The Night of the Hunter (1955) Pages: ( 1 ) ( 2 ) ( 3 ) Background The Night of the Hunter (1955) is a truly compelling, haunting, and frightening classic masterpiece thriller-fantasy, and the only film ever directed by the great British actor Charles Laughton. The American gothic, Biblical tale of greed, innocence, seduction, sin and corruption was adapted for the screen by famed writer-author James Agee (and Laughton, but without screen credit). Although one of the greatest American films of all time, the imaginatively-chilling, experimental, sophisticated work was idiosyncratic, film noirish, avante garde, dream-like expressionistic and strange, and it was both ignored and misunderstood at the time of its release. Originally, it was a critical and commercial failure. Robert Mitchum gave what some consider his finest performance in a precedent-setting, unpopular, and truly terrifying role as the sleepy-eyed, diabolical, dark-souled, self-appointed serial killer/Preacher with psychotic, murderous tendencies while in pursuit of $10,000 in cash.

Lillian Gish played his opposite - a saintly good woman who provided refuge for the victimized children. The disturbing, complex story was based on the popular, best-selling 1953 Depression-era novel of the same name by first-time writer Davis Grubb, who set the location of his novel in the town of Moundsville, WV, where the West Virginia Penitentiary (also mentioned in the film) was located. Grubb lived in nearby Clarksburg as a young teenager. [Robert Mitchum's role was inspired by the real-life character of Harry Powers, known nationally as "the Bluebeard of Quiet Dell" (outside of Clarksburg) and West Virginia's most famous mass murderer, who was hanged on March 18, 1932, at the West Virginia Penitentiary. Powers was convicted of killing Asta B. Eicher, a widow, along with her three children, and another widow, Dorothy Lemke of Massachusetts in the early 1930s. He may also have killed a traveling salesman.

The menacing figure of The Preacher inspired such characters as The Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) in Phantasm (1979) and (especially) Mr. Dark (Jonathan Pryce) in Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) who similarly stalk their young prey.] In addition, the visual-striking black-white photography of Stanley Cortez (who also shot Welles' black and white The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) ) and the evocative musical score of Walter Schumann (mixing hymns, children's songs, and orchestral music) are exceptional. However, the film was not nominated for a single Academy Award, in a year when the short romantic drama Marty (1955) unaccountably won the Best Picture Oscar. The film's slogan on a major poster proclaimed: "The wedding night, the anticipation, the kiss, the knife. BUT ABOVE ALL...THE SUSPENSE!" The image showed actor Mitchum hugging a distressed Shelley Winters, with the L-O-V-E tattooed hand embracing her back, and the H-A-T-E tattooed hand grasping a knife.

[Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing (1989) referenced the love/hate, left and right hand theme, when Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn) explained the love/hate dichotomy. In The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), LOVE and HATE were tattooed on Eddie's (Meat Loaf) knuckles, and in The Blues Brothers (1980), the two brothers (John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd) have their names tattooed on their knuckles. In The Simpsons episode "Cape Feare", the menacing Sideshow Bob (voice of Kelsey Grammer) had similar tattoos on each set of knuckles as well - but since the characters in the cartoon show had only three fingers and a thumb, the tattoos were humorously "LUV" and "HAT" - (with a bar over the A).] The stylistic film, shot in only thirty-six days - an adult story with children as major characters, was extremely unusual and unpopular for its time for other reasons.

It was black and white (when color was en vogue), shown in standard ratio (when theaters were showing Cinemascope wide-screen films), and it daringly portrayed a perverted, pedophile Preacher as the main protagonist - a villainous, obsessive, homicidal, and misogynous character with repressed sexuality and violence. The high-contrast, melodramatic-horror film with macabre humor deliberately pays tribute to its silent film heritage, and to pioneering director D. W. Griffith in its style (the use of stark, expressionistic black and white cinematography, archaic camera devices such as iris down) and in its casting of Griffith's principal protegé/silent star, the legendary Lillian Gish (in her first film since Portrait of Jennie (1948)). Told with inventive, stylized, timeless and dark film noirish images, symbolism and visual poetry, it blends both a pastoral setting with dream-like creatures, fanatical characters, imperiled children during a river journey, a wicked guardian/adult, and salvation and redemption in the form of a old farm woman, 'fairy godmother' rather than a saintly Bible-totin' Preacher.

In Laughton's words, it was "a nightmarish sort of Mother Goose tale." From its start, the film is designed to have the special feeling of a child's nightmare, including the difficult keeping of a secret, and a magical journey to safety - all told from a child's point of view. It also accentuates the contrasting, elemental dualities within the film: heaven and earth (or under-the-earth), male and female, light and dark, good and evil, knowingness and innocence, and other polarizations including equating the Preacher with the devil. The Story The credits play over a starry night sky (heaven), after which a plain, Bible-fearing farm woman named Rachel (Lillian Gish), dressed in a plain dress with shoulder shawl, magically materializes over the star-filled night background. To her five disembodied foster children around her and suspended in the heavens, she tells a Bible story about false prophets ("ravening wolves") in sheep's clothing, while a chorus sings behind her, "Dream, Little One, Dream": Now, you remember children how I told you last Sunday about the good Lord going up into the mountain and talking to the people.

And how he said, 'Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.' And how he said that King Solomon in all his glory was not as beautiful as the lilies of the field. And I know you won't forget, 'Judge not lest you be judged,' because I explained that to you. And then the good Lord went on to say, 'Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly, they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.' The camera then moves plunges downward to earth to the film's general locale - the Ohio River Valley. The farm landscape is first shown in aerial helicopter shots or from a God's eye-view. There is a wooded area near the banks of a winding river. Children are playing hide-and-seek outside a rural house. Suddenly, one of the children discovers the legs of the corpse of a murdered woman inside a basement entrance, and the other children gather around. The Bible story's lesson continues as the camera pulls back to another high-angle view, recoiling from the murder: A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit. Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Wherefore by their fruits, ye shall know them.

The camera then tracks after an open touring Essex car [stolen], a Model T driven down a country road by a sinister, crazed, malevolent, black-cloaked, wide-brimmed and hatted 'Preacher' Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum), one of the 'false prophets.' In a chilling, perversely evil and memorable monologue to the Lord, the killer-evangelist with borderline sanity, glances heavenward and delivers an insane prayer. He complains that he is "tired" of ridding the world of tempting females [one being the dead body just discovered]. As he drives by a cemetery, he reveals that he is a serial killer who receives divine inspirations to first marry, and then murder and rob women (usually rich lonely widows who do not see the menacing perversity in him): Well now, what's it to be Lord? Another widow? How many has it been? Six? Twelve? I disremember. (He tips his hat.) You say the word, Lord, I'm on my way...You always send me money to go forth and preach your Word. The widow with a little wad of bills hid away in a sugar bowl. Lord, I am tired.

