The Night of the Hunter (1955)

Calificación de los usuarios:

8.2/10   

Director:

Charles Laughton
(más)

Escritores:

Davis Grubb (novel)
James Agee (screenplay)
(más)

Fecha de Lanzamiento:

24 noviembre 1955 (Argentina)

Género:

Drama | Cine Negro | Suspenso

Frase comercial:

The wedding night, the anticipation, the kiss, the knife, BUT ABOVE ALL... THE SUSPENSE!

Plot:

A religious fanatic marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real daddy hid $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery.

Plot Keywords:

Money | Widow | Children | Preacher | Hymn

Premios:

1 win

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Overwhelming

Reparto

Robert Mitchum	...	Harry Powell
Shelley Winters	...	Willa Harper
Lillian Gish	...	Rachel Cooper
James Gleason	...	Birdie Steptoe
Evelyn Varden	...	Icey Spoon
Peter Graves	...	Ben Harper
Don Beddoe	...	Walt Spoon
Billy Chapin	...	John Harper
Sally Jane Bruce	...	Pearl Harper
Gloria Castillo	...	Ruby (as Gloria Castilo)
listado alfabético del resto del reparto:
Corey Allen	...	Young Man in Town (uncredited)
Paul Bryar	...	Bart the Hangman (uncredited)
Cheryl Callaway	...	Mary (uncredited)
Michael Chapin	...	Ruby's Boyfriend (uncredited)
Mary Ellen Clemons	...	Clary (uncredited)
Kathy Garver	...	Child (uncredited)
James Griffith	...	District Attorney (uncredited)
John Hamilton	...	Townsman Who Greets Rachel (uncredited)
Kay Lavelle	...	Cunninghan, Miz (uncredited)
Gloria Pall	...	Burlesque Dancer (uncredited)
George Wallace	...	(uncredited)

Dirigida por
Charles Laughton
Robert Mitchum		(uncredited)

Créditos del guión
Davis Grubb		(novel)
James Agee		(screenplay)
Charles Laughton		screenplay contributor (uncredited)

Producida por
Paul Gregory	....	producer

Música original por
Walter Schumann		(music by)

Fotografía por
Stanley Cortez		(photography by)

Montaje por
Robert Golden

Casting
Millie Gusse		(uncredited)

Dirección artística
Hilyard M. Brown		(as Hilyard Brown)

Decorados
Alfred E. Spencer		(as Al Spencer)

Departamento de maquillaje
Don L. Cash	....	makeup artist (as Don Cash)
Kay Shea	....	hair stylist

Dirección de producción
Ruby Rosenberg	....	production manager
Frank Parmenter	....	production manager: second unit (uncredited)

Ayudante de dirección
Milton Carter	....	assistant director
Frank Parmenter	....	second unit director (uncredited)
Terry Sanders	....	second unit director (uncredited)
Jack Sonntag	....	first assistant director (uncredited)

Departamento de Arte
Joe LaBella	....	property man (as Joe La Bella)

Departamento de sonido
Stanford Houghton	....	sound (as Stanford Naughton)

Efectos especiales
Louis DeWitt	....	special photographic effects (as Louis De Witt)
Jack Rabin	....	special photographic effects

Cámara y Departamento Eléctrico
Seymour Hoffberg	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Harold E. Wellman	....	camera: second unit (uncredited)

Departamento de vestuario
Jerry Bos	....	wardrobe
Evelyn Carruth	....	assistant wardrobe

Departamento de Música
Arthur Morton	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Otros miembros del equipo
Saul Bass	....	publicist (uncredited)
Robert Mitchum	....	director: children (uncredited)
Denis Sanders	....	unspecified assistant (uncredited)
Terry Sanders	....	unspecified assistant (uncredited)

Compañías Productores

• Paul Gregory Productions (presents)

Distribuidores

• United Artists (1955) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures Corporation (1955) (UK) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1956) (France) (theatrical)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1991) (USA) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1994) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• BFI Films (1999) (UK) (theatrical) (re-release)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Filmmuseum Distributie (2007) (Netherlands) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical) (35mm print)
• Criterion Collection, The (19??) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Warner Home Vídeo (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)

También conocida como:

La noche del cazador (Argentina) (Mexico) (Spain) [es]

Duración:

92 min

País:

USA

Idioma:

Inglés

Color:

Negro y Blanco

Relación de Aspecto:

1.66 : 1

Sonido:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Clasificación:

Finland:K-16 (1959) (cut) | South Korea:15 (2003) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:14A (video rating) | Finland:(Banned) (1955) | Norway:16 | Portugal:M/12 | Sweden:15 | UK:12 | USA:Approved (certificate #17385) | West Germany:12 | UK:X (original rating)

Locaciones de Filmación:

CBS Studio Center - 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Compañía:

Paul Gregory Productions

Trivialidades:

Robert Mitchum was very eager for the part of the preacher. When he auditioned, a moment that particularly impressed Charles Laughton was when Laughton described the character as "a diabolical shit." Mitchum promptly answered, "Present!"

Errores:

Continuidad: In the basement scene, John pulled down the overhead shelf with the jam or oils pouring over Harry's hairs and shoulders. In the following shot when Harry is trying to grab at John and Pearl, his hairdo remained its normal form without drops of oils or jam on them.

Citas:

Rachel Cooper: John - ain't you going to say hello to your pa?
John Harper: He's not my pa!
Rachel Cooper: No, and he ain't no preacher neither!

Conexiones de Película:

Referenced in The Onion Field (1979)

Banda de Sonido:

Once Upon a Time There Was a Pretty Fly (Lullaby)

Overwhelming

I was lucky enough to see this in a cinema with a restored print. I had previously caught a snatch of it while channel surfing cable TV, and saw enough in about 30 seconds to realise that this was worth watching through if I got the chance.

I could barely speak at the end of the film. Pauline Kael called it one of the scariest movies ever made, and she was absolutely right. Robert Mitchum becomes the embodiment of evil, and his pursuit of the children is so relentless, and so menacing, that it becomes impossible to believe that they can escape. The images are brilliant; there's a depth to black and white that colour somehow lacks, and it is used superbly here to create a sense of brooding terror.

I didn't mind the homily at the end. Like everything else in the film, it is done with utter conviction, and this makes it work. Charles Laughton saw it as the indispensable conclusion to the film, and the strength of his belief makes it indispensable.

The images are so much part of the film that it must lose a great deal on the small screen, although my minimal exposure to it in that environment showed that it was still well worth watching, but if you get a chance to see it in a cinema, jump at it.