‘Night of the Hunter’ is a chilling film noir thriller, featuring Robert Mitchum in the iconic role of psychopathic, serial killing preacher, arguably his best performance, ever. It is the only Movie directed by legendary actor, Charles Laughton.

The movie is a thrill ride from the beginning to ‘almost’ its ending. (More on that later.) The plot is laced with nursery rhyme references, poems, fairy tales and scripture sometimes just as they are and sometimes implicitly references and sometimes metaphors for the plot’s narrative. Laughton himself said of the movie, “It’s really a nightmarish sort of Mother Goose tale we are telling,”

The movie opens with a middle aged woman (later to be revealed as Rachel Cooper, a caretaker of orphaned children) , delivering a sermon to the Children. “Beware of false prophets who come to you ins sheep’s clothing”, she says, an ominous warning of things to come.

The scene changes to a field where a group of young kids discover the corpse of a woman. The scene changes again and we a man in a hat and dressed with clergy clothes, riding a convertible, and asking God if he will again find a rich widow. He then hatefully curses about “Things with laces”.

The man is revealed to be Reverend Harry Powell(Robert Mitchum) and is seen watching a cabaret. Powell is arrested right then for stealing an automobile and ordered to spend 30 days in prison.

Meanwhile a young boy and his little sister are accosted by their father, Ben Harper (Peter Graves) , a man on a lam. Harper has murdered two people and hides a loot of $10000 in the presence of his young son, John. He asks his son to swear not to reveal the location of this loot to anyone and to take care of his younger sister, Pearl.

Just then his wife Willa(Shirley Winters), appears on the scene and so does the law. Harper is arrested, given the death penalty and thrown into prison. Harper ends up sharing a cell with Powell, for the rest of his few days until he is to hang for his crimes.

It is here that we get a glimpse of Powell’s hands. The word “Love” is tattooed the fingers of one hand and the other hand has the word “Hate” on it.

Despite Powell’s best efforts to extract the location of Harper’s loot, the latter takes this secret with him, to his grave. Powell, now obsessed with getting his hands on the loot, travels to Harper’s home town.

Laughton now places a metaphor in the plot, an obvious metaphor for what happens in the past. John and Pearl, the late Harper’s children are seen with some boys who sing a nursery rhyme,

Hing hang hung,

See what the hangman done

Hing hang hung

See the robber swing

Laughton throws in a scare at this stage. John is seen telling young Pearl a story about buried treasure when a frightening silhouette of a man is seen on the wall. As John pacifies his terrified sister, the silhouette is revealed to belong Powell, who is ‘casing’ the joint.

Powell charms his way into the community and marries Harper’s widow, Willa. Soon he shows his true colors, mistreating Willa and terrorizing John to reveal the location of the hidden loot.

Powell refused to consummate the marriage with Willa. Soon Willa overhears Powell threaten not only John but even young Pearl. She is despondent and withdraws into herself, when Powell soon stabs her to death. He ties the corpse to a car that he pushes into a river that runs across the town.

He sells the narrative that Willa abandoned him and the children and skipped town to Willa’s friends. With no restriction between him and the children, Powell terrorizes John and Pearl by taking them to a dark basement. He even threatens to kill John with a knife. Just as he where the money has been hidden, John manages to knock out the vicious preacher and escapes with Willa after locking Powell in the basement. This is an allusion to the tale on Hansel and Gretel.

Brandishing a knife the reverend pursues the children who escape on a boat on the river.

This is a beautiful extended scene with John steering the boat across the river with visuals of birds, frogs rabbits and snakes. The Preacher is not done and is hot on the trail of these children. Charles Laughton uses many elements of German Expressionism in this part.

One of the most heartbreaking scenes in the movie is of the boat when an innocent Pearl signs a nursery rhyme when an exhausted John lies near her.

Soon John and Pearl find shelter with the middle age lady we saw in the opening scene. She is revealed to be Rachel Cooper(Lillian Gish), a kind hearted soul who cares for destitute children.

At this part, she compares the kids journey across the river and being discovered by her to baby Moses being discovered by the Egyptian Queen. The Preacher soon find out that the kids stay with her.

Is she able to save the kids from the clutches of the vicious homicidal preacher? That question is answered by the rest of the plot. The plot is gripping until this part and unfortunately, I felt that Laughton dropped the ball at this point. The narrative and cinematography and incorporation of fairy tales and poetry and scripture along with German Expressionism was all ingenious. Laughton is a master story teller and the narration is ingenious.

However, the standoff between Powell and Rachel are not very convincing. How a woman with a short gun could stop a relentless and brazen criminal like Powell is simply beyond me. Another slip up in the plot is when Powell actually tells Rachel that he will be back at nightfall to get the kids. The end seems to be rushed and come across as tame.

Having said that, the performers of all the lead thespians, the fast plot and all the positive aspects of this film still make it a masterpiece. This is a unique movie in American cinema and there has been none like it.

It is unfortunate that this movie bombed on release and would affect Laughton so badly. Night of the Hunter is his rise and fall. It drew criticism from many religious organizations for its negative portrayal of a holy man.

However, over the decades, the movie has drawn enormous fanfare and is considered one of the greatest movies ever made.

There is also some dark humor in the plot. The initial scene where Powell has a one sided conversation with his God asking for a Widow and thanking him for all that was given to him was morbidly funny. There is one scene at the end where he is waiting in the dark for an opportunity to enter Rachel’s home and get to John and Pearl. Suddenly he starts signing hymns and unexpectedly. Rachel, who is guarding the children, shotgun in hand joins in the singing. This is another memorable scene.

Robert Mitchum carries most of the movie with his strong and powerful performance of the homicidal God man. At one moment he can be charming and at another he can be deliciously evil. Shirley Winters puts in a good performance as the helpless victimized wife, Willa.

Lillian Gish also puts in a great performance as Rachel Cooper, a woman of strong faith and character with immense kindness but fearless to standup to the most vicious of men. Night of the Hunter will be considered a masterpiece in film making in years to come.

The theme of the evil maniac pretending to be a man of God appears like a ominous prophesy that comes from far more innocent times. All in all, this is not a movie to be missed.

References

Deep Focus Review

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/909-the-night-of-the-hunter