Movies - The Night of the Hunter

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	Movies - The Night of the Hunter

The Night of the Hunter is a 1953 novel by American author Davis Grubb. The book was a national bestseller and was voted a finalist for the 1955 National Book Award.

In 1955 a motion picture in the film noir style was made from the novel. It was adapted for the screen by James Agee and Charles Laughton. Laughton would also direct the film that has since been deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. The film has had a tremendous influence on directors such as Jean Renoir, Terrence Malick and the Coen Brothers and can be seen in the lyrical and naturalistic style.

Primary cast

Robert Mitchum
: Harry Powell
Shelley Winters
: Willa Harper
Lillian Gish
: Rachel Cooper
James Gleason
: Birdie Steptoe
Evelyn Varden : Icey Spoon
Peter Graves
: Ben Harper
Don Beddoe
: Walt Spoon
Billy Chapin : John Harper
Sally Jane Bruce : Pearl Harper
Gloria Castillo : Ruby

Plot overview

The film is set in West Virginia, along the Ohio River; the era is never explicitly stated, but seems to be during the Great Depression.

Mitchum portrays Harry Powell—one of his hands tattooed with "LOVE" on its knuckles, the other tattooed "HATE"—who shares a prison cell with Ben Harper (Graves). Harper is sentenced to hang for his part in a robbery, but hid the money from the robbery, and trusted his children John (Chapin) and Pearl (Bruce)—about ten and five years old, respectively—with the money's location.

Upon his release from prison, Powell masquerades as a preacher. He woos and marries Harper's widow, Willa (Winters) in order to obtain the robbery money, and eventually kills her. A famed scene shows the dead Willa, seated in a Model T at the bottom of a river.

The children, especially John, distrust and resist Powell. After their mother's death, they escape and find sanctuary with Rachel Cooper (Gish). Powell eventually finds them, however, and succeeds in learning the money's location from Pearl after threatening John. Just as he is about to escape, he is arrested by the police, whom Rachel had called. He is then tried for multiple murders and executed.

Response

Upon its release, Night of the Hunter was not a success with either audiences or critics. This response is probably a reason that the film was the only one Laughton ever directed.

Laughton drew heavily on the harsh, angular look of 1920s expressionist films, such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
, and some sequences are very dreamlike.

Stanley Cortez' striking cinematography has been noted and imitated, and Mitchum's chilling and sinister performance has been especially praised.

Despite its initial lack of success, Night of the Hunter later found a cult following, and has since been praised as a masterpiece, and one of the finest of film noir.

Roger Ebert has written of the film, "It is one of the most frightening of movies, with one of the most unforgettable of villains, and on both of those scores it holds up ... well after four decades (.)"

Influence and references

The narrator of Nick Cave's "The Mercy Seat" from his Tender Prey album seems to be a man very similar to Powell facing his execution: "My kill-hand tattooed 'Evil' across its brother's fist/That filthy five, they did nothing to resist"

Two shots in the opening sequence of The Blues Brothers
focus on Jake and Elwood's hands. Jake's has "J-A-K-E" tatooed on the knuckles of his right hand, while Elwood's has "E-L-W-O" on his.... with "O-D" on his left.

The Clash's "Death or Glory" from 1979's London Calling includes the line, "Love and Hate tattooed across the knuckles on his hands"

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for The Night of the Hunter ]

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Movies - The Night of the Hunter

Primary cast

Plot overview

Response

Influence and references

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