right hand left hand- The Night of the Hunter (1955)
brb getting knuck tats that read R-O-B-E-R-T M-I-T-C-H-U-M
Yes, I know it wouldn't fit!
Spoilers, my dudes. Also, this is very much freeform in the way of discussion, please feel free to imagine me just yelling THIS MOVIE ROCKS at you for ten minutes or so.
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Directed by: Charles Laughton
Based on: the novel The Night of the Hunter (1953, written by Davis Grubb)
Starring: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish, Billy Chapin, Sally Jane Bruce, James Gleason, et al.
Running time: 92 minutes
Original release date: July 26, 1955
the plot, in brief
The Great Depression. Driving along the Ohio River, Harry Powell (Mitchum), a self-declared preacher/con artist/serial killer is arrested for driving a stolen car. Taken to Moundsville Penitentiary, he shares a cell with Ben Harper (Peter Graves), a condemned man awaiting a death sentence for killing two men in a bank robbery and stealing $10.000.
To no avail, Powell attempts to get Harper to tell him where the money is but Harper takes the secret to his grave as he is hanged. Upon Powell’s release, he travels to Harper’s hometown and immediately charms himself into the life of the townsfolk, including Harper’s widow, Willa (Winters), while fully intending to locate the money and steal it for himself. But what he doesn’t know is that Harper’s two children, John (Chapin) and Pearl (Bruce) know where the money is; and John in particular isn’t so keen on telling him…
but first, a quick primer on German Expressionist cinema
German Expressionism was an artistic movement in the early 20th century that emphasized the artist's inner emotions rather than attempting to replicate reality.[
German Expressionist films rejected cinematic realism and used visual distortions and hyper-expressive performances to reflect inner conflicts.
There are four main characteristics of German Expressionist films (as per Studio Binder):
High angles
Deep shadows/chiaroscuro lighting
Extreme camera tilting
Impossible sets
Think The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu and Metropolis as your main visual points of reference.
now, what the hell has that got to do with The Night of the Hunter?
I feel like my plot description greatly undersells just how good this movie actually is. Notably Charles Laughton’s (a formidable stage and screen actor) only movie as a director, The Night of the Hunter was a failure with critics and audiences on first release, and it was only in the years since that it’s been reappraised. It morphed from a cult film with a small group of dedicated fans to a movie frequently named among the best ever made (Sight and Sound’s 2022 Greatest Films of All Time poll had it at nr 25).
It’s also frequently named as the scariest movie ever made, and that is partly where the German Expressionism comes in.
Drawing on the movement’s use of shadows and its distinct, angular look (think of Caligari, where the set design looks like a paper collage come to life), Laughton lets his art direction work in harmony with the story. Splitting the two differing styles of cinematography between the two filming units, the first unit focused on the scenes in and around the Harpers’ house, with shots very dark and at their most angular, and the second unit shot the scenes of John and Pearl travelling down the river, a more dreamy, childlike point of view that brings to mind The Wizard of Oz.
He had the idea that children notice only certain details of their surroundings that they are focused on, which is why some set pieces are somewhat abstract and minimal: neon lights that are not attached to a particular store, white picket fences that are not surrounding any house, the barn along the river that looks like a painting, and the "chapel-like" parents' bedroom.
Issa Clubb and John Paul Rosas, from The Making Of The Night of the Hunter, featured on the film’s Criterion Collection release
Together, the two styles mesh beautifully to create a movie which plays like an abstract yet very real nightmare. It is an astonishingly assured directorial debut from Laughton (who apparently second-guessed himself throughout production) and the fact that he never directed again is a damn shame.
I am going to attempt to do right by this movie and use some of its striking visuals as a guide for the rest of this issue. Again, I am not an academic, I am not a scholar, I am merely a lover of storytelling and I am in no way even going to scratch the surface of what can be found in this movie.
“Leanin’… leanin’…”
We meet Harry Powell early in the film as he is arrested for stealing a car (I should note that when he is arrested, he’s in the audience at a burlesque show, muttering ominously about sin and just making the Arthur fist in simmering anger at said sin).
Right from the start we know this man is, to put it mildly, a deeply sinister motherfucker. He doesn’t even have to do much to tell you that, he just has to exist in your direct line of sight, because Robert Mitchum (a man who just looks so, so tired and I mean that in the most complimentary way) plays Powell like the physical embodiment of evil. There are moments where Powell, for lack of a better phrasing, makes noises like he’s a character in a Looney Tunes cartoon (just imagine him going “HOBOKEN? OOOH I’M DYIN’ AGAIN” but with a very deep Southern drawl) and it’s to Mitchum’s credit that those noises make him even more threatening than he already is.
“make that Wheeling Island tabernacle look like a chicken house”
One of the most striking moments in the film happens at night, as John is telling Pearl a bedtime story. As John says “but before long, the bad man” came back, a sudden and already very recognizable shadow appears on the wall next to him, the music ominously peaking as Pearl points, mouth open with shock.
