scenes still astonish to this day. When the children drift down the river while escaping from Powell, the wonder and darkness of nature is filmed in so graceful, mysterious, and absorbing a manner that one is reminded of the techniques of modern-day directors Terrence Malick and Tim Burton. Mitchum is amazing in what is easily the best performance of his carreer. Child actors Chapin and Bruce are also great as is Winters in a tragic role. The inclusion of screen legend Lillian Gish in the second half of the film is only icing on the cake for an already impressive production. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Very good movie....EXTREAMLY poor transfer. BEWARE
With this being a very difficult movie to get a hold of, I was thrilled it was getting a DVD release. Now I know why the price tag is so low on it.

I have seen better transfers of films from UHF TV stations in the middle of the night. It is grainy beyond belief, with a scratchy distorted soundtrack, and has so many splices in parts it makes it laughable. (remember those BBC 'Benny Hill' sketches with "Cheapo Films" when the splices in the film distorted the scene you were viewing ? This is what we are talking about here, folks....) Making matters worse, the colors are so badly faded it resembles a black & white film. Night sequences turn blue, skin tones turn yellow, whites turn light tan/bone....you get the point.

GOTHAM DISTRIBUTION should be ashamed of themselves for ever allowing a product this poor to be released to the general public. I realize they think a $7-8 price tag is reasonable enough...I, personally, wouldn't pay more than 99 cents. Its barely worth that alone. I will never purchase anything by GOTHAM Distribution again. What a joke !

This gem of a movie deserves better fate.

An uneven crime thriller
Burgess Meredith, of all people, directed this oddball thriller, which features Franchot Tone as an ice-cool (but quite deranged) criminal mastermind who secretly yearns to be caught, and taunts a Parisian detective, Inspector Maigret (Charles Laughton) into hounding him. The moodiness of the film's beginning is undercut by the implausibility and uneven direction of the cat-and-mouse machinations of the second half; Laughton's character loses steam and while Tone delivers some choice moments eye-bulging insanity, it's had to make heads or tails out of his overly-explicit taunts of Maigret's faltering investigation. Sort of a lesser version of "The Third Man," with a resplendid mid-century Paris in place of a war-torn Vienna. Nice look at the inner workings of the Eiffel Tower as well... An interesting early adaptation of mystery novelist George Simenon's Maigret character, but ultimately a fairly shaky film.

A FINE FILM NOIR.
Simenon's seminal sleuth, Maigret, was never better enacted than by the shrewd, slow and sure Charles Laughton who is after a thrill-killer-for-hire Franchot Tone. Tone's portrait of a psychopathic murderer, who enjoys killing because it feeds his warped ego is fascinating. When the nephew of a rich woman hires Tone to kill his aunt and Laughton investigates. A very clever game of cat-and-mouse ensues. The acting is truly outstanding in this film: Tone actually and triumphantly overcomes Laughton's masterful mannerisms in their scenes together. The viewer is treated to a majestic Paris while we slowly engage in the thrilling story and the superb chase on the Eiffel Tower is uniquely exciting. Burgess Merideth (!) was the director, and he did an admirable job. The music score by Michel Michelet is exeptional. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Very good movie....EXTREAMLY poor transfer. BEWARE
With this being a very difficult movie to get a hold of, I was thrilled it was getting a DVD release. Now I know why the price tag is so low on it.

I have seen better transfers of films from UHF TV stations in the middle of the night. It is grainy beyond belief, with a scratchy distorted soundtrack, and has so many splices in parts it makes it laughable. (remember those BBC 'Benny Hill' sketches with "Cheapo Films" when the splices in the film distorted the scene you were viewing ? This is what we are talking about here, folks....) Making matters worse, the colors are so badly faded it resembles a black & white film. Night sequences turn blue, skin tones turn yellow, whites turn light tan/bone....you get the point.

GOTHAM DISTRIBUTION should be ashamed of themselves for ever allowing a product this poor to be released to the general public. I realize they think a $7-8 price tag is reasonable enough...I, personally, wouldn't pay more than 99 cents. Its barely worth that alone. I will never purchase anything by GOTHAM Distribution again. What a joke !

This gem of a movie deserves better fate.

An uneven crime thriller
Burgess Meredith, of all people, directed this oddball thriller, which features Franchot Tone as an ice-cool (but quite deranged) criminal mastermind who secretly yearns to be caught, and taunts a Parisian detective, Inspector Maigret (Charles Laughton) into hounding him. The moodiness of the film's beginning is undercut by the implausibility and uneven direction of the cat-and-mouse machinations of the second half; Laughton's character loses steam and while Tone delivers some choice moments eye-bulging insanity, it's had to make heads or tails out of his overly-explicit taunts of Maigret's faltering investigation. Sort of a lesser version of "The Third Man," with a resplendid mid-century Paris in place of a war-torn Vienna. Nice look at the inner workings of the Eiffel Tower as well... An interesting early adaptation of mystery novelist George Simenon's Maigret character, but ultimately a fairly shaky film.

