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Arguably the strangest American classic, THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER is truly haunting for so many reasons. This screen parable pits good versus evil in the forms of a pious old woman and an evil preacher. The rest of the cast seems to be in a dazed purgatory between the two. A cosmic game of tug-of-war for the souls of the characters, and religion is the playing field. Making this epic struggle all the more haunting is its mix of horror, humor and expressionism.

Preacher Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum, THE LONGEST DAY) travels the countryside murdering widows for their money. Landing himself in prison for stealing a car, he’s made cellmates with Ben Harper (Peter Graves, TV’s MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE), a bank robber set to hang for murdering two people in the process. He hid $10,000 at his home and Powell wants to get his hands on it. Upon release, Powell sets his sights on Harper’s widow Willa (Shelley Winters, LOLITA), a meek, easily swayed woman. Her son John (Billy Chapin) doesn’t like the menacing man of God right from the start, but his little sister Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce) seems as weak-willed as her mother, and holds the money inside her beloved doll.

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