Beloved stage and screen actor Charles Laughton only directed a single film, which was received so badly upon its release that he never made another. However, it enjoyed a great critical reappraisal over the years, and "The Night of the Hunter" is now widely considered one of the best American films ever made. It's a Southern Gothic chiller brought to life through German Expressionism, featuring one of Robert Mitchum's most iconic performances. Its distinctive visuals are an homage to silent films - but unfortunately "The Night of the Hunter" was made in the 1950s, an era where nobody wanted anything to do with silent films.
The story unfolds like a fairy tale, told largely from the perspective of two children who hold a dangerous secret. The setting is a small town in West Virginia during the Great Depression. The wolf at their door is the evil, murderous preacher Harry Powell, best remembered for the tattoos of "Love" and "Hate" across his knuckles. Mitchum makes Powell calculating and intimidating and very, very charismatic. His seduction tactics are rough and unpolished, but the traumatized and deeply religious widow played by Shelly Winters doesn't stand a chance. All too soon they're married, and the evil preacher is now the evil stepfather as well. The townsfolk fall for his oratory, and soon the children have no one left to protect them. There was a lot of concern around Powell being perceived as too much of an anti-Christian presence onscreen, and at least one other major star turned down the role for being too villainous. Mitchum, however, needed no convincing, and Harry Powell may still be the character he's best remembered for.
There's a starkness and a simplicity to the film that is absolutely riveting. Many of the suspense sequences have little to no dialogue, or are driven by Walter Schumann's score. The child's eye view of the world and heavy use of religious and natural symbolism set the scene for a battle between good and evil in the most elemental terms. As Powell puts it, it's the little story of right-hand/left-hand. Laughton uses multiple silent film techniques and fills the screen with older cinematic devices and macabre Expressionistic imagery that had largely gone out of style in the sound era. The black and white cinematography relays the story in light and shadows, and in some key scenes the characters are only visible as silhouettes. So much of the storytelling is done through the shot compositions and set design, particularly the night sequences that can make the most idyllic settings seem eerie and threatening. Huge portions of the screen are allowed to be totally dark, creating the opportunity for images with these dramatic, gorgeous contrasts.
One of the most famous scenes involves the reveal of a corpse seated in a car at the bottom of a flowing river, a surreal underwater shot created entirely in a studio by Laughton and cinematographer Stanley Cortez. Other shots feature exaggerated storybook images, achieved with experimental editing tricks and clever stagecraft. At one point the silhouettes of a horse and rider arrive on an impossible horizon, clearly artificial and yet incredibly unnerving. Children's faces appear in the stars, animals watch over the escape on the river, and Harry Powell casts a looming shadow that dwarfs everything in its path. Children's songs and games are a recurring motif, and a framing device shows an old woman telling a group of children a warning fable about the "wolf in sheep's clothing."
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That old woman is Rachel, the only grown-up who sees Harry Powell for exactly what he does, and joins in the fight against him in the last act. She's played by silent film veteran Lilian Gish, toting a rifle as she tells her foundlings Bible stories. She's symbolic of a true Christian winning out over a vile pretender, of good triumphing over evil. Faith is restored, the night ends, and everything is brought out into the daylight. However, the legacy of Harry Powell has persisted through both horror and non-horror cinema, and Charles Laughton is now better known in some circles as a great director than a great actor.
What I've Seen - Charles Laughton
Night of the Hunter (1955)
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