The Night of the Hunter

The Night of the Hunter is a 1955 American thriller film directed by Charles Laughton. It is actually based on a novel by Davis Grubb. It is exciting, beautiful, and the fact it is in black and white makes it that much more bone-chilling. It is one of the few films from the 50's that has still remained relevant and is referred to when learning about cinema. Funny enough, at the time of its release, it actually did very poorly. It was considered so odd and against the grain of normal cinema that it was highly rejected by the public. So badly, in fact, that Laughton decided to never direct another movie.

Absolutely terrifying shot of the family home.

This classic film is about Harry Powell, self appointed reverend turned serial killer who travels around the country, luring unsuspecting widows to marry him. He then proceeds to kill them and take their money, believing he is doing "God's work." He is however arrested and thrown in jail for driving a stolen car. His cellmate is Ben Harper, who killed two men during a bank robbery. Before his arrest, however, Harper entrusted his children with the secret of where he hid the money from the robbery. Powell tries to extract the knowledge of where the money is hidden from his cellmate, but gets nowhere. Harper is then executed for his crimes, and Powell is released, and spends the rest of the movie getting close to the family in order to find the loot.

An important cinematic element to note about the film is how its setting is invented outside of conventional realism. The town where the film takes place seems almost too perfect, but yet distorted and you get the impression that despite its "Christmas card" looking appearance, something is drastically wrong. The family house looks too small to be lived in and is composed of odd angles. It is evident that it is inspired by German expressionist filmmaking. A lot of the scenes aren't made to look real, for example, when the children are on the boat escaping from Powell, they are surrounded by a sky filled with overly-bright stars. Each scene has a very unsettling and nightmarish quality about it, adding to the effect.

The children making their escape.

Powell's character is like a real life boogeyman in the film as he torments the children in order to find their father's stashed money. In fact, it is filmed in a way that relates to nightmares, in which no matter how fast the children run to escape, the evil man chasing them manages to keep his pace and find them. There is one scene where the street lamp casts a the terrifying shadow of Powell across the walls of the children's bedroom, just like something straight out of a nightmare. Music is also used as a motif with Powell's character, where whenever he enters a room there seems to be a sort of eerie hymn. Not to mention in the river scene where Powell loses the children, his scream becomes distorted in an almost demonic way.

It is also very interesting to note Powell's character progression throughout the movie. At the beginning, when he is first introduced to the town, he is very well loved and no one could suspect him of anything sinister. However, as the film continues, he breaks bit by bit. It becomes obvious that he can no longer hold his holy and calm composure even though he is so close to finding the money. He kills Willa, threatens the lives of the children, is faced in a stand-off against Rachel (who can see right through his demeanor). The film ultimately ends with his arrest, and in fact, an entire band of townspeople looking to lynch "Satan hiding behind the cross." We never entirely learn what happens to Rachel and the children though, but we can determine our own happily-ever-after ending, if we so choose.

Did someone say lynch-mob?

Symbolism is also a major part of the film. There are often clips from nature inserted. Some examples are foxes prowling around and an owl attacking a rabbit. This plays two roles in the film: one is to show how unrelenting Powell is, much like nature itself. The other is how Powell is stalking his prey, which is Willa and the money. Lighting also plays a major role. Because the film is in black and white, the use of bright white lightening is often used to foreshadow or show purity and innocence against the stark darkness of Powell's character (who appears as a dark shadow). For example, Willa is framed by a light while lying in bed.

Personally, as interesting as I thought this movie was, I couldn't grasp a few things. One of the major problems was just how strangely and irrationally John behaves. John is wary of Powell's character the entire movie, but during the scene where he and his sister escape from Powell down at the river, he immediately falls asleep as the boat catches a current and floats off. He suddenly just becomes careless. This is absolutely ridiculous because he isn't even that far away from Powell. Only moments before, he was so frantic to escape, but yet he doesn't even look to see if Powell is going to swim after him, get his own boat, or find another way to pursue him. I feel like it's a very bad time for a nap and makes no sense. But other than that, I don't really have an quarries with the film. It was overall pretty enjoyable, and I wish that Laughton had've continued his directing career because I would've been really interested to see what else he could do.

Works Cited:

Barsam, Richard Meran, and Dave Monahan. Looking at Movies: An Introduction to Film. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2010. Print.

The Night of the Hunter. Dir. Charles Laughton, Perf. Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish. 1955. Film.

"The Night of the Hunter (film)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 03 June 2014. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.

All images were found on google.