The Night of the Hunter (1955)

Director:

Charles Laughton
(más)

Writers:

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

Release Date:

24 noviembre 1955 (Argentina)

Genre:

Drama | Film-Noir | Thriller

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:

Maniac | Oedipus Complex | Money | Executioner | Widow

Awards:

1 win

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Overwhelming

Cast

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:
George Wallace
Corey Allen	...	Macijah Blake, young man in town (uncredited)
Paul Bryar	...	Bart, prison guard (uncredited)
Cheryl Callaway	...	Mary (uncredited)
Michael Chapin	...	Ruby's boyfriend (uncredited)
Mary Ellen Clemons	...	Clary (uncredited)
Kathy Garver	...	Child (uncredited)
John Hamilton	...	Townsman who greets Rachel (uncredited)
Gloria Pall	...	Dancer (uncredited)

Dirigida por
Charles Laughton
Robert Mitchum		(uncredited)

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

Producida por
Paul Gregory	....	producer

Música original por
Walter Schumann

Fotografía por
Stanley Cortez		(director of photography)

Montaje por
Robert Golden

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

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)

Art Department
Joe LaBella	....	property master (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

Camera and Electrical Department
Seymour Hoffberg	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Jerry Bos	....	wardrobe
Evelyn Carruth	....	assistant wardrobe

Music Department
Arthur Morton	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

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

Production Companies

• Paul Gregory Productions

Distributors

• United Artists (1955) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures Corporation (1955) (UK) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1956) (France) (theatrical)
• 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)
• Filmmuseum Distributie (2007) (Netherlands) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Criterion Collection, The (19??) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Vídeo (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)

También conocida como:

Noche del cazador, La (Argentina) (Mexico) (Spain) [es]

Duración:

93 min

País:

USA

Idioma:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sonido:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Clasificación:

South Korea:15 (2003) | Finland:K-16 (1959) (cut) | 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)

Filming Locations:

Moundsville, West Virginia, USA

Company:

Paul Gregory Productions

Trivialidades:

Jane Darwell had been suggested for the role of Rachel. However, Charles Laughton held out for Lillian Gish, as he had been a lifelong admirer of her work.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When John and Pearl are in the barn at dusk, there is a time-lapse sequence of the crescent moon rising. A crescent moon shortly after sunset is always setting and the lit portion should be tilted toward the point where the sun has recently set.

Quotes:

[repeated line]
Rev. Harry Powell: [singing] Leaning... leaning... safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning... leaning... leaning on the everlasting arms.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Big Lebowski (1998)

Soundtrack:

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.