Stunning Behind The Scenes Photos From The Night Of The Hunter (1955)

Lillian Gish and Gloria Castillo

Lillian Gish and Gloria Castillo

 

Did you ever see a film that when it ends you realise you’ve not moved in your seat? I have. The Night of The Hunter is one such film. Charles Laughton’s only directorial outing stars the spellbinding Robert Mitchum as the epitome of brooding menace and undiluted evil. He is one of the greatest movie villains, killing widows for cash and satisfaction in the name of the Lord. Laughton called his film “a nightmarish sort of Mother Goose tale”. It’s better than that.

James Agee wrote the script to this haunting adaptation of Davis Grubb’s 1953 gothic novel.

Mitchum plays Reverend Harry Powell, a terrifying self-styled preacher on a mission to get at some stolen loot left by a family man hanged for his crimes. Creeping horror looms in the shadows. Stanley Cortez’s camerawork frames an otherworldly West Virginia. Unforgettable images linger: Love and Hate tattooed on Mitchum’s fingers; Mitchum riding a horse, their silhouette the only relief on a dark horizon; that submerged car carrying the dead robber’s wife Shelley Winters and Mitchum latest victim to the underworld; the children fleeing down the Ohio River, their plight seen through a spider’s web; the children’s saviour Lilian Gish sat on her stoop, gun on her lap and as she and Mitchum duet a hymn.

 

Robert Mitchum, director Charles Laughton and Lillian Gish on the set of The Night of the hunter, 1955

Robert Mitchum, director Charles Laughton and Lillian Gish on the set of The Night of the hunter, 1955

Robert Mitchum in The Night of the hunter

Robert Mitchum in The Night of the hunter

Robert Mitchum and Shelley Winters in The Night of the hunter directed by Charles Laughton, 1955

Robert Mitchum and Shelley Winters

Portrait of Billy Chapin, Robert Mitchum and Sally Jane Bruce for The Night of the hunter directed by Charles Laughton, 1955

Billy Chapin, Robert Mitchum and Sally Jane Bruce

the-night-of-the-hunter the-night-of-the-hunter-mitchum

The Night of the hunter directed by Charles Laughton, 1955

THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, Shelley Winters on set 'THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER' FILM - 1955

SALLY JANE BRUCE AND CHARLES LAUGHTON ON THE SET OF 'THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER' - 1955 VARIOUS

LILLIAN GISH AND CHARLES LAUGHTON ON THE SET OF 'THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER' - 1955 VARIOUS

Shelley Winters and Robert Mitchum 'THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER' FILM - 1955

Robert Mitchum, 1955 THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, Robert Mitchum, 1955

THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, Shelley Winters on set 'THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER' FILM - 1955

Shelley Winters in The Night of the hunter

Shelley Winters in The Night of the hunter

Robert Mitchum with director Charles Laughton

Robert Mitchum with director Charles Laughton

Charles Laughton

Charles Laughton

the night of the hunter

Robert Mitchum and Billy Chapin

Robert Mitchum and Billy Chapin

Portrait of Robert Mitchum for The Night of the hunter

Portrait of Robert Mitchum

Sally Jane Bruce, Billy Chapin and Robert Mitchum

Sally Jane Bruce, Billy Chapin and Robert Mitchum

Robert Mitchum and Shelley Winters in The Night of the hunter

Robert Mitchum in The Night of the hunter

Lillian Gish in The Night of the hunter

Lillian Gish

Shelley Winters in The Night of the hunter

Robert Mitchum, Billy Chapin and Sally Jane Bruce in The Night of the hunter

the-night-of-the-hunter-directed-by-charles-laughton-1955

Robert Mitchum on the set of The Night of the hunter

the-night-of-the-hunter-directed-by-charles-laughton-1955-a Robert Mitchum and Billy Chapin in The Night of the hunte Shelley Winters in The Night of the hunter the-night-of-the-hunter-directed-by-charles-laughton-1955-c Billy Chapin in The Night of the hunter

the-night-of-the-hunter-directed-by-charles-laughton-1955-d Robert Mitchum, Billy Chapin and Sally Jane Bruce in The Night of the hunter robert-mitchum-in-the-night-of-the-hunter-e

 

THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, Robert Mitchum, 1955 THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, Robert Mitchum, 1955

 

 

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