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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Binding: DVD
EAN: 3344429008368
Format: NTSC
Region Code: 2
Running Time: 93 minutes
Theatrical Release Date: May 11, 1956
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com essential video:
In the entire history of American movies, The Night of the Hunter stands out as the rarest and most exotic of specimens. It is, to say the least, a masterpiece--and not just because it was the only movie directed by flamboyant actor Charles Laughton or the only produced solo screenplay by the legendary critic James Agee (who also cowrote The African Queen). The truth is, nobody has ever made anything approaching its phantasmagoric, overheated style in which German expressionism, religious hysteria, fairy-tale fantasy (of the Grimm-est variety), and stalker movie are brought together in a furious boil. Like a nightmarish premonition of stalker movies to come, Night of the Hunter tells the suspenseful tale of a demented preacher (Robert Mitchum, in a performance that prefigures his memorable villain in Cape Fear), who torments a boy and his little sister--even marries their mixed-up mother (Shelley Winters)--because he's certain the kids know where their late bank-robber father hid a stash of stolen money. So dramatic, primal, and unforgettable are its images--the preacher's shadow looming over the children in their bedroom, the magical boat ride down a river whose banks teem with fantastic wildlife, those tattoos of LOVE and HATE on the unholy man's knuckles, the golden locks of a drowned woman waving in the current along with the indigenous plant life in her watery grave--that they're still haunting audiences (and filmmakers) today. --Jim Emerson
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Dream within a Dream.
As you watch this film, the irrational, troubling feeling that you know it... that the horror you mother tried to soothe away with a sip of sugar water saying, hush, it was only a dream... which you've always tried to forget, had been lurking here all the time, waiting for the unguarded moment to get you....
The Night of the Hunter awakes a primal sense of evil and fear as no other film I know. Robert Mitchum embodies evil which is profound and petty, vicious and maudlin, prescient and ... Read More
Rating:  - Ham-handed direction, wooden acting, choppy editing
This movie is so well-loved in certain quarters that I hesitate to trash it, but I simply cannot recommend it.
Charles Laughton's quasi-expressionistic direction is extremely stilted and out-of-date. The actors are dreadfully hammy, particularly Robert Mitchum as the scenery-chewing baddie at the center of the film and Shelley Winters as the zombie-like woman he kills. What little acting she does is not only cut short by Mitchum's knife but by ridiculously rapid cutting from scene to scene, ... Read More
Rating: - L-O-V-E / H-A-T-E Relationship...
Lillian Gish opens this movie w/ a warning to beware of wolves in sheep's clothing. This sets the stage for the Reverend Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum from the equally classic Cape Fear), who roams the countryside searching for converts (aka: victims) to his special brand of fire-and-brimstone religion. This religion includes Powell's "listening to the voice of God", which will lead him to a town where he can prey upon the ignorant souls within. Enter Shelley Winters (Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?, Poseiden Adventure) ... Read More
Rating: - It's the night of the hunter...
The best kind of horror comes not from monsters or ghosts, but from other human beings. "Cape Fear," "Heavenly Creatures," and other such movies are brilliant examples of this.
But one of the most compelling examples is "Night of the Hunter," a haunting movie that slowly descends into an exquisitely-filmed, brilliantly-acted nightmare about a malign preacher and the two children who are trying to escape. Like an old fairy tale by a modern Grimm, it's full of terror, magic, beauty and darkness -- and ... Read More
Rating: - Great Classic
This is a tuly excellent classic movie. My entire family enjoyed it! Great dramatic performances from Robert Mitchum and Shelly Winters. I am so glad that movies like this are still in circulation , I just can't stomach much of what is on the silver screen today! This movie is a keeper!
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