A FINE FILM NOIR.
Simenon's seminal sleuth, Maigret, was never better enacted than by the shrewd, slow and sure Charles Laughton who is after a thrill-killer-for-hire Franchot Tone. Tone's portrait of a psychopathic murderer, who enjoys killing because it feeds his warped ego is fascinating. When the nephew of a rich woman hires Tone to kill his aunt and Laughton investigates. A very clever game of cat-and-mouse ensues. The acting is truly outstanding in this film: Tone actually and triumphantly overcomes Laughton's masterful mannerisms in their scenes together. The viewer is treated to a majestic Paris while we slowly engage in the thrilling story and the superb chase on the Eiffel Tower is uniquely exciting. Burgess Merideth (!) was the director, and he did an admirable job. The music score by Michel Michelet is exeptional. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Very good movie....EXTREAMLY poor transfer. BEWARE
With this being a very difficult movie to get a hold of, I was thrilled it was getting a DVD release. Now I know why the price tag is so low on it.

I have seen better transfers of films from UHF TV stations in the middle of the night. It is grainy beyond belief, with a scratchy distorted soundtrack, and has so many splices in parts it makes it laughable. (remember those BBC 'Benny Hill' sketches with "Cheapo Films" when the splices in the film distorted the scene you were viewing ? This is what we are talking about here, folks....) Making matters worse, the colors are so badly faded it resembles a black & white film. Night sequences turn blue, skin tones turn yellow, whites turn light tan/bone....you get the point.

GOTHAM DISTRIBUTION should be ashamed of themselves for ever allowing a product this poor to be released to the general public. I realize they think a $7-8 price tag is reasonable enough...I, personally, wouldn't pay more than 99 cents. Its barely worth that alone. I will never purchase anything by GOTHAM Distribution again. What a joke !

This gem of a movie deserves better fate.

An uneven crime thriller
Burgess Meredith, of all people, directed this oddball thriller, which features Franchot Tone as an ice-cool (but quite deranged) criminal mastermind who secretly yearns to be caught, and taunts a Parisian detective, Inspector Maigret (Charles Laughton) into hounding him. The moodiness of the film's beginning is undercut by the implausibility and uneven direction of the cat-and-mouse machinations of the second half; Laughton's character loses steam and while Tone delivers some choice moments eye-bulging insanity, it's had to make heads or tails out of his overly-explicit taunts of Maigret's faltering investigation. Sort of a lesser version of "The Third Man," with a resplendid mid-century Paris in place of a war-torn Vienna. Nice look at the inner workings of the Eiffel Tower as well... An interesting early adaptation of mystery novelist George Simenon's Maigret character, but ultimately a fairly shaky film.

A FINE FILM NOIR.
Simenon's seminal sleuth, Maigret, was never better enacted than by the shrewd, slow and sure Charles Laughton who is after a thrill-killer-for-hire Franchot Tone. Tone's portrait of a psychopathic murderer, who enjoys killing because it feeds his warped ego is fascinating. When the nephew of a rich woman hires Tone to kill his aunt and Laughton investigates. A very clever game of cat-and-mouse ensues. The acting is truly outstanding in this film: Tone actually and triumphantly overcomes Laughton's masterful mannerisms in their scenes together. The viewer is treated to a majestic Paris while we slowly engage in the thrilling story and the superb chase on the Eiffel Tower is uniquely exciting. Burgess Merideth (!) was the director, and he did an admirable job. The music score by Michel Michelet is exeptional. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Very good movie....EXTREAMLY poor transfer. BEWARE
With this being a very difficult movie to get a hold of, I was thrilled it was getting a DVD release. Now I know why the price tag is so low on it.

I have seen better transfers of films from UHF TV stations in the middle of the night. It is grainy beyond belief, with a scratchy distorted soundtrack, and has so many splices in parts it makes it laughable. (remember those BBC 'Benny Hill' sketches with "Cheapo Films" when the splices in the film distorted the scene you were viewing ? This is what we are talking about here, folks....) Making matters worse, the colors are so badly faded it resembles a black & white film. Night sequences turn blue, skin tones turn yellow, whites turn light tan/bone....you get the point.

