The Night of the Hunter

Abstract

[...]we get a 30-page liner notes booklet featuring essays by critics Terrence Rafferty and Michael Sragow. [...]The Night of the Hunter has been given a release that is worthy of it and Harry Powell is back amongst us, as he promised; "you haven't heard the last of Harry Powell yet.

The Night of the Hunter

(Dir. Charles Laughton) USA 1955

Criterion (November, 2010)

Reviewing The Night of the Hunter is like reviewing a Grimm Brothers' fairytale. It's mythic, it's monumental, it's so a part of the collective consciousness that telling people about it seems utterly redundant. So what am I doing it for? Well, there's always an outside chance that some unfortunate individuals out there have not, as yet, experienced what director Charles Laughton referred to as his "nightmarish... Mother Goose tale." To those individuals I would simply state, get it now, skip the next few meals if you have to, but get it now. To those who have seen the film, I say, get this new Criterion version now, skip the next few meals....etc.

As if in penance for the film's resounding critical and commercial failure upon its release in 1955, The Night of the Hunter has, in more recent times, received acclaim from every quarter. In 1992, the United States Library of Congress deemed the film to be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in its National Film Registry. It was rated #34 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills ranking, and #90 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments. In a 2007 listing of the 100 Most Beautiful Films, Cahiers du cinéma ranked The Night of the Hunter No. 2. It is among the top ten in the BFI list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14. It ranked as the 71st greatest movie of all time on Empire Magazine's 500 Greatest Films list. And Robert Mitchum's Harry Powell was ranked No. 29 in the villains column in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains. Impressive? Well, I suppose, but when you consider that these same lists include the likes of The Barefoot Contessa (Dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1954), Arthur (Dir. Steve Gordon, 1981), Forrest Gump (Dir. Robert Zemeckis, 1994), Heat (Dir. Michael Mann, 1995) and Billy Elliot (Dir. Stephen Daldry, 2000), one is reminded how pointless and inane such interminable list-making is.

I can't help but wonder how Charles Laughton would feel about all this. Along with, presumably, thinking it was a bit late in the day for such accolades, I think Laughton would be really quite tickled. At the time of the film's release Laughton was known as a distinguished and mildly eccentric actor in films such as The Old Dark House (Dir. James Whale, 1932), Island of Lost Souls (Dir. Erle C. Kenton, 1933), The Private Life of Henry VIII. (Dir. Alexander Korda, 1933), Ruggles of Red Gap (Dir. Leo McCarey, 1935), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Dir. William Dieterle, 1939), The Big Clock (Dir. John Farrow, 1948) and Hobson's Choice (Dir. David Lean, 1954). He invested a tremendous amount of heart and soul into the project, which was his first attempt at directing, and when it bombed he never directed again. If sources close to him (including his wife, Elsa Lanchester) are to be believed, and I don't see why not, Laughton was devastated by the poor response.

It's not difficult to see why the film was so poorly received upon its initial release. It's a lyrical, expressionistic, beautiful, and highly original work. In other words, it's art, and the American cinema-going public don't like art on their movie screens - it belongs in galleries, not places of entertainment. Most film critics aren't too keen on art either, unless it limits itself to the "artistry" of technical innovation.

I'm reluctant to offer a plot synopsis, for the reason stated at the beginning of this review but I will, if only a very brief one. It's West Virginia in the 1930s. Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) is a woman-hater; he hates "perfume-smellin' things, lacy things, things with curly hair". Posing as a preacher, 'Reverend' Powell seeks out lonely women (widows "with a little wad of bills hid away in a sugar bowk'), murders them and steals their money. While in prison for the theft of a car, Powell discovers that his cellmate, Ben Harper (Peter Graves), has hidden $10,000 from his last robbery. Harper is executed and, upon his release from prison, Powell seeks out, woos and eventually marries his cellmate's widow, Willa (Shelley Winters), in the hope that he will discover where Harper hid the money. Powell becomes convinced that Willa's children, John (Billy Chapin) and Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce), know the whereabouts of the money and he persistently and menacingly questions them about it, "and the little child shall lead them". Willa eventually discovers Powell's intentions and he murders her. The children go "a runnin"' and Powell embarks on a hunt for them. When the destitute children find refuge in the home of Rachel Cooper (Lillian Gish), a tiny but tough old woman who looks after stray children (outcasts of the Great Depression), they discover her to be an invaluable protector and the first truly dependable adult they have known. When the 'Preacher' appears at her door, to reclaim his little ones, Rachel immediately sees Harry Powell for what he really is and the battle between Good and Evil begins.

As one commentator has phrased it, The Night of the Hunter is "cinema's most eccentric rendering of the battle between good and evil". Its story, like a twisted fairytale, paints its figures large and with little regard for realism. But, like a fairytale or a child's nightmare, the film has its own inherent reality and truth. Told from a child's point of view, The Night of the Hunter speaks of childhood fears and fantasies: the difficultly of keeping a secret, the vulnerability and confusion of living in an adult world, the bonds (both good and bad) of family, and the longing for a magical journey which will lead to safety. Like a fairytale or, indeed, a Biblical story, Laughton's film deals with elemental dualities: God and the Devil, heaven and earth (or Hell), male and female, light and dark, good and evil, knowingness and innocence.

