12 Days of Criterion Christmas
December 23, 2011
Film Info
- United States
- 1955
- 93 minutes
- Black and White
- 1.66:1
- English
- Spine #541
The Night of the Hunter—incredibly, the only film the great actor Charles Laughton ever directed—is truly a stand-alone masterwork. A horror movie with qualities of a Grimm fairy tale, it stars a sublimely sinister Robert Mitchum as a traveling preacher named Harry Powell (he of the tattooed knuckles), whose nefarious motives for marrying a fragile widow, played by Shelley Winters, are uncovered by her terrified young children. Graced by images of eerie beauty and a sneaky sense of humor, this ethereal, expressionistic American classic—also featuring the contributions of actress Lillian Gish and writer James Agee—is cinema’s most eccentric rendering of the battle between good and evil.
Cast
| Preacher Harry Powell | Robert Mitchum |
| Willa Harper | Shelley Winters |
| Miss Cooper | Lillian Gish |
| Uncle Birdie Steptoe | James Gleason |
| Icey Spoon | Evelyn Varden |
| Ben Harper | Peter Graves |
| Mr. Spoon | Don Beddoe |
| John Harper | Billy Chapin |
| Pearl Harper | Sally Jane Bruce |
| Ruby | Gloria Castillo |
Credits
| Director | Charles Laughton |
| From the novel by | Davis Grubb |
| Screenplay | James Agee |
| Music | Walter Schumann |
| Photography | Stanley Cortez |
| Art direction | Hilyard Brown |
| Editing | Robert Golden |
Disc Features
- New digital transfer made from 35 mm film elements restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive in cooperation with MGM Studios, with funding provided by the Film Foundation and Robert Sturm, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
- Audio commentary featuring second-unit director Terry Sanders, film critic F. X. Feeney, archivist Robert Gitt, and author Preston Neal Jones
- Charles Laughton Directs “The Night of the Hunter,” a two-and-a-half-hour treasure trove of outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage
- New documentary featuring interviews with producer Paul Gregory, Sanders, Feeney, Jones, and author Jeffrey Couchman
- New video interview with Laughton biographer Simon Callow
- Clip from the The Ed Sullivan Show in which cast members perform a scene deleted from the film
- Fifteen-minute episode of the BBC show Moving Pictures about the film
- Archival interview with cinematographer Stanley Cortez
- Gallery of sketches by author Davis Grubb, author of the source novel
- New video conversation between Gitt and film critic Leonard Maltin about Charles Laughton Directs
- Original theatrical trailer
- PLUS: A booklet featuring new essays by critics Terrence Rafferty and Michael Sragow
New cover by Eric Skillman
Current Posts
Photo Galleries
Photo Galleries
Video
Video
Film Essays
Downriver and Heavenward with James Agee
By November 18, 2010
In Charles Laughton’s The Night of the Hunter, terror and tenderness grapple with each other . . . Read more »
Film Essays
The Night of the Hunter: Holy Terror
By November 16, 2010
The Night of the Hunter (1955)—the first film directed by Charles Laughton and also, sadly, . . . Read more »
Film Essays
The Night of the Hunter
By February 01, 1988
“It’s really a nightmarish sort of Mother Goose tale we are telling,” Charles Laughton has . . . Read more »
Film Essays
Downriver and Heavenward with James Agee
By November 18, 2010
In Charles Laughton’s The Night of the Hunter, terror and tenderness grapple with each other . . . Read more »
Film Essays
The Night of the Hunter: Holy Terror
By November 16, 2010
The Night of the Hunter (1955)—the first film directed by Charles Laughton and also, sadly, . . . Read more »
Film Essays
The Night of the Hunter
By February 01, 1988
“It’s really a nightmarish sort of Mother Goose tale we are telling,” Charles Laughton has . . . Read more »
Photo Galleries
Photo Galleries
Video
Video
Clippings
Powers’s Picks
December 03, 2010
’Tis the season for DVD gift guides, and critic John Powers is quick out of the gate with a . . . Read more »
Press Notes
Press Notes: The Night of the Hunter
November 19, 2010
It’s easy to forget that audiences and critics were baffled by Charles Laughton’s The Night of . . . Read more »
Film Essays
Downriver and Heavenward with James Agee
By November 18, 2010
In Charles Laughton’s The Night of the Hunter, terror and tenderness grapple with each other . . . Read more »
Film Essays
The Night of the Hunter: Holy Terror
By November 16, 2010
The Night of the Hunter (1955)—the first film directed by Charles Laughton and also, sadly, . . . Read more »
Clippings
Slate Goes A-Huntin’
November 10, 2010
In a new article for Slate, critic Elbert Ventura digs insightfully into what makes Charles . . . Read more »
Film Essays
The Night of the Hunter
By February 01, 1988
“It’s really a nightmarish sort of Mother Goose tale we are telling,” Charles Laughton has . . . Read more »
