The Night of the Hunter
The Night of the Hunter is a 1955 American film noir thriller directed by Charles Laughton and starring Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters and Lillian Gish. The screenplay by James Agee was based on the 1953 novel of the same name by Davis Grubb. The plot involves a serial killer who poses as a preacher and charms an unsuspecting widow to get his hands on $10,000 in stolen bank loot hidden by her executed husband.
Plot
Reverend Harry Powell is a misogynistic serial killer and self-proclaimed preacher traveling along the Ohio River in West Virginia during the Great Depression. He is arrested for driving a stolen car and serves 30 days at Moundsville Penitentiary. There he shares a cell with Ben Harper, who killed two men in a bank robbery for $10,000. Harper made his children, John and Pearl, promise to never reveal where he hid the money. Despite Powell's attempts to worm it out of him, Harper takes the secret to his grave when he is hanged for the murders.
More details
author | Charles Laughton Davis Grubb James Agee |
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contentLocation | Appalachian Mountains |
director | Charles Laughton |
editor | Robert Golden |
events | capital punishment serial killer |
genre | crime horror thriller |
keywords | accused of murder arrest bank robbery derange drive fish ford model t great depression johnboat kill lynch mob married model t moundsville penitentiary ohio river old woman police station release from prison reverend harry powell river state police stolen car struggle tent revival tiny home travel west virginia west virginia penitentiary |
musicBy | Walter Schumann |
producer | Paul Gregory |
productionCompany | Paul Gregory Productions |
publisher | United Artists |
theme | film noir gothic serial killer |