Stylistically, the film owes a debt to German Expressionism, with surreal sets, bizarre shadows, unusual camera angles and distorted perspectives, all of which echo and resonate with the film's narrative and thematic concerns. In keeping with the Biblical or fable-like quality of the story, much of the acting and dialogue is stylized with more than a touch of American Southern Gothic. The acting has also been referred to as Brechtian. Laughton had worked closely with Brecht on the American stage version of his play Galileo, playing the title role, as well as editing and translating the play along with Brecht. The Night of the Hunters connection to Southern Gothic can also be found in its origins; it is based on Davis Grubb's 1953 novel of the same name, and adapted for the screen by James Agee. But these Southern Gothic origins go even further than this; Grubb's plot was based on the true story of Harry Powers, who was hanged in 1932 for the murders of two widows and three children in Moundsville, West Virginia. Known as the West Virginia or the Appalachian Bluebeard, Powers lured his victims through 'Lonely Hearts' ads saying he was looking for love, but in reality he had the intentions of taking these women's money and then murdering them. Echoed in scenes in Grubb's novel, which would also become apart of the film, the crime scene of Powers' murders was a basement (four rooms under a garage), where bloody matted hair and clothing, a partially burnt bank book and a small bloody footprint of a child were discovered. During his imprisonment a mob surrounded the jail where Powers was held demanding he be lynched.

The most notable and powerful addition that the novel and, subsequently the film, made to this real-life Southern Gothic story is the theme of religion. Based in the Bible Belt during the Great Depression, in an environment of socially conservative evangelical Protestantism, the story of Harry Powell is far more than the story of a bogus preacher, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves." Powell does not simply don the clothes and manners of a religious man to disguise his true intentions; he practices and believes in a warped form of religion, "The religion the Almighty and me worked out betwixt us". What is immediately clear is that, through religion, Powell has discovered a path and a justification for his murderous hatred of women. Using religion as a template for his twisted sexual desires, Powell finds, within the pages of the Bible, both a validation and a language for his profound hatred, "You whores of Babylon!"

But The Night of the Hunter (novel and film) complicates this dark depiction of religion with the character of Rachel Cooper, who uses her knowledge and understanding of the Bible to practice acceptance and love, and instil these same values in the children under her care. Thus, the struggle between good and evil is not to be found in the characters' acceptance or rejection of certain moral teachings but in the way they have interpreted them and applied them to their lives, "by their fruits you will know them."

During Mitchum's 'audition' (Laughton didn't really audition his actors, he talked with them and instinctively knew who would work in the part), Laughton described 'The Preacher' as "a diabolical shit", to which Mitchum shouted back, "Present!" Indeed, Mitchum seems so right in the role of Harry Powell, it's nigh on impossible to imagine that at one point Laurence Olivier was considered for the part. The scene in which Mitchum tells "the little story of Right Hand-Left Hand - the story of good and evil", wrestling his interlocking hands (the knuckles tattooed with the "G-O-O-D" and "E-V-I-L"), is one of cinema's most delectably iconic moments.

Taking into consideration the amount of commentators that have referred to the film and, in particular Mitchum's performance, as terrifying, some viewers may be bewildered by what could be construed as the actor's playful, occasionally even hokey and slapstick, performance (especially as the narrative reaches its close). But this rendering is in keeping with the highly stylized nature of the entire film. More specifically, it is in keeping with the black humour of Southern Gothic and its fable-like quality. In this film, as in many fables, the figure of evil is a dissembler and once he has lost his power to trick people, he rapidly becomes an object of ridicule. It should be noted that while Mitchum is magnificent as Harry Powell, Shelley Winters and Lillian Gish are equally brilliant, as the gullible and slightly unhinged young widow Willa and the benevolent and fearless matriarch Rachel, respectively. The children, played by Billy Chapin and Sally Jane Bruce, are wonderful. They carry you with them every step of the way; their world is your world. You share their fears and hopes, and come to understand exactly what Rachel means when she observes, "Children are humanity's strongest. They abide... and they endure."

This Criterion edition of The Night of the Hunter (both on DVD and Blu-Ray) looks and sounds exceptional. Stanley Cortez's stark and poetic cinematography looks stunning and the film's score, composed and arranged by Walter Schumann (in close association with Laughton), has never sounded better. Considering that, before this release, DVDs of The Night of the Hunter had nothing but a trailer as an extra, this Criterion edition of the film is an absolute joy. It is literally stacked with treats. We get an excellent audio commentary featuring second-unit director Terry Sanders, film critic L.X. Leeney, archivist Robert Gift, and author Preston Neal Jones. There is also a new documentary, featuring interviews with producer Paul Gregory, Sanders, Leeney, Jones, and author Jeffrey Couchman, and a new video interview with Laughton biographer Simon Callow. We also get a clip from The Ed Sullivan Show, 1955, in which cast members perform a scene deleted from the film. There is a 15-minute episode of the BBC show Moving Pictures about the film, an archival interview (1984) with cinematographer Stanley Cortez, and a gallery of wonderful sketches by author Davis Grubb. But best of all, this Criterion edition contains a two-and-half hour documentary, 'Charles Laughton Directs The Night of the Hunter. Restored and edited, over a 20 year period, by film archivists Robert Gift and Anthony Slide, from over 80,000 feet of rushes and outtakes that Laughton had lovingly kept, this is a breathtaking treasure trove of outtakes, 'rushes', and behind-the-scenes footage. To accompany this, there is a new 17-minute video conversation between Gift and film critic Leonard Maltin about the documentary and the discovery and restoration of the material used to make it. Lastly, we get a 30-page liner notes booklet featuring essays by critics Terrence Rafferty and Michael Sragow. Criterion are well known for the high standard of supplements included with their releases, but they have outdone themselves with this incredible selection of extra features. Finally, The Night of the Hunter has been given a release that is worthy of it and Harry Powell is back amongst us, as he promised; "you haven't heard the last of Harry Powell yet. The Lord God Jehovah will guide my hand in vengeance. Devil! You whores of Babylon! I'll be back, when it's dark/'

Elizabeth McCarthy