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Night of the Hunter, The: BFI Film Classics

31-Dec-00

96 pages

Published/distributed by BFI Publishing

ISBN/EAN: 9780851708225

Paperback

Price: £4.99

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Night of the Hunter, The: BFI Film Classics

Callow, Simon

The Night of the Hunter was Charles Laughton's only film as director. Adapted from a bestselling novel by Davis Grubb, it is part expressionist horror movie, part luminous fairytale, and contains some of the most haunting images in cinema: Willa (Shelley Winters), her throat cut and hair streaming out like seaweed, sitting in a submerged Model T Ford; her children, framed by looming animals, in a downriver flight from Preacher (Robert Mitchum), a silhouetted threat on the horizon.

The Night of the Hunter is revered today, but it failed on its first release, and Laughton never recovered from the disappointment. Simon Callow explores Laughton's transition between film actor and director, and examines the considerable influence the film has had on subsequent film-makers such as Neil Jordan and even Callow himself.

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