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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.

Those whom haven’t seen the film will still know Powell’s famed little story of left hand/right hand. Spike Lee pays an homage to the scene in DO THE RIGHT THING. The iconic villain, Harry Powell, with hate and love tattooed across his fingers, tells the story of Cain and Abel with murder in his eye. Powell is a clear commentary on blind faith as the townsfolk fall for his fake piousness effortlessly. Willa’s busybody boss Icey Spoon (Evelyn Varden, THE BAD SEED) nearly pushes the widow into marriage with the preacher. I’d say bed, but Mrs. Spoon doesn’t think of those things, as she says she only thinks about her canning. When Willa ends up like so many women, captured in an amazing shot underwater with her hair floating along with the weeds, John and Pearl must run for their lives.

The children’s trip down the river is drawn like a fairy tale. Animals, large in the foreground, watch over the children, in the background, floating down the water like Moses. This is when good arrives. Rachel Cooper (Lillian Gish, THE BIRTH OF A NATION) is an elderly woman who takes in orphans. Her simple faith drives her actions. She understands the world’s dangers that prey on children, watching over her wards like a mother duck over her ducklings. When Powell comes prowling outside her house, she sits on the porch with a shotgun. The image of a rifle-packing Whistler’s Mother.

Charles Laughton, better known for his blustering performances in WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION and MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, directed only this film. While the screenplay is credited to James Agee (THE AFRICIAN QUEEN), Laughton hated the famed critic’s version and rewrote it. So it is truly his film. His mix of menace, dry humor and gothic imagery are balanced so they are all work in tandem. A perfect example of this is the famed basement sequence. Powell calling down into the dark basement, “Chiiiillllldren.” Upon the kids escape, Powell gets a jar over the head, slips and gets his fingers caught in the door. This all transpires in a darkly shadowed set, where the light from upstairs leads right to the scared, hiding children.

THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER has influenced many horror films since its debut. Powell standing by the gaslamp outside the Harper home is a clear influence on the famed shot of Father Merrin standing by the streetlight in THE EXORCIST. No other film is like this nightmarish dreamscape though. Like a nightmare, the world seems familiar, yet slightly askew. A slowly moving threat is always on your heels no matter how far or fast you run. But Powell gets one thing right, yessirree, in the end, it’s love that’s won, and old left hand hate is down for the count.

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