GOTHAM DISTRIBUTION should be ashamed of themselves for ever allowing a product this poor to be released to the general public. I realize they think a $7-8 price tag is reasonable enough...I, personally, wouldn't pay more than 99 cents. Its barely worth that alone. I will never purchase anything by GOTHAM Distribution again. What a joke !

This gem of a movie deserves better fate.

An uneven crime thriller
Burgess Meredith, of all people, directed this oddball thriller, which features Franchot Tone as an ice-cool (but quite deranged) criminal mastermind who secretly yearns to be caught, and taunts a Parisian detective, Inspector Maigret (Charles Laughton) into hounding him. The moodiness of the film's beginning is undercut by the implausibility and uneven direction of the cat-and-mouse machinations of the second half; Laughton's character loses steam and while Tone delivers some choice moments eye-bulging insanity, it's had to make heads or tails out of his overly-explicit taunts of Maigret's faltering investigation. Sort of a lesser version of "The Third Man," with a resplendid mid-century Paris in place of a war-torn Vienna. Nice look at the inner workings of the Eiffel Tower as well... An interesting early adaptation of mystery novelist George Simenon's Maigret character, but ultimately a fairly shaky film.

A FINE FILM NOIR.
Simenon's seminal sleuth, Maigret, was never better enacted than by the shrewd, slow and sure Charles Laughton who is after a thrill-killer-for-hire Franchot Tone. Tone's portrait of a psychopathic murderer, who enjoys killing because it feeds his warped ego is fascinating. When the nephew of a rich woman hires Tone to kill his aunt and Laughton investigates. A very clever game of cat-and-mouse ensues. The acting is truly outstanding in this film: Tone actually and triumphantly overcomes Laughton's masterful mannerisms in their scenes together. The viewer is treated to a majestic Paris while we slowly engage in the thrilling story and the superb chase on the Eiffel Tower is uniquely exciting. Burgess Merideth (!) was the director, and he did an admirable job. The music score by Michel Michelet is exeptional. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Very good movie....EXTREAMLY poor transfer. BEWARE
With this being a very difficult movie to get a hold of, I was thrilled it was getting a DVD release. Now I know why the price tag is so low on it.

I have seen better transfers of films from UHF TV stations in the middle of the night. It is grainy beyond belief, with a scratchy distorted soundtrack, and has so many splices in parts it makes it laughable. (remember those BBC 'Benny Hill' sketches with "Cheapo Films" when the splices in the film distorted the scene you were viewing ? This is what we are talking about here, folks....) Making matters worse, the colors are so badly faded it resembles a black & white film. Night sequences turn blue, skin tones turn yellow, whites turn light tan/bone....you get the point.

GOTHAM DISTRIBUTION should be ashamed of themselves for ever allowing a product this poor to be released to the general public. I realize they think a $7-8 price tag is reasonable enough...I, personally, wouldn't pay more than 99 cents. Its barely worth that alone. I will never purchase anything by GOTHAM Distribution again. What a joke !

This gem of a movie deserves better fate.

An uneven crime thriller
Burgess Meredith, of all people, directed this oddball thriller, which features Franchot Tone as an ice-cool (but quite deranged) criminal mastermind who secretly yearns to be caught, and taunts a Parisian detective, Inspector Maigret (Charles Laughton) into hounding him. The moodiness of the film's beginning is undercut by the implausibility and uneven direction of the cat-and-mouse machinations of the second half; Laughton's character loses steam and while Tone delivers some choice moments eye-bulging insanity, it's had to make heads or tails out of his overly-explicit taunts of Maigret's faltering investigation. Sort of a lesser version of "The Third Man," with a resplendid mid-century Paris in place of a war-torn Vienna. Nice look at the inner workings of the Eiffel Tower as well... An interesting early adaptation of mystery novelist George Simenon's Maigret character, but ultimately a fairly shaky film.

A FINE FILM NOIR.
Simenon's seminal sleuth, Maigret, was never better enacted than by the shrewd, slow and sure Charles Laughton who is after a thrill-killer-for-hire Franchot Tone. Tone's portrait of a psychopathic murderer, who enjoys killing because it feeds his warped ego is fascinating. When the nephew of a rich woman hires Tone to kill his aunt and Laughton investigates. A very clever game of cat-and-mouse ensues. The acting is truly outstanding in this film: Tone actually and triumphantly overcomes Laughton's masterful mannerisms in their scenes together. The viewer is treated to a majestic Paris while we slowly engage in the thrilling story and the superb chase on the Eiffel Tower is uniquely exciting. Burgess Merideth (!) was the director, and he did an admirable job. The music score by Michel Michelet is exeptional. ... Read more