A New Review of The Night Of The Hunter

Thanks to a friend for sending me this clip from Australian television.

[@edreid7872]

My mom introduced me to this film when I was very young...I was not a movie buff, especially black and white, but I was hooked, and have seen it hundreds of times...

[@sandramorey2529]

I first saw this in 1955 at age 14. Loved it. It scared the sox off me. Then I saw it in my film class in college, along with Griffith' Birth of a Nation, both with Lillian Gish. Then my spouse and I saw it at Berkeley Film archives along with a newly made "making of". The film, itself, had new footage added from the reels found in elsa Lanchester's garage-missing for decades & thought not to exist. This film is a work of art and the studio didn't know it. James Agee who also wrote the screenplay for"The Grapes of Wrath" did the first screenplay but it was reworked by Laughton. James Agee wrote the most poetic prose & they seemed to have kept that. Amazing.

[@Blaqjaqshellaq]

Agee's original script included the whole book and would have made an eight-hour movie!

[@vivianmartinez5028]

I first saw this movie when I was a teenager and many times since. I agree, its a cinematic classic ahead of its time with outstanding performances by Robert Mitchem and the legendary Lillian Gish.

[@droolet]

wish I could get hold of the american dvd of outtakes mentioned !!!!!!

[@lukeloseth]

harry WAS a preacher, though, that's the point. he believes himself to be in communication with God and is shown preaching throughout the film. he's just not affiliated with any church in particular.

[@darnabedwell2115]

Guess that would make him an Evangelist, when you have no church affiliation. I have not seen the film as yet. I shy away from anything remotely scary. But because it is the only film directed by Charles Laughton I may have to indulge myself.

[@droolet]

thank you for the information I will look into it ...............

[@bevtuft3572]

I love your youtube name.........."Baby I don't care".....the sexiest line in any movie ever.

[@johnharpdalton4092]

Notice, Harry, though a psychopath, really is a preacher, albeit for the god of the Old Testament, the one who smites his enemies, the God of thunderbolts and vengeance. Rachel tellingly sings the name 'Jesus' in the strange hymnal duet towards the end, showing she believes in the New Covenant, that of love and and the god of forgiveness. Harry is not a Christian and never claims to be... No?

[@TheStudyOfPedro]

The Night Of The Hunter

[@edthesecond]

Laughton was about as close to being 'out' gay as one could possibly be in Hollywood. I recommend 'Sign Of The Cross', in which he plays Nero 'straight'-in his own words-and turns Nero into one of the most outrageous 'queens' to ever hit the screen. He would have been quite familiar with the repressive and repressed sexuality and the hypocrisy of the straight 'Christian' world and he worked it for all it was worth. Everybody involved in the film was absolutely brilliant.

[@poetcomic1]

He wasn't 'homosexual'.... the way someone is black or white or short. He had a lifelong disgust for himself and felt endlessly inadequate in his masculinity and hungered for maleness. This is classic gay etiology. You could no longer make a beautiful film like Brokeback Mountain or even the gay character in 'As Good As It Gets' because BOTH films show clearly WHY the three characters are gay. They ar hungry for masculine approval, feel inadequate or have been smothered by a devouring mother figure.

[@edthesecond]

@@poetcomic1 Laughton and Mitchum did one hell of a number on KKKreeshtuns who claim to fear God and Satan but are more afraid of that thing in their pants. Whatever Laughton's personal issues were and where they came from, he was a brilliant artist who did a magnificent job of throwing that hypocrisy and denial right back in the faces of the people who were pushing it.

[@darnabedwell2115]

@@poetcomic1 I so appreciate your comments about Laughton's sexuality. He had a conscience about his struggles and I was happy to hear how deeply penitent he was at the end of his life. A rare gift he was.

[@elizabethcsicsery-ronay1633]

@@poetcomic1 He was homosexual, not even bi. The rest is probably true.

[@greenman6141]

the presenter gets so so so much wrong. Laughton wasn't inspired by Griffiths, but by German Expressionist films. Gish's being in the film is entirely unrelated. She asked to audition. Laughton was not enthusiastic about the idea before meeting her. The widows the preacher marries and murders aren't remotely "rich". They're poor are church mice. He says, as he drives along, that one had her savings in a sugar bowl. That means a pathetic few notes and coins. The point is he is preying upon them in their desperation and murdering them for a few dollars.