Sometimes I wonder if you really understand. Not that You mind the killin's. Yore Book is full of killin's. But there are things you do hate Lord: perfume-smellin' things, lacy things, things with curly hair. In the next scene, the avenging 'preacher' sits in a burlesque strip show with a stripper in action on stage. He stares with hate in his eyes at the sinful dancer, despising the sexy woman because she arouses his carnal instincts. His left hand, tattooed with the letters "H-A-T-E" on his four fingers, clenches and then reaches in his coat pocket to grab his concealed switchblade knife. As his libido is aroused, the flick-knife spontaneously opens - a sexual phallic symbol - violently and orgasmically ripping out the pocket as he thinks what he might do to the stripper (he would literally open her up with his 'knife') to punish her for tempting him to lustful sin. But then the sexually-repressed Preacher reconsiders: There are too many of them. Can't kill the world.

Suddenly, a long arm of the law grabs him on the shoulder and apprehends him - the hand belongs to a policeman, and with a scene wipe left, 'Preacher' Harry Powell is sentenced before a judge to thirty days in the Moundsville, West Virginia Penitentiary for stealing an auto. The judge is disbelieving: "A man of God? Harry Powell." Another aerial view, the second overhead shot in the film, shows it is rural West Virginia during the height of the Depression in the 1930s. On a flowery lawn in the small riverside town of Cresap's Landing on the Ohio River [a Mark Twain-like environment], a young nine-year old boy John (Billy Chapin) is playing happily with his little sister four-year old Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce) and her doll named Miss Jenny when he sees a car speeding down the road. He cries: "Daddy," and jumps up to meet his father Ben Harper (Peter Graves). He stops suddenly when he sees his agitated father climb out of the car, bleeding from a bullet wound in the shoulder. He is also holding a gun in one hand and a wad of money in the other.

[Harper has robbed a bank of ten thousand dollars to feed his family during hard times, but in his escape killed two people and was wounded.] As police sirens approach closer from the distance, Ben is desperate to conceal the money. He thinks of places to hide his stolen money, almost $10,000: "The rock in the smokehouse, no, the bricks in the grape arbor, no, no, they'll dig for it. Sure. That's the place." He picks a place no one will guess. [Offscreen, the money is stashed inside the body of Pearl's doll.] Then, because he believes that his wife doesn't have "common sense" and won't keep secret the hiding place of the money, he entrusts the knowledge to John. He also has his son swear or promise to be an adult guardian - to take care of and protect his sister, and look after the money: Harper: First, swear you'll take care of little Pearl, guard her with your life, boy. Then, swear you won't never tell where the money's hid, not even your Mom. John: Yes, Dad.

The Night of the Hunter | Best Movies by Farr Best Movies by Farr A valid email address is required. A password of atleast 2 characters is required. Remember Me A valid email address is required. Please provide your First Name. Please provide your Last Name. A password of atleast 2 characters is required. Sign Up By clicking "Sign Up", you agree to Best Movies by Farr's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy . Already have an account? Forgot your Password? Let us know what email you use to login and we'll send you an email with instructions. A valid email address is required. Send A password of atleast 2 characters is required. The password did not match. Change Password The Night of the Hunter Watch it on: What's it About Ben Harper (Graves) hides away $10,000 that he stole during a bank robbery, only revealing its location to his small children John and Pearl (Chapin and Sally Jane Bruce). Eventually caught, Ben is sentenced to death, since two men were killed during the robbery. Ben's prison cellmate is Harry Powell (Mitchum), a psychopathic self-appointed preacher, who encourages Ben to disclose where the money is before meeting his maker.

Failing to do so, on his own release Harry seeks out Ben's family, including his widow Willa (Winters) and the two kids. As to locating that cash, this time Harry won't take "no" for an answer. Why we love it This Gothic suspense/horror entry was actor Charles Laughton's only outing behind the camera, and he was heart-broken when it failed at the box office. Evidently, the film was simply too dark for audiences of the time. Mitchum is terrifying as Preacher Harry, a wolf in sheep's clothing who has the word "Love" tattooed across the knuckles of one hand, "Hate" on the other. Winters is ideally cast as the dim Willa, but the stand-out is silent actress Lillian Gish as gun-toting Rachel Cooper, the kids' unlikely eventual protector. Eerily composed and shot, and featuring a brilliant screenplay by James Agee, "Hunter" remains a spine-chilling masterpiece. Up Next The Night of the Hunter (1955) with Robert Mitchum, Charles Laughton Share This!

“It’s a hard world for little things.” — Rachel Cooper It is perhaps difficult to believe that two such different men, at least from the personas they projected, could come together in 1955 to make a film that was not only unique in its time—silent movie techniques and an allegory of evil—but became an artistic creation both men would regard highly the rest of their lives. The two men were an actor, Robert Mitchum , and an actor-turned-director, Charles Laughton , at least a Hollywood director this one time. Their collaboration was The Night of the Hunter. Mitchum had acquired quite a reputation, and not necessarily a positive one—partly true, partly media exaggeration, partly a careful camouflage of his own making to hide a different self. As the proverbial wild man, he didn’t give a d—— . . . well, put more politely, he didn’t care what people thought. He had been in jail for both fighting and marijuana possession and was a notorious womanizer, prankster, brawler and drinker. As with many binge drinkers, he would clinically be a certified alcoholic, but in Mitchum’s case the affliction was a little harder to diagnose.

He seemed able to control the drink’s influence: most of the time, he could be out all night carousing and be perfectly fit for filming the next morning. Maybe a little makeup under the eyes was all that was needed. At other times, he would be falling-down-drunk the next day, obnoxious and belligerent, completely unfilmable. This was the dark side of Robert Mitchum. Aside from a robust rudeness to certain co-workers he disliked or felt incompetent, actresses in particular, in a possible “worst” moment, he once urinated on the seat of Paul Gregory’s Cadillac convertible, the producer, by the way, of The Night of the Hunter. That other self so many observers suggest Mitchum was hiding was the intelligent side, an avid reader with an erudite knowledge of many things and a highly sophisticated conversationalist. He had an inborn distrust of pretentious individuals and a sensitivity for children, who always seemed to like him. For novice stars and people he liked, he was patient and helpful. He respected and admired, for instance, Deborah Kerr, his all-time favorite actress and co-star in a number of his films—Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison and The Sundowners included.