John goes to look out the window, and there, behind the white picket fence and illuminated by moon and streetlight, stands Powell. He walks off, softly and ominously singing (“leaaaaaanin’’) as John crawls into bed and assures his sister that it’s “just a man”.
The children drift off to sleep as the “just a man” carries on singing, his eerie, laconic voice drifting through the night air. It’s such a perfect use of the shadows I mentioned earlier on and it sets up John’s distrust of Powell from the get-go, even if the two have yet to meet at this point.
Although if this is what you see when you look out your bedroom window I’d fucking not trust this guy on sight either.
Incidentally, my favourite John/Powell moment comes later in the movie, after John and Pearl have escaped. They’ve spent the night hiding in a barn and, when dawn comes, John looks out the window, hearing Powell singing (“LEANINNNNNNN”) and watching him as he gallops past on his horse. John, tired and distinctly unimpressed: “don’t he never sleep?”
Which I believe is Southern for “this fucking guy, I swear”.
“i feel clean now”
Willa Harper is the film’s most tragic character, with Shelley Winters giving a vulnerable, reserved performance. She presented to Laughton the idea of Willa as a fly fascinated by a spider, walking willingly into his web, which Laughton told her to channel into her interpretation of Willa. Willa - at this point a widow having gone through the trauma of seeing her husband executed - is somewhat of an open wound when Powell walks into her life, charming her immediately by twisting his connection to her late husband (which, you will remember, is “they shared a cell somehow”) to something that will suit the narrative he wants to spin.
Matters are not helped by her boss’s wife - Willa is a waitress at Spoon’s, an ice-cream parlor run by husband and wife Icey (… presumably a nickname) and Walter Spoon, and Icey (to be fair, she does believe she is helping Willa) kind of pushes Willa into agreeing to marry Powell, something which is very quickly taken care of. On their "wedding night”, Powell’s harsh refusal to consummate the marriage coupled with some truly vile language breaks Willa’s brain and she convinces herself that he has married her to save her soul. Several scenes later, she’s preaching right alongside him, but a kernel of distrust has settled in Willa and when she comes home one night to the sound of Powell threatening Pearl into revealing where the money is hidden, the distrust blossoms quickly.
Unfortunately, it is too late, and while the camera cuts away (a neat little slide/wipe cut, if that’s at all a technical term) you still see the awful sight of Powell’s knife coming down at her. There is something weirdly serene to her face even as this is happening; like she has come to terms with her fate in that moment.
It leads to the film’s most devastatingly beautiful scene - Willa’s body, stuck to the Model T Powell sank her in, floating under the water. It’s one of the most effective visual representations of death as a twisted, grim beauty; Willa looks like a water nymph, with weeds and debris moving gracefully alongside her in a morbid ballet.
take me down the river and bathe me clean
My personal favourite shot in the movie - looking for a place to rest for the night, John and Pearl temporarily leave the boat and are drawn to a siren-like song coming from an unseen person inside a lonely house. They end up seeking refuge in the barn for the night, before eventually carrying on and coming across the woman who will be their saviour.
The river scenes have some beautiful perspective work, framing frogs and rabbits to make them look massive compared to the children on the boat. The mysterious house and barn too serve to reiterate just how small John and Pearl are, and just how monumental a task they have ahead of them.
“and he ain’t no preacher, neither!”
Exhausted, after days of drifting along the Ohio River, John and Pearl are eventually found by Rachel Cooper (thee Lillian Gish, screen legend), a no-nonsense but kind-hearted woman who looks after “stray” children. She takes the kids under her wing and when Powell eventually shows up at her house, she is very quick to deduce that Powell is a dangerous man, and runs him off the property with her shotgun. After an all-night stand-off (in which the above shot is a stand-out - seriously, LOOK AT THE FRAMING, LOOK AT THE SHADOWS, TENS TENS TENS ACROSS THE BOARD), she manages to pelt him in the eye with birdshot, sending him scurrying into her barn. She is able to call the police and Powell is finally, ultimately arrested.
Gish is phenomenal in this relatively small but very important role; she exudes the authority, the steadfastness and most of all the right amount of take-no-bullshit when it comes to her interactions with Powell. Rachel has clearly honed an instinct when it comes to her wards, and even though John has not long been under her care, she is quick to deduce that he’s telling the truth and that the man monologuing about right hand good left hand bad on her porch is a fucking psychopath. She is the strength that those kids need in that moment.
The film ends with John and Pearl spending Christmas with Rachel and her other wards. John is given a handsome pocket watch, and greatly thanks Rachel.
The last line of The Night of the Hunter is spoken by Rachel (as is the first - the film opens on a strangely Doctor Who-esque floating heads moment in which Rachel is talking about false prophets).
They abide and they endure.
“chiiiiiiilll….dreeeeeen!”
I think to end I’ll just leave you with the words of Letterboxd user Shane McAvoy.
What a fucking legacy.
Hell yes. I love this movie. I've been meaning to watch it again. You've inspired me to put it on tonight!