The Night of the Hunter
Leaving December 31
•
1h 32m
Directed by Charles Laughton • 1955 • United States
Starring Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish
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.
Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive in cooperation with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc., with funding provided by Robert Sturm and The Film Foundation.
Up Next in Leaving December 31
-
Barton Fink
Directed by Joel Coen • 1991 • United States
Starring John Turturro, John Goodman, Judy DavisThe Coen brothers’ darkly surreal journey through 1940s Hollywood casts John Turturro as the titular, Clifford Odets–esque New York playwright who moves to LA to work as a screenwriter for Capitol Pictu...
-
Miller’s Crossing
Directed by Joel Coen • 1990 • United States
Starring John Turturro, Gabriel Byrne, Albert FinneyA Roaring Twenties gangster saga that only the Coen brothers could concoct, MILLER’S CROSSING marries the hard-boiled sensibility of classic noir fiction with the filmmakers’ trademark savory dialog...
-
The Big Sleep
Directed by Michael Winner • 1978 • United States
Starring Robert Mitchum, Sarah Miles, Richard BooneRobert Mitchum steps into the gumshoes of detective Philip Marlowe in this bold 1970s reimagining of the Raymond Chandler classic set in England. When Marlowe takes on what appears to be a routi...
