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The Night of the Hunter (1955)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
24 November 1955 (Argentina) moreTagline:
The wedding night, the anticipation, the kiss, the knife, BUT ABOVE ALL... THE SUSPENSE! morePlot:
A religious fanatic marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real daddy hid $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery. full summary | full synopsisAwards:
1 win moreNewsDesk:
(2 articles)
The Stepfather (1987) (From SoundOnSight. 22 October 2009, 8:17 PM, PDT)
Shelley Winters: 1920-2006
(From IMDb News. 14 January 2006)
User Comments:
One of the most extraordinary movies ever made. Essential viewing for anybody interested in American movies! more (274 total)US TV Schedule:
| Sat. Nov. 14 | 3:30 AM | TCM |
Cast
(Complete credited 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 (as Gloria Castilo) |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
La noche del cazador (Argentina) (Mexico) (Spain) [es]Die Nacht des Jägers (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
La nuit du chasseur (Belgium: French title) (France) [fr]
A Sombra do Caçador (Portugal) [pt]
A vadász éjszakája (Hungary) [hu]
De jagersnacht (Belgium: Flemish title) [un]
I nyhta tou kynigou (Greece) (reissue title) [el]
La morte corre sul fiume (Italy) [it]
Noc mysliwego (Poland) [pl]
O Mensageiro do Diabo (Brazil) [pt]
O thanatopoinitis me to simadi (Greece) [el]
Pimeydessä vaeltava (Finland) [fi]
Räsynukke (Finland) [fi]
Trasdockan (Sweden) [sv]
more
Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parentsRuntime:
92 minCountry:
USALanguage:
EnglishColor:
Black and WhiteAspect Ratio:
1.66 : 1 moreSound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Recording)Certification:
Finland:K-16 (1959) (cut) | South Korea:15 (2003) | Brazil:14 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:14A (video rating) | Finland:(Banned) (1955) | Norway:16 | Portugal:M/12 | Sweden:15 | UK:12 | USA:Approved (certificate #17385) | West Germany:12 | UK:X (original rating)Filming Locations:
CBS Studio Center - 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA moreFun Stuff
Trivia:
Reports that James Agee wrote an incoherent screenplay have been proved false by the 2004 discovery of his first draft. That document, although 293 pages in length and manifestly overwritten (as is common with first drafts), is scene for scene the film Charles Laughton directed. Likewise false are the reports that Agee was fired. Laughton, however much he gnashed his teeth at having such a behemoth of a text in his hands with only five weeks to go before the start of principal photography, calmly renewed Agee's contract and directed him to cut it in half. He did. In Laughton's stage work (GALILEO, CAIN MUTINY COURT MARTIAL, etc), the great actor demonstrated he was a script editor of genius - he could induce the most stubborn and prideful writer to cut, cut, cut. And so he did in Agee's case. Later, apparently at Robert Mitchum's request, Agee visited the set to settle a dispute between the star and Laughton. Letters & documents located in the archive of Agee's agent Paul Kohner bear this out - they were brought to light by Laughton biographer Simon Callow, whose excellent BFI book about NIGHT OF THE HUNTER diligently sets this part of the record straight. The Agee first draft may eventually be published, but it has been read by scholars - most notably Prof. Jeffrey Couchman of Columbia University, who published his findings in an essay, "Credit Where Credit Is Due." To assert Agee's moral right to his screen credit in no way disputes Laughton's greatness as a director - clearly, he was as expert with writers as he was with actors - but Agee has been belittled and even slandered over the years, when his contribution to NIGHT OF THE HUNTER was of primary and enduring importance. (Submitted by F.X. FEENEY, film critic and author, who has read the original Agee script.) moreGoofs:
Continuity: On the honeymoon night, when Willa approaches to the bed, Harry stands up and lights the lamp above in front of him. Between shots the lamp changes position. moreSoundtrack:
Once Upon a Time There Was a Pretty Fly (Lullaby) moreFAQ
A Note Regarding SpoilersIs this a true story?
Is this movie based on a novel?
more
more (274 total)
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'The Night Of The Hunter' is recognized by most critics and hard core film buffs as one of the most extraordinary movies ever made, but sadly it's still frequently overlooked by the many movie fans, probably because it's so difficult to categorize. Yes, it's a thriller but it's also a child's nightmare. A Noir but also a fable. Robert Mitchum gives one of his very best performances as Harry Powell, the charming but evil preacher with "love" tattooed on one hand, "hate" on the other. Powell is one of the most memorable screen villains of all time, and 'The Night Of The Hunter' is worth watching just for Mitchum, who is mesmerizing. Shelley Winters is surprisingly effective as the widow Powell woos, Peter Graves has a small role at the beginning as her first husband, and Lillian Gish plays the saintly Ms. Cooper, guardian of unwanted children. Because this movie isn't set in isn't the "real world" many viewers don't know exactly how to react to it. Charles Laughton's small town America is a stylized, dreamlike place, in some ways not unlike David Lynch's twisted world depicted in 'Blue Velvet' and 'Twin Peaks'. It also reminds me of Flannery O'Connor's Gothic South in her classic novels 'Wise Blood' and 'The Violent Bear It Away'. Some of the scenes involving Powell menacing Winters' children deliberately invoke James Whale's 'Frankenstein', and the sequence depicting the children's journey down the river is charming but blatantly artificial. While I'm a big fan of "outsider" film makers like Russ Meyer, Coffin Joe and Alejandro Jodorowsky, I also greatly admire those who work within the system but still manage to subvert Hollywood with doses of surrealism. I'm thinking of movies such as 'Kiss Me Deadly', 'Shock Corridor' and 'The Manchurian Candidate'. Each of these films are unique but they also remind me of each other and of 'The Night Of The Hunter'. I highly recommend them all and wish that there were a lot more movies like them today. 'The Night Of The Hunter' is essential viewing for anybody interested in American movies!