“The only leading lady,” Mitchum bragged, “I didn’t go to bed with.” His partner in this venture of filming The Night of the Hunter, equally erudite, although not one to hide it, was Charles Laughton. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he made his first impressions as a film actor in the title roles of The Private Life of Henry VIII and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. His last substantial role, meriting a Best Actor Oscar nomination, was as Sir Wilfrid Robarts in Witness for the Prosecution. He is best remembered as Captain William Bligh, also Oscar-nominated, in the 1935 version of Mutiny on the Bounty. He became so famous for the role that, as Laughton related, “Every time I walk into a restaurant I get not only soup but an impersonation of Captain Bligh.” He felt more at home on stage, both as a performer and as a director. He had considerable success on Broadway directing Herman Wouk’s The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial and George Bernard Shaw’s Don Juan in Hell.

And in the 1950s a later generation of TV fans became aware of him through his dramatic readings, most notably from Shakespeare and the Bible. Laughton was introduced to Davis Grubb’s The Night of the Hunter in its pre-publication galley proofs by that same Paul Gregory whose Cadillac would suffer that baptismal indignity during filming. To write the script, the two men selected James Agee, best known for a supposed shared screenplay with John Huston for The African Queen, though actually the final script was the work of Huston and Peter Viertel. An alcoholic and slow writer, who refused to show his work until it was finished, Agee would die before the film was released. Subject to periods of uncontrollable sobbing, he was, according to Gregory, a man “tormented by something.” Herein lies some disagreement as to exactly which part of Agee’s words, if any, ended up on the screen. Some sources indicate both Laughton and Mitchum reworked the script, and according to Lee Server’s excellent biography of Mitchum, Baby, I Don’t Care—highly recommended, by the way—Laughton rewrote the script.

Other sources, now taken to be closer to the truth, suggest Laughton filmed exactly what Agee wrote. Grubb’s story is set during the 1930s Depression in West Virginia, along the Ohio River. The psychopathic Reverend Harry Powell (Mitchum), known simply as “Preacher,” is a self-elected killer of prostitutes and other women of doubtful repute. He is convicted for car theft and thrown in a cell with a condemned murderer, Ben Harper (Peter Graves). When Preacher is unsuccessful in getting Harper to reveal the whereabouts of a stolen $10,000, he believes the clue lies in Harper’s dying words, something about “a little child shall lead them.” Believing Harper’s two young children, Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce) and John (Billy Chapin), will lead him to the money, he woos and marries their widowed mother, Willa (Shelley Winters). On their wedding night, he tells her they won’t consummate their marriage because sex is sinful. He slits her throat and throws her body into the river.

The children flee downstream—the money is in Pearl’s doll—and find refuge in a gun-toting, hymn-singing old woman, Rachel Cooper (Lillian Gish), who sees through Powell’s religious chicanery and defends the children against him. Powell is arrested and sentenced to death. Both Warner Brothers and Columbia turned down The Night of the Hunter, and when United Artists accepted it, Laughton plunged wholeheartedly into preparing himself for what he thought was a challenging and imaginative project. He viewed a number of D. W. Griffith silent movies and learned from cinematographer Stanley Cortez the workings of the motion picture camera. The alliance between Laughton and Cortez, much like the shared vision of Orson Welles and Gregg Toland in Citizen Kane, would inspire the old-fashioned and, at the same time, original look of the film. To use a word appropriate to the story, color would have been an “abomination,” so The Night of the Hunter was properly and beautifully filmed in black and white. The camera shots were often improvised from day to day, resulting in surrealistic and naturalistic images—distorted perspectives, abundant shadows, silhouettes and large portions of black screen.

This syntax of the silent film extends to the long since discarded mechanical iris, a form of the wipe, where a diminishing or expanding circle of visual interest leaves the rest of the screen black. In another silent film technique by a silent star veteran, at the end of Grubb’s tale, Gish looks directly into the camera and says, “You know, when you’re little, you have more endurance than God is ever to grant you again. Children are man at his strongest. They abide.” And this might be added about children who, at the age of five, can relate in great detail how Santa Claus is able to deliver all those gifts in one night: their innocence is all the more touching because of the foreknowledge that soon they will acquire those sophisticated traits of the fully hardened, sometimes cynical adult. Even the spoken word in The Night of the Hunter shares a kinship with the visuals, at times archaic, at other times poetic, emphasizing that this is, after all, a morality play, an exposition on the power and savagery—and, yes, the spreading influence—of evil.

There is even stand-ins for the Greek chorus—a choir of “Dream, Little One, Dream” behind the main title, a group of school children singing “Hing, Hang, Hung” and picnickers voicing “Bringing in the Sheaves.” Most of The Night of the Hunter was shot on studio sound stages, with some filming along the Ohio River. As for Mitchum, dressed in symbolic black as Preacher, he gives one of his best performances, some critics say the best of his career. So menacing and chilling was his portrayal of evil that Laughton had to rein him in on several occasions.

He seems most terrifying in silhouette, or on horseback, especially when singing, a cappella, “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.” Tattooed on the finger knuckles of one hand is “LOVE,” on the other “HATE.” Years later, in Master and Commander in 2003, the idea would be reprised on an old sailor’s knuckles: now the words are “HOLD” and “FAST.” Mitchum’s abhorrence of hypocrites, especially the self-righteous, was well expressed by his wife, Julie: “Bob told me he was going to do [this picture] to show people not to follow some character because he’s got a Bible in his hands, or because he’s got his collar on backwards, to alert people to these kinds of characters. And he was always very sympathetic to the exploitation of children . . . ” Typical of Mitchum’s bad side, he mistreated Winters during filming, as did Laughton, for that matter. Originally, Laughton wanted Betty Grable for the role, an apparent exercise in casting against type, and it would have been interesting to see how the singer/dancer would have handled the role.

Another consideration, Teresa Wright, seems even more a potential for miscasting. Winters, or at least her wax double, is part of the film’s most memorable and surrealistic scene, Willa’s dead body sitting in a Model-T at the bottom of the river, her hair drifting in the current like women’s hair in some of Alphonse Mucha’s posters. The filming was done in a studio tank, the cameraman in scuba gear, as the Ohio River was too muddy. Composer Walter Schumann incorporated many traditional hymns into his sometimes sentimental, sometimes starkly dramatic score, including three songs of his own, but the idée fixe is Preacher’s ominous rendition of that one hymn, also sung by Gish in a less sinister manner. A synopsis of the film was once released on an LP featuring Laughton’s narration and Mitchum’s voice, with Schumann’s music.

