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The
Night of the Hunter (1955)
In actor/director Charles Laughton's only directed
film - a remarkable debut film noir, a truly compelling, haunting,
and frightening classic masterpiece thriller-fantasy:
- the opening, voice-over delivered by plain, Bible-fearing
farm woman Rachel Cooper (Lillian Gish), dressed in a plain dress
with shoulder shawl, who magically materialized over the star-filled
night background; she spoke to her five disembodied foster children
around her and suspended in the heavens, and told them a Bible
story about false prophets ("ravening wolves") in sheep's
clothing, while a chorus sang 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.'...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" - there was a brief view of children discovering
the legs of the corpse of a murdered woman inside a basement entrance
while they were playing hide-and-seek
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The Preacher in Stolen Model T
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- the next image of a terrifying and deranged killer-evangelist
Rev. Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) with borderline sanity - a sinister,
crazed, malevolent, black-cloaked, wide-brimmed and hatted 'Preacher'
- a serial killer driving in a stolen Model T Essex, and his chilling,
perversely evil and memorable monologue to the Lord as he glanced
heavenward and delivered an insane prayer, asking permission to
kill another rich widow: "Well now, what's it to be Lord?
Another widow? How many has it been? Six? Twelve? I disremember.
(He tipped 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"
- the first sight of his finger tattoos: LOVE and HATE
emblazoned on the fingers of his right and left hands, seen as Rev.
Powell attended a strip show - his left hand, tattooed with the letters "H-A-T-E" on
his four fingers, clenched and then reached in his coat pocket to
grab his concealed switchblade knife; as his libido was aroused,
the flick-knife spontaneously opened - a sexual phallic symbol -
violently and orgasmically ready to strike
- the ominous scene, shot with a slanted camera angle,
as a train approached the depressed rural town of Cresap's Landing
- carrying Powell who had been released from prison and was in malevolent
pursuit of a $10,000 cache of money, believed to be in the possession
of the Harper family: widowed wife Willa Harper (Shelley Winters),
and her two children: young 9 year-old John Harper (Billy Chapin),
and young Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce)
- the frightening moment of Powell's shadow filling
the window of the children's bedroom - it was the preacher dressed
all in black standing by the streetlight in front of their house;
he strolled away, seductively singing a modified version of his signature
tune (and the film's ironic refrain), the hymn - "Leaning on
the Everlasting Arms": "Leaning, leaning..."
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The Preacher's Shadow - Standing Under Streetlight
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- the sequence of Powell's favorite hand-wrestling
sermon told to young John and other admirers in the town's store
- a monologue that provided commentary on the eternal battle between
the forces of good and evil that grappled together: "Ah, little
lad, you're starin' at my fingers. Would you like me to tell you
the little story of Right Hand-Left Hand - the story of good and
evil? (He rose and flexed the fingers of his left hand) H-A-T-E!
It was with this left hand that old brother Cain struck the blow
that laid his brother low. (He raised his right hand) L-O-V-E.
You see these fingers, dear hearts? These fingers has veins that
run straight to the soul of man. The right hand, friends! The hand
of love! Now watch and I'll show you the story of life"; he
pretended that his hands were battling each other in a schizophrenic
wrestling match - the struggle between good and evil, love and
hate - his warring inner demons: "These fingers, dear hearts,
is always a-warrin' and a-tuggin', one agin the other. Now, watch
'em. Ol' brother Left Hand. Left hand, he's a-fightin'. And it
looks like LOVE's a goner. But wait a minute, wait a minute! Hot
dog! LOVE's a winnin'? Yes, siree. It's LOVE that won, and ol'
Left Hand HATE is down for the count!"
- the tortuous wedding night scene between the Preacher
and Willa Harper, who was dressed in a nightgown as she stood barefoot
in front of a bathroom mirror before joining her virile husband
in bed - she was vulnerable and ready to consummate her love, but
he lectured her about not having any more children: "Look
at yourself! What do ya see, girl? You see the body of a woman,
the temple of creation and motherhood. You see the flesh of Eve
that man since Adam has profaned. That body was meant for begettin'
children. It was not meant for the lust of men. Do you want
more children, Willa?...It's the business of this marriage to mind
those two you have now, not to beget more"
- the off-screen scene of the preacher violently coaxing
Pearl to disclose where her father hid the money: "Where's
the money hid? You tell me, you little wretch, or I'll tear your
arm off!"
- Willa's frightening knifing murder scene in a A-frame
bedroom - she was resigned to her death with her arms crossed over
her chest; Powell delivered a benediction, and then raised his switchblade
knife high above her (in his right hand - the one marked with LOVE)
to carry out the ritualistic murder - on the altar-bed
- the creepy, nightmarish, hypnotically-eerie discovery
of Willa's corpse sitting underwater in a Model T with her long blonde
hair tangling, swaying, and mingling diaphanously in the current
with the river's underwater reeds
- the pursuit sequence in the basement fruit cellar
as the homicidal Powell (Frankenstein-like), who had just learned
that the money was hidden in Pearl's doll, chased the two children
up the stairs with arms outstretched
- the children's escape and flight to their father's
skiff, where Powell waded out and lunged toward them with a knife,
but slipped waist-deep in the mudhole as the skiff slid into the
current just out of his reach - and the lyrical, fairy-tale-like
nighttime sequence of their floating down the river amidst God's
benevolent creatures on the shoreline (a croaking frog, rabbits,
an owl, tortoise, sheep, and a spider's web)
- the distant silhouette of the preacher on horseback
(a stolen horse) against the night-time sky as the children slept
in a barn's hayloft
- the preacher's first acquaintance with his strong-willed
opponent - a kindly, warm-hearted, benevolent savior Mrs. Rachel
Cooper, an elderly matriarchal widow who protectively rescued children:
("I'm a strong tree with branches for many birds. I'm good for
somethin' in this old world, and I know it, too"), and brought
Pearl and John to her farmhouse, and defended against the Preacher's
intrusion with a shotgun
- the image of Rachel sitting on the porch in a rocking
chair on a screened-in porch (looking like Whistler's Mother) with
the shotgun across her lap to battle against him with her own vigil;
as he stood outside and sang his rendition of the hymn with the words: "Leaning,
leaning..., she countered by defiantly and harmoniously singing the
authentic version of the Protestant religious hymn with a spiritual
reference to Jesus: "Lean on Jesus, lean on Jesus"
Dueling Hymns
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Rachel Prepared to Save Children - With a Shotgun
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Powell's Arrest
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Final Words: "They Abide and They Endure"
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- in the conclusion, the arrest of Powell, the reveal
of the money, and Rachel's triumphant, reassuring final words at
Christmas-time as she marveled about the orphaned, brutalized children
who had reclaimed their innocence, after many nights of being hunted
by a demon; she delivered a prayer: "Lord, save little children.
The wind blows and the rain's a-cold. Yet they abide...They abide
and they endure"
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Rachel: "Beware of false prophets"
Discovery of Corpse of Murdered Woman
Powell's Left Hand Tattoo
The Ominous Train Bringing Powell to Cresap's Landing
Willa's Torturous Wedding Night with The Preacher
Willa's Murder
Pursuit of the Children Up From the Basement Cellar
Pursuit of Children Escaping in Skiff
Shoreline Creatures - A Frog
The Children's Flight From the Preacher - Seen on Horseback
Rachel Cooper
(Lillian Gish)
Protecting the Children From the Preacher
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