#541: LAUGHTON, Charles: The Night Of The Hunter (1955)

-
LAUGHTON, Charles (United States)
The Night Of The Hunter [1955]
Spine #541
DVD


The Night of the Hunter — incredibly, the only film the great actor Charles Laughton ever directed — is truly a stand-alone masterwork. A horror movie with qualities of a Grimm fairy tale, it stars a sublimely sinister Robert Mitchum as a traveling preacher named Harry Powell (he of the tattooed knuckles), whose nefarious motives for marrying a fragile widow, played by Shelley Winters, are uncovered by her terrified young children. Graced by images of eerie beauty and a sneaky sense of humor, this ethereal, expressionistic American classic — also featuring the contributions of actress Lillian Gish and writer James Agee — is cinema's most eccentric rendering of the battle between good and evil.

93 minutes
Black & White
Monaural
1:66:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2010
Director/Writers


From the novel by David Grubb.
Screenplay by James Agee.
Charles Laughton was 56 when he directed The Night of the Hunter.

The Film

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Thirty-two page booklet featuring essays by critics Terrence Rafferty and Michael Sragow.

Commentary

Featuring second-unit director Terry Sanders, film critic F. X. Feeney, archivist Robert Gitt, and author Preston Neal Jones.

Documentary

Featuring interviews with producer Paul Gregory, Sanders, Feeney, Jones, and author Jeffrey Couchman.
Video interview

With Laughton biographer Simon Callow.
Clip

From The Ed Sullivan Show in which cast members perform a scene deleted from the film.
Archival documentary

Fifteen-minutes about the film, featuring Mitchum.
Archival interview

With cinematographer Stanley Cortez.
Gallery of sketches

By Grubb, author of the source novel.

Charles Laughton Directs “The Night of the Hunter”

A two-and-a-half-hour treasure trove of outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage.

Video conversation

Between Gitt and film critic Leonard Maltin about Charles Laughton Directs.

Original theatrical trailer
Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Complete Criterion Collection By Spine #

-
The Complete Criterion Collection By Spine # 0000A: No spine #: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema (BERGMAN, Ingmar) [1946-2003] {Sweden} Crisis [1946] A Ship To India [1947] Port Of Call [1948] Thirst [1949] To Joy [1950] Summer Interlude [1951] Waiting Women [1952] Sawdust And Tinsel [1953]  [ 89 ] Summer With Monika [1953] A Lesson In Love [1954] Dreams [1955] Smiles Of A Summer Night [1955] The Seventh Seal [1957] Wild Strawberries [1957]  [ 93 ] Brink Of Life [1958] The Magician [1958] The Devil's Eye [1960] The Virgin Spring [1960] Through A Glass Darkly [1961] The Silence [1963] Winter Light [1963] All These Women [1964] Persona [1966]  [ 94 ] Hour Of The Wolf [1968] Shame [1968] The Passion Of Anna [1969] The Rite [1969] Fårö Document [1970] The Touch [1971] Cries And Whispers [1972] Scenes From A Marriage [1973] The Magic Flute [1975] The Serpent's Egg [1977] Autumn Sonata [1978] Fårö Document 1979 [1979] From The Life Of The Marionette...
Read more

#331: OZU, Yasujiro: Late Spring (1949)

-
Image
OZU, Yasujiro (Japan) Late Spring [1949] Spine #331 DVD One of the most powerful of Yasujiro Ozu's family portraits, Late Spring (Banshun) tells the story of a widowed father who feels compelled to marry off his beloved only daughter. Eminent Ozu players Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara command this poignant tale of love and loss in postwar Japan, which remains as potent today as ever — almost alone justifying Ozu's inclusion in the pantheon of cinema's greatest directors. 108 minutes Black & White Monaural in Japanese 1:33:1 aspect ratio Criterion Release 2006 Director/Writers Based on the novel Chichi to musume (Father and Daughter) by Kazuo Hirotsu . Script by Kogo Noda and  Yasujiro Ozu . Ozu was 46 when he directed Late Spring . Other Ozu films in the Collection: Eclipse Series 42: Walk Cheerfully (1930) Eclipse Series 42: That Night's Wife (1930) Eclipse Series 10: Tokyo Chorus (1931) Eclipse Series 10: I Was Born, But . . . (1932) Ec...
Read more

#589: KIEŚLOWSKI, Krzysztof: Three Colors: White (1994)

-
Image
THREE COLORS {Spine #587} KIEŚLOWSKI, Krzysztof (France) Three Colors: White [1994] Spine #589 Blu-ray The most plalyful and also the grittiest of Krzysztof Kieślowski's Three Colors films follows the adventures of Karol Karol, a Polish immigrant living in France. The hapless hairdresser opts to leave Paris for his native Warsaw when his wife sues him for divorce (her reason: their marriage was never consummated) and then frames him for arson after setting her own salon ablaze. White , which goes on to chronicle Karol Karol's elaborate revenge plot, manages to be both a ticklish dark comedy about the economic inequalities of Eastern and Western Europe and a sublime reverie on twisted love. 91 minutes Color 2.0 Surround in French and Polish 1:85:1 aspect ratio Criterion Release 2011 Director/Writers Screenplay by Krzysztof Piesiewicz and  Krzysztof Kieślowski . Kie ś lowski was 52 when he directed  White . ** K ie ś lowski ’s earliest films were docu...
Read more