By name alone, Walter Schumann may be generally unknown, but aside from this, his most famous film score, he released in the early 1950s a series of popular easy-listening LPs under the title The Voices of Walter Schumann and in 1949 wrote the theme for a new radio program, Dragnet, the four-note motif lifted from the opening of Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony. He is not to be confused with the Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer, William Schuman (1910-1992), the great German composer, Robert Schumann (1810-1856), nor, in a less convincing name-spelling, with Gerard Schurmann, the principal orchestrator of Lawrence of Arabia. The Night of the Hunter was remade for TV in 1991. Unimaginatively photographed and about as frightening as the primmest of nursery rhymes—it was in color, after all!—the only thing macabre about Preacher was not the portrayal of him but Richard Chamberlain’s pale acting of the role.

The movie that Charles Laughton had been so enthusiastic about making, and had approached with such diligence and excitement, was a disappointing failure, both at the box office and according to most critics of the day. Laughton, who had been scheduled to direct next The Naked and the Dead (eventually directed by Raoul Walsh), never got behind a camera again. The movie is now highly regarded—and for all the ingredients that made it so unique at the time. It is worthy of a place on a list of the one hundred greatest films of all time. The American Film Institute (AFI), for one, has not yet seen fit to so honor it. Laughton always had a good word for Robert Mitchum, and once said, “He is a literate, gracious, kind man with wonderful manners and he speaks beautifully—when he wants to.” Of course Laughton had seen, too, Mitchum’s other side, that dark side, his doppelgänger, Robert Louis Stevenson’s “little shadow that goes in and out,” not unrelated to Sigmund Freud’s id, that other side that exists, however dormant or camouflaged, in all of us. Liked it?

Take a second to support Greg Orypeck on Patreon! Related The Night of the Hunter Reviews & Ratings - IMDb IMDb 40 out of 70 people found the following review useful: Overrated in the extreme from New York City 18 August 2008 Ben Harper (Peter Graves) steals $10,000 and leaves the money in the keeping of his children, John (Billy Chapin) and Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce), hoping they might one day find their way out of the economic trauma of the Depression-era South. John knows where the money is hidden, but Harper has sworn him to secrecy, a move John quickly resents when posing preacher Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) comes to town. Powell shared a cell with Harper, who, immediately after hiding the money, was arrested for murder and armed robbery. Ben is executed, and the wicked Powell, released from jail, moves in on Willa (Shelly Winters), Harper's gullible widow, hoping to draw out the secret of the money's location.

As tensions mount, it becomes progressively clear that the only hope for the children's salvation rests with regional matriarch and philanthropist Rachel Cooper (Lillian Gish) who always keeps her doors open for displaced youngsters. It's not often that I'm stumped by the question of why a classic is a classic, but thanks to Night of the Hunter, I know it's not unthinkable. Yes, the cinematography is amazing, even by the standards of film noir, but the pace is rushed, the plot is a walking disaster, and the characters  if we can call them that  more closely resemble flotsam. The movie opens with Gish's disembodied head floating on a backdrop of stars, the drifting heads of children listening with rapt attention to her formulaic Bible-talk. Even if we grasp the intended irony of the moment  a dreamy segue into a deadly nightmare  there's no escaping how God-blastedly cheesy the image looks, how it feels more like a presage to Sesame Street or an eighties sit-com than a purportedly moving work of horror. As an intro, it destroys any precedent for subtlety.

We're less than a minute into the movie and it's already abundantly clear that our storytellers have absolutely no faith in our ability to figure anything out for ourselves. The trend continues with the introduction of Harry Powell. Eschewing what could have been a very creepy experience  encountering the dark side of Powell in a slow, subtle, and action-driven manner  Powell hits us over the head with a string of didactic monologues, our occasion for discovery smashed right at the outset. Ben Harper, by contrast, is dispensed with so quickly we're barely aware of his presence. He's a completely wasted opportunity, a perfunctory McGuffin for an even more perfunctory plot. The movie would have been much more powerful if John had gone through the story haunted by the memory of a loving father who died in a desperate act to provide for him. Instead, Harper's only function is to set the story in motion, and as soon as he does this, he disappears from view and from memory. Willa Harper is even more obnoxious.

A pivotal factor in the story, Willa's fanatic devotion to Powell is the main instigation of everything else that follows, but because we never get a sense of who Willa was prior to Powell's arrival, her devotion feels unfounded, her behavior seems unreasonable, and, as a consequence, everything else in the story feels like it's balancing on thin air. Why is this woman so easily brainwashed? Why does Powell consistently come out on top? Every single plot-point is, at best, the product of characters acting mysteriously, and at worst, the product of characters behaving in a manner completely opposed to reason. How an entire town can get swept up in the patently obvious lies of a figure like Powell is beyond me, especially to the extent that they side against their own. There's nothing particularly strategic about Powell's methods, nor is he notably charismatic or even all that bright. He constantly loses his temper, performs actions so rash and brainless you'd expect immediate rejoinder, and holds among his many beliefs the bone-headed conviction that the best way to track down a fugitive is to ride through open country and sing at the top of his lungs.

Yet Powell always gets way, because the rest of the universe is too stupid to stop him, and it's precisely this idiocy that drives the story forward, not the heroes, and certainly not the villain. Which brings me to the last point: acting, i.o.w. what the devil is everyone smoking? I respect Robert Mitchum a great deal, but his performance as Powell is woefully over-the-top, in-your-face, and not the least bit compelling. Gish is great, but the credits start rolling before she's even gotten her feet on the ground. Shelly Winters is a tremendous actress, and she does her best as Willa, but again, the character is so poorly written that she comes across feeling like a mariner who's been thrown off the edge of a ship, floundering for all she's worth, but no match for the dead-weight of the screenplay, which drags her to the bottom and feels no remorse. Worst of all is Chapin as John, suffering from prolifically delayed reaction time, always lagging at least a second-and-a-half behind whatever he's supposed to be responding to.

Expressions of shock and anger seem to come out of nowhere, a clear indication of his being taught to look and act in a particular way at a particular moment without anyone telling him why. I'm not blaming the kid for this. I'm blaming Charles Laughton, who found children so dislikable he dumped them all on Mitchum, who did his best to direct them, but was clearly not up to the punch. All in all, I'm at a loss as to why this movie continues to garner such widespread acclaim, save the unfortunate reality that the herd mentality of movie criticism discourages any kind of dissension, so we continue trumpeting the virtues of fossils, long after they've outlived their usefulness. Was the above review useful to you? 44 out of 78 people found the following review useful: Beautiful cinematography and an epic tale of the struggle between good and evil 12 October 2005 *** This review may contain spoilers *** The first time I saw this film was probably more than ten years ago on a late Monday night on the BBC. At such a time on such a day one never expects to be shown something decent.

