The Night of the Hunter

Charles Laughton's only film as a director is today justly celebrated as a beautiful pastoral nightmare, with Robert Mitchum giving a fire-and-brimstone performance as Harry Powell, a demonic con man in preacher's robes who marries a trusting widow, Willa (Shelley Winters), solely to secure $10,000 stolen by her now-deceased husband. But the whereabouts of the stash is known only to the dead man's 9-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter. Suffice it to say the two children wind up orphans, stalked by the terrifying Powell, but eventually sheltered by Rachel Cooper (Lillian Gish), a tough but tender shepherd of lost sheep. James Agee scripted the 1955 adaptation of Davis Grubb's novel, bringing great poetry to the dialogue, which Laughton matches with his dynamic imagery. Part rural film noir, part expressionist parable, The Night of the Hunter is an American original, a masterpiece from the classical era of filmmaking. Previously available in a movie-only edition from MGM, Criterion delivers stunning DVD and Blu-ray editions with a magnificent transfer and the correct aspect ratio (1.66:1, not the open-matte 1.33 of a previous release). Extras include the epic 159-minute documentary Charles Laughton Directs the Night of the Hunter(composed almost entirely of outtakes and production footage, which provide a one-of-a-kind record of Laughton's direction of actors), as well as audio commentary, an original retrospective documentary, interviews, and archival clips (including a rarity from The Ed Sullivan Show, with Winters and costar Peter Graves performing a scene that was cut from the film). Highly recommended. (S. Axmaker)