But 'Night of the hunter' proved to be one of the best films I have ever seen. The cinematography is breathtaking, especially the river journey of the two children who are fleeing for the evil and demented preacher who killed their mother. Never have I seen nature being portrayed in such a mysterious and dangerous way. The sharp contrasts of light, the dark church in the distance which symbolises the dangerous preacher. The film made me think of the books of Flannery 'O Connor, especially the strange and mysterious southern tale Wise Blood. Was the above review useful to you? 45 out of 80 people found the following review useful: Excellent movie, and well ahead of its time. from Edinburgh, Scotland 13 September 2002 This film is way ahead of its time, not only in subject matter but also in cinematic style. The subject is a psychopathic preacher who believes that God is telling him to murder women, usually widowers, and take their money. From the opening two shots and the first few lines of the preacher, the characters history and intent is laid down. As quickly, the first few scenes with the children show the circumstances that will bring about the main premise.

After that you are allowed to wallow in Robert Mitchums role as the over acting preacher. Laughton directs very well, with some visually rich scenes and wonderful shots. However, there are a couple of cheesy moments of dialogue, and a few, almost laughable, scenes. Despite this it's a very good movie with some stunning acting from Robert Mitchum. Was the above review useful to you?

48 out of 86 people found the following review useful: Laughton used every cinematic device to tighten the tensions 30 April 2005 *** This review may contain spoilers *** When I think of the special terror that comes from the vulnerability of the helpless I am haunted by the shock-memory of two films ("The Night of the Hunter" and "Cape Fear") which, by no means coincidentally, both starred Robert Mitchum Now there is an actor who would no doubt have attracted more critical garlands if he had not been so incredibly popular, if he had not intercepted such a variety of roles, and if a sardonic air of self-deprecation did not tend to obscure a high talent If he had decided to specialize in villains, he might even have come to out-play the great Bogart because, to the menace they both could share, Mitchum was able to add a genuinely frightening brutality...

In 1955 Charles Laughton went round to the other side of the cameras to direct one and only one motion picture Laughton used every cinematic device of camera-angle, sound and lighting to tighten the tensions Mitchum played a psychopathic preacher with a restrained malice who married and murdered Shelley Winters for her money  only to find that her young children had it, and he proceeded relentlessly to terrorize them Mitchum constructed a really superb characterization of the obsessed drifter, with "love" tattooed on one finger and "hate" on another to point his terrifying parables Was the above review useful to you? 17 out of 27 people found the following review useful: is it really a classic? 20 February 2008 *** This review may contain spoilers *** To Roger Ebert, 'The Night of the Hunter' is one of the Great Movies. To Pauline Kael, it's "one of the most frightening movies ever made." To me, well... it's neither. It definitely has its moments. Brilliant actor Charles Laughton's one and only directorial effort is a very offbeat, stylized film that takes a lot of chances. Unfortunately, not many of them work.

The main problem I think is that the story it tries to tell is at odds with the presentation and performances. The latter suggest a kind of Twilight Zone-ish children's fable, dreamlike at times, not meant to resemble real life. And yet the story reminds one more of another film starring Robert Mitchum, 'Cape Fear;' gritty, realistic, even mean-spirited. The two just don't blend together into an effective whole. There is humor here and it is perhaps the most effective part of 'The Night of the Hunter.' Small town religion and Americana circa 1930 are spoofed throughout, sometimes pretty heavy-handedly, but it's hard not to laugh when Shelley Winters' character exclaims, "I feel clean! My body's a-quiverin' with cleanliness." Winters herself looks like she can barely keep from laughing after delivering the line. Mitchum has his share of funny moments too. It's when he's supposed to be menacing that the movie comes up short. His Preacher Harry Powell can't touch 'Cape Fear's' Max Cady in terms of malevolent creepiness.

Powell is a con-artist posing as a man of God who discovers that two young siblings, John and Pearl Harper, know where $10,000 is hidden. It was given them by their now-dead father who had them swear never to reveal its whereabouts to anyone, even their mother Willa (Winters). Powell marries Willa for the express purpose of getting his hands on the money. The lack of any graphically believable violence is, in this case, a fatal flaw. When Powell finally comes after the children, his manner is more like a boogeyman in an Abbott & Costello movie than a genuinely deranged killer, which he's supposed to be. Now I know all the art-film critics would call me a numbskull for not appreciating the 'poetic' approach Laughton and his cinematographer take, but again, it just doesn't work for this kind of material. After the children escape, there is a lovely, almost surreal scene where they drift down a river in a skiff and the setting becomes even more like one in a dream or fairy tale. The art direction is beautiful and for a few moments, it is a magical film.

The story takes a different direction during the last part of the movie, as John and Pearl are taken in by elderly woman, Rachel, a sort of bible-quoting, occasionally shotgun-toting Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. She runs an orphanage of sorts and protects the brother and sister when Powell comes after them, though not through any particularly imaginative means. He is eventually arrested and sentenced to hang. There are a few more bizarre scenes, such as the townspeople rising up in anger to lynch Powell once they discover his true past. They tear up a drugstore and march down the street carrying torches (as if they were going after Frankenstein's Monster) and we expect a vicious hanging scene, then the police simply smuggle Powell out a back door and drive him away. So much for the lynch mob. Rachel and the kids celebrate Christmas while Rachel spouts more homely homilies (she's got a million of 'em.) The end. Like I said, I don't know, maybe I'm completely insensitive and unperceptive but the best I can say about 'The Night of the Hunter' is that it's a very mixed bag.

Billy Chapin (I wonder whatever happened to him) gives a fine performance as the boy John, who really is the character that holds the movie together. I think lurking somewhere in the myriad of ideas that make up 'The Night of the Hunter' is a great movie, but Charles Laughton just couldn't find it. Was the above review useful to you? 19 out of 31 people found the following review useful: I guess Hollywood Wasn't Ready For It from Isle Of Bute, Scotland 7 February 2010 *** This review may contain spoilers *** In my review of DR NO I mentioned how audiences must have been shocked at seeing Sean Connery's anti-hero shooting people in the back . I'm sure they were just as shocked by THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER , but where as DR NO led to the most successful film franchise in the history of cinema this movie was something of a critical and commercial flop on its release . As with CITIZEN KANE on its release there seems to be a large amount of snobbery involved . Unlike today when even someone like Ben Affleck can win an Oscar for doing outside his field ( And some might ask what the hell is Affleck's field ?

) actors in those days were only expected to turn up , say their lines and go home , they surely weren't expected to do something like point a camera or make a classic movie , least of all a British leftist like Charles Laughton. Knives out for British leftists I'd say which may possibly explain why this haunting beautiful movie didn't get a single Oscar nomination , not even for obvious nominations like cinematography or director . It should also be mentioned that this movie deals with false prophets and in mid 1950s ultra conservative America no one but no one ever questioned men of the cloth in those days in case they faced accusations of being a commie agitator .

This explains to a modern day audience the naive attitude of the characters towards Harry Powell in relation to a 2003 audience , times have changed both in cinema and the real world in the last 50 years and it's impossible to remember when was the last time we saw a Hollywood movie that actually had a good preacher NIGHT OF THE HUNTER seems to be best remembered for the scene where the camera follows the fisherman's point of view on the boat to the lake below , but there's several more scenes that deserve to be remembered like the opening sequence of the children's faces across the starscape ,or Robert Mitchum howling like a cartoon character after being shot or the children floating down the river and rabbits and turtles watching them pass . This last scene is very obviously studio bound but that's not a criticism , this is a very highly stylised movie who's technical aspects must have been as jaw dropping back then as LORD OF THE RINGS technical aspects wowed audiences 50 years later . The bitter irony now is that this would have picked up several Oscars -Regardless of its strengths ala BRAVEHEART - if it were made today simply because it was directed by an acto Was the above review useful to you?

29 out of 51 people found the following review useful: Wretched 5 March 2009 There was absolutely nothing redeeming about this movie. Just terrible all-around. - The performances were almost all awful, save Mitchum, who did the best he could with the horrid script he was dealing with. - The laughable fact that the wife of the thief would marry the Preacher when she barely knew him. Oh, and let's not forgot how she hears him threatening her kids, but she does nothing but lay down in bed. - The kids are floating down a river for more than a week, apparently with only a potato to eat along the way, with a psychopathic preacher following on horseback, and they never consider getting out of the boat on the OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER? What the hell? - The fact that Rachel Cooper accepted some random kids (not to mention hits them) is a joke. I don't understand how anyone can take any of this crap seriously. - Rachel Cooper sings a duet with the murderous Preacher who is right outside her house looking to kill her. What sense does that make? - The pacing was horrible.

Just talk talk talk randomly about religion, and whenever Mitchum showed up, suspense was blocked by hammy performances (towards the end when Rachel had a chance to shoot the preacher, she does nothing but tap him in the butt, despite him chasing the boy with a knife). Yeah, Okay. - It ends with at Rachel looking straight at the camera and stating explicitly the "moral" of the film. Again, what the hell was that all about? I just hated this film. Never have I disliked a so-called "classic" film so much. The script for this film has to be among the worst ever written. I give it a 1/10. It has now dethroned Batman Begins for the title of the worst movie on IMDb's top 250. Was the above review useful to you? 39 out of 71 people found the following review useful: laughably bad Author: temp8us 10 March 2002 Made in 1955 with all of the savvy, subtlety, and good sense of a movie made 20 years earlier.

Terrible acting, horrible editing (seeing Robert Mitchum straining *not* to catch up with the kids is a hoot), heavy-handed "art" shots, pathetic script. Was the above review useful to you? 12 out of 18 people found the following review useful: Possibly the most overrated movie I've ever seen from Canada 28 December 2010 Finally got down to seeing The Night of the Hunter last night. The acting and direction made it almost unwatchable. My two stars are for the cinematography alone. The rest of the movie is unbearably amateurish. Combining various classic elements of American cinema doesn't make a movie classic; it makes it a mishmash of story lines that make little sense together. There are gaping holes in the story and acting that are irrational--even ludicrous--at every turn. Critics sometimes look too deeply into an artistic work in a vain attempt to find something that's not there. There's almost nothing of merit in this work. There's a reason Laughton directed only one film: because he was completely inept at it.

1955 audiences laughed aloud at scenes Laughton meant to be terrifying; I found myself echoing those sentiments last night, including Mitchum's elongated Frankenstein-like chase of the children to the river's edge. Those who rate this movie highly do a great disservice to writers and directors who strive to create realism, consistency, character development and simple logic in their work, as well as to actors who strive to create memorable performances that future stage performers will seek to emulate. Mitchum's subsequent role in Cape Fear did not use his Night of the Hunter character as inspiration, rather, it showed what a great actor can do with a REAL director like J. Lee Thompson. Was the above review useful to you? 17 out of 28 people found the following review useful: Good, but. 24 March 2006 *** This review may contain spoilers *** The Night of the Hunter sees Robert Mitchum play a corrupt preacher in a well-done atmospheric thriller that gets increasingly confused as it draws to its overdue conclusion. The first half is fantastic. It's shot brilliantly, the use of shadow and contrast very effective (although perhaps easy in a black and white film), and it is well acted for the most part.

Mitchum plays his role brilliantly, and even the children play their parts well, but some of the older actors are guilty of over-eagerness and put in comically "hammy" performances. The score is guilty of being similarly over the top; as it announces Mitchum's entrance, there's no doubt that you really aren't supposed to like him. But it is unfair perhaps to criticize it for sticking to the styles of the times. The second half is a different matter, as the children run away to escape the evil preacher's clutches. From this point onwards it turns into a form of social commentary ("Gee, look at the problems they had back then"), complete with seasonal workers and a sort of orphanarium. On top of the theologizing such a message is a bit unnecessary and only serves to slow down the film's pace and delay it's inevitable conclusion. It even turns into a TV Christmas movie of sorts before announcing its end, and such an off-key conclusion spoils the great work put in in the first half. Overall, it's very good and is definitely worth watching, with some good performances and cinematography, but as it draws towards its slow end and Christmas scenes you'll be left wondering what might have been.

Was the above review useful to you? Page 2 of 40: The Night of the Hunter [Blu-ray]: Amazon.co.uk: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish, Charles Laughton: DVD & Blu-ray Â£9.99 & FREE Delivery in the UK on orders dispatched by Amazon over Â£20. Details In stock. Dispatched from and sold by Amazon. Gift-wrap available. Special Offers and Product Promotions Enjoy Â£1.00 credit to spend on movies or TV on Amazon Video when you purchase a DVD or Blu-ray offered by Amazon.co.uk. A maximum of 1 credit per customer applies. UK customers only. Offer ends at 23:59 GMT on Wednesday, December 20, 2017 Here's how (terms and conditions apply) Note: Blu-ray discs are in a high definition format and need to be played on a Blu-ray player. Frequently Bought Together Product Description Product Description This visually ravishing, authentically terrifying Southern Gothic masterpiece is one of the cinema s great one-offs, not just because it was the only film directed by the actor Charles Laughton.

Robert Mitchum gives a career-best performance as Harry Powell, a self-appointed preacher with LOVE and HATE tattooed on his knuckles who travels to a small town in search of his executed cellmate s stash of cash, under the impression that his two young children know its whereabouts. But the film s melodramatic plot plays second fiddle to some of the most extraordinary images ever captured on film. Laughton and cinematographer Stanley Cortez (The Magnificent Ambersons) imbue almost every shot with a luminosity that recalls the great silent masterpieces of F.W. Murnau and Victor Sjöström. A widely misunderstood flop at the time (which put Laughton off ever directing again), it s now regarded as one of the greatest of all American films. Special Features: New digital transfer made from 35mm film elements restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive in cooperation with MGM Studios, with funding provided by the Film Foundation and Robert B.

Strum Optional original uncompressed Mono PCM audio & 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio Isolated Music and Effects Soundtrack Charles Laughton Directs The Night of the Hunter - A two-and-a-half-hour documentary on the making of the film featuring outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage Archival interview with cinematographer Stanley Cortez Original theatrical trailer Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly artwork by Graham Humphreys Booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic and filmmaker David Thompson with more to be announced! From Amazon.co.uk In the entire history of American movies, The Night of the Hunter stands out as the rarest and most exotic of specimens. It is, to say the least, a masterpiece--and not just because it was the only movie directed by flamboyant actor Charles Laughton or the only produced solo screenplay by the legendary critic James Agee (who also co-wrote The African Queen). The truth is, nobody has ever made anything approaching its phantasmagoric, overheated style in which German expressionism, religious hysteria, fairy-tale fantasy (of the Grimm-est variety), and stalker movie are brought together in a furious boil.

Like a nightmarish premonition of stalker movies to come, Night of the Hunter tells the suspenseful tale of a demented preacher (Robert Mitchum, in a performance that prefigures his memorable villain in Cape Fear), who torments a boy and his little sister--even marries their mixed-up mother (Shelley Winters)--because he's certain the kids know where their late bank-robber father hid a stash of stolen money. So dramatic, primal, and unforgettable are its images--the preacher's shadow looming over the children in their bedroom, the magical boat ride down a river whose banks teem with fantastic wildlife, those tattoos of LOVE and HATE on the unholy man's knuckles, the golden locks of a drowned woman waving in the current along with the indigenous plant life in her watery grave--that they're still haunting audiences (and filmmakers) today. --Jim Emerson, Amazon.com --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Greatest Films of 1955 Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) , 81 minutes, D: John Sturges A suspenseful, powerful, 50's, Western-like drama, a mystery-thriller set in an isolated, southwestern desert town in 1945, and based on Howard Breslin's novel. A mysterious, one-armed veteran John J. MacReedy (Spencer Tracy) arrives in the tiny town of Black Rock by train, to fulfill a promise made to a Japanese-American soldier who died fighting in WW II. He searches for the whereabouts of the local Japanese-American father, Komoko, of his soldier/friend who saved his life, to bestow the deceased man's posthumously-presented medal of honor to the family - but encounters only a conspiracy of silence. His awkward questions cause the uneasy, hostile local inhabitants to confront their guilty consciences and threaten his life , led by menacing, sinister town boss Reno Smith (Robert Ryan) and his henchmen - a racially-prejudiced Coley Trimble (Ernest Borgnine) and Hector David (Lee Marvin). They retaliate with violence, putting his life at risk.

Some town members, including a drunken sheriff (Dean Jagger), a doctor (Walter Brennan), and gal in town (Anne Francis), become the stranger's allies. Blackboard Jungle (1955), 100 minutes, D: Richard Brooks The Court Jester (1955), 101 minutes, D: Melvin Frank and Norman Panama The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955), 100 minutes, D: Otto Preminger This biographical war drama, a true story, was set in the mid-1920s. Stubborn but dedicated military airman Gen. Billy Mitchell (Gary Cooper), a WWI hero, was a prophetic visionary who proposed the expansion of airpower during future military combat, but his crusading recommendations to the US War Department were continually overlooked and ignored. He also argued for upgrading the fleet of airplanes left over from WWI. To make a firm political statement, in 1921, he deliberately violated military rules during a test of aircraft at an army test site off the coast of Virginia by using heavier bombs and flying at lower altitudes.

He was demoted to Colonel and sent to a clerical army post in Fort Sam Houston (Texas). Meanwhile, outdated planes were continually crashing, and Mitchell lost some of his closest friends, including Lt. Cmdr. Zack Lansdowne (Jack Lord) of the Shenandoah dirigible. To publicize the problem and complain, Mitchell lobbied for a press conference, to accuse the military of criminal negligence, incompetence and treason. Predictably, he was court-martialed. Congressman Frank Reid (Ralph Bellamy) and military-appointed attorney Lt. Colonel White (James Daly) defended Mitchell, while the prosecutor was Colonel Moreland (Fred Clark), and the presiding judge was Gen. James Guthrie (Charles Bickford). Court-martialed Mitchell was tried for breaking Articles 133 and 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice: conduct unbecoming an officer, and conduct that discredited the military. He had definitely disobeyed the articles, but questions were raised: why, and were his accusations justified? Lansdowne's widow Margaret (Elizabeth Montgomery) testified that her husband's aircraft was a death trap.

When Mitchell took the stand, he was cross-examined by special prosecutor Major Allan Guillion (Rod Steiger). He stood up to the skilled prosecutor, arguing that with the current state of the air-force, Pearl Harbor could be attacked (as it was years later). At the conclusion of the trial, Mitchell was convicted of insubordination, and suspended from active duty for five years without pay. Diabolique (1955, Fr.) (aka Les Diaboliques), 114 minutes, D: Henri-Georges Clouzot East of Eden (1955) , 115 minutes, D: Elia Kazan Director Elia Kazan's updated re-telling of the Biblical story of rival brothers, Cain and Abel and a paradise lost. A brooding James Dean - as the unappreciated son (Cain), vies against his dull, but favored stuffy brother (Abel) for the affections of their father. The maligned, misunderstood Cain character, representing the unlikeable and outcast director himself (for naming names before the HUAC Committee in 1952), becomes the sensitive hero of this film.

As the poster stated, "Sometimes you can't tell who's good and who's bad!..." Writer Paul Osborn's screenplay adapted John Steinbeck's 1952 novel with the same title for this dramatic Warner Bros. film. [The film tells only a small portion of Steinbeck's work, leaving out the childhood of the parents and the Chinese character of Lee.] The CinemaScopic film, set in 1917 at a time just before the US entry into World War I, portrays the relationship between insecure, tortured, neurotic loner Caleb "Cal" Trask (James Dean, in his first major role and film) and his dutiful, favored brother Aron (Richard Davalos) - twin sons. Their father is a stern, hardened, devoutly religious, self-righteous man named Adam (Raymond Massey), a lettuce farmer living with his family in Salinas, California. The plot becomes emotionally charged when Cal expresses a liking for his brother's girlfriend Abra (Julie Harris), and then learns that his mother (Jo Van Fleet) is actually alive and operating a nearby brothel.

One of the film's posters exclaimed: "East of Eden is a story of explosive passions and Elia Kazan has made it into a picture of staggering power." Guys and Dolls (1955), 150 minutes, D: Joseph L. Mankiewicz The Night of the Hunter (1955) , 93 minutes, D: Charles Laughton The only film directed by actor and stage director Charles Laughton. A stark, film noirish, black-and-white thriller, with a haunting, chilling lead performance by Robert Mitchum as crazed psychopathic Preacher Harry Powell prowling the Ohio River Valley. He personifies one polar end of the struggle between good and evil The killer of rich widows, with tattoos of LOVE and HATE on the fingers of both hands, weds a dead condemned killer's lonely widow (Shelley Winters), and then relentlessly hunts his own innocent step-children across the Depression Era Bible Belt to get at their father's stolen fortune of $10,000.

The final segment pits the Preacher against Lillian Gish as a symbol of protecting Goodness, rocking at night on a porch with a shotgun across her lap, while he sings his perverse hymn in counterpoint: "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms." Unbelievably not nominated for any Academy Awards. Oklahoma! (1955), 145 minutes, D: Fred Zinnemann Ordet (1955, Denm.) (aka The World), 126 minutes, D: Carl Theodor Dreyer Pather Panchali (1955, India) (aka Father Panchali), 115 minutes, D: Satyajit Ray The Phenix City Story (1955), 100 minutes, D: Phil Karlson Picnic (1955), 115 minutes, D: Joshua Logan Rebel Without a Cause (1955) , 111 minutes, D: Nicholas Ray The classic, melodramatic film that made James Dean an anti-hero icon for generations to come - this was the second of his three films and the best 50s film of its kind regarding the generation gap.

A story of rebellion and angst in the life of an unsettled, teenaged, new-kid-in-town Jim Stark (James Dean) who crosses paths with two other alienated, misfit youth - Judy (Natalie Wood) and Plato (Sal Mineo) - at a police station in the first sequence. The outcast trio of juveniles forms a strong bond against both their insensitive parents (completely unjust, dysfunctional, ineffectual, or callous) and their peers, and search for their identities. After a deadly drag race and a confrontation with his milquetoast father (Jim Backus), Jim spends the night with Judy and Plato in a deserted mansion. The adolescents find refuge and solace in their own company. In the tragic finale, Plato is killed by police when he foolishly brandishes an unloaded gun.

Richard III (1955, UK), 161 minutes, D: Laurence Olivier The Rose Tattoo (1955), 117 minutes, D: Daniel Mann The Seven Year Itch (1955) , 105 minutes, D: Billy Wilder Smiles of a Summer Night (1955, Swed.) (aka Sommarnattens Leende), 108 minutes, D: Ingmar Bergman Summertime (1955, UK/US), 100 minutes, D: David Lean To Catch a Thief (1955) , 103 minutes, D: Alfred Hitchcock Trial (1955), 105 minutes, D: Mark Robson The film, set in the late 1940s, opened during a nighttime scene at a San Juno private beach, where - after a female's scream, Mexican-American teenager Angel Chavez (Rafael Campos) was found standing over the deceased female, Marie Wiltse, who had died of heart failure. Chavez was arrested on suspicion of statutory rape, and charged with first-degree felony murder.

Meanwhile, California law school professor David Blake (Glenn Ford) was threatened with losing his job unless he could acquire trial experience (a new prerequisite) over the summer. Blake was hired by communist shark/attorney Barney Castle (Arthur Kennedy) to take the Chavez case. Castle bribed racist courthouse jail-sheriff 'Fats' Sanders (Robert Middleton) with $20 to speak to the incarcerated Chavez (and his mother Consuela (Katy Jurado)). Although Chavez admitted making love to Willsey, angering Castle for his forthrightness, he claimed he was innocent of murder charges. The two were persuaded to retain him as their representative for the racially-charged felony murder case. During his preparation for the trial, Blake was aided by Castle's secretary Abbe Nyle (Dorothy McGuire), a love interest. To raise funds for the defense (and for himself) in the sensationalist case, Castle held a successful New York fund-raising rally sponsored by the All Peoples Party - a Communist front, that raised $320,000. The San Juno trial was presided over by black Judge Theodore Motley (Juano Hernandez), and the DA was Jack Armstrong (John Hodiak).

As the trial was commencing, process server Finn (Elisha Cook Jr.) subpoened Blake to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee the following Saturday for his involvement in the New York rally. A jury was finally selected after three weeks, when novice lawyer Blake had to throw out the original jury panel because they had been interrogated by the police before the trial. The atmosphere of the trial was tense, due to white supremacists and other lynch mob members who were rallying to put Latino Chavez away. The DA's first witness was Marie's physician from childhood, Dr. Schacter (Richard Gaines), who testified that Marie died of violent exertion to her heart, due to a history of rheumatic fever. Blake's cross-examination revealed that she was at risk of dying at any time. Another witness' testimony about clearly seeing the beach incident with his car's spotlight was debunked. Blake fired Castle as defense attorney when he insisted that Angel take the stand. However, Angel was called to the stand, where his testimony under cross-examination was self-damning. He claimed he didn't know about Marie's ripped dress, why he left the scene, or how to have sex.

The jury ruled against Angel and he was convicted of the crime of felony murder. During the sentencing hearing, the prejudiced Castle proposed a mandatory death penalty (to make Chavez a martyr for his political cause), while Blake found an obscure code statute requiring that the juvenile be sent to the state's industrial reform school. The judge sentenced Castle to 30 days in jail for contempt of court.

Question: In which 1955 film does actor Robert Mitchum play a psychopathic self-appointed preacher?
Answer: The Night of the Hunter