1955 | Auteur Theory

Directed by: Charles Laughton

Cast: Robert Mitchum [Harry Powell], Billy Chapin [John Harper], Lillian Gish [Rachel Cooper]

Serving time in prison for car theft Rev. Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum), who is a religious fanatic and serial killer, meets murderer Ben Harper (Peter Graves) who confesses that he hid $10,000 that he had stolen. After being released from jail, Powell is obsessed with taking the money for himself and tracks down Harper’s widow Willa (Shelley Winters) and her two children John (Billy Chapin) and Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce).

Based on: ‘The Night of the Hunter’ written by David Grubb

My rating: 8/10

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Narrative aspects

‘The Night of the Hunter’, a film based on a book about how greed can lead to a human being losing his or her conscience and way in life, is still relatable in today’s world. The narrative progresses from one point tot he other gradually, allowing viewers to absorb and understand what is taking place within the plot without overwhelming them. Every scene contains a level of suspense and a hint of dread as the audience fell in favour of the children, the protagonists of the film, and want them to succeed. In many of the film’s moments, tension rises and falls, being replaced with another instance where John and Pearl are faced with a fate-changing situation. Though this film is a crime and thriller, in its essence it is a mystery of where the money is hidden, which spirals into the survival of the children. From the moment Ben Harper, John and Peral’s biological father, reaches home with the money in his hands, the money’s real hiding place is kept hidden and is not shown or mentioned. This involves the audience and heightens the effect that the mystery genre creates.

This film has a variety of underlying themes that provide a better understanding of the plot, characters and their emotions:

Religion – The belief system of human beings plays an im[portant role in this film, where all characters either use religion as a basis for their own advantage or show strong faith and practice. Henry Powell, the protagonist in the film, is a serial killer posing as a preacher to sway the people around him into a trance that whatever he says and does should be accepted and followed blindly without questioning. He is a tool in the brainwashing practice he follows with anyone he meets, like when marrying the widow and mother of John and Pearl, Willa Harper. He uses religious biblical verses out of context and bends their meanings to fit his own personal interests and get away with the deceiving-kind attitude he presents to the outside world. It makes an audience question what is right and wrong since someone posing as a preacher could commit heinous crimes in a film does not mean it cannot happen in reality. To juxtapose his character, Ms Rachel Cooper, an old woman who has devoted her like to taking care of young children that don’t have a home, is one of strong belief and uses it in the correct ways while sharing biblical triumphs and stories with the children to allow them to understand the situations they encounter in their everyday lives. The film starts with Ms Cooper telling a story to the children she cares for which references some verses from the Bible which actually does foreshadow the story that would proceed in the film:

Now, you remember children how I told you last Sunday about the good Lord going up into the mountain and talking to the people… And then the good Lord went on to say, ‘Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly, they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit. Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Wherefore by their fruits, ye shall know them.’

Authority – The film has constant references towards authority and how character’s sacrifice their individuality and free-will in the hands of much superior force, whether human or other. This relationship is seen in Henry Powell and his -not-so-genuine belief in God and religion and using that level of authority to get away with his disgraceful choices. Moreover, Ben Harper is an authority figure to his son John Harper, who is given the task to guard the secret of where the money his father stole is hidden with his life. This commitment completely changes the way young John lives his life and the way he acts, becoming a more mature child and acting as the caretaker of his sister when his parents cannot. Similarly, Henry Powell is an authority figure in the eyes of Willa Harper, John and Peal’s mother, while also Ms Cooper is someone the children look up to and obey. The film’s theme of authority battles between giving authority to the correct person for the correct purpose against depending on authority to help you escape impossible situations for which one is guilty.
Good (Innocence) vs. Evil (Greed and Deception) – Without a doubt, the concept of ‘Good vs. Evil’ is linked to every scene, plot point, character and theme as well. While Henry Powell acts as a manifestation of Evil in the film, the people around him are, in a surface-level sense, the counter Good. Powell is fueled by his greed and materialistic behaviour while also using the art of deception to sneak past unsuspecting town-folk and achieve his goals. The saying ‘Looks can be deceiving’ is one that is the main message of the film where, while Powell seems good because he’s a ‘preacher’ and spreads the ‘word of God’ but is completely far from it, John comes out as being a strong-willed individual with the loyalty towards his father in his possession and the determination to bring injustice to his step-father. On the other side, when looking at greed and deception, the persistence in manipulating a child, like Powell does with Pearl and asks her to play the ‘secrets game’, exhibits the level of inhumanity a person can possess to confirm that they succeed in their business. It is a sad and devastating reality of the world and how many people use this tool for their own selfish desires. In this way, this film is very relatable in any time period since the characteristic of being selfish or greedy is close to being innate in people.

To add on, the film sports a few parallel moments, ones that are visually similar and others that reference other characters in literature. Firstly, the film’s starting involves a scene where John watches his biological father, Ben Harper, being taken down and arrested by the police to be sentenced to hanging. This causes the boy to feel extremely distressed and angry, shouting out to the policemen to stop hurting his father. While the audience is met with the young boy’s courage and determination to keep his father’s secret safe, the film exposes John to another moment towards the end that mirrors the way in which his father was taken away, but this time having Henry Powell to be the subject being arrested. John is taken aback by the similarity to something that happened very recently in his life and is immediately distressed as he lives through this ‘deja vu’ moment once again. To move forward, other parallels in the film include the story of Blue Beard and the concept of Old Mother Goose, which are both allusions to literature. Blue Beard shares a similar story to ‘The Night of the Hunter’ while Old Mother Goose is seen to be similar to the way Ms Cooper acts and cares for the children in her care.

Infer & Deduce: The choice for the film’s title could be because it is based on the book by the same name. This way, people can relate their understanding to the book and may even want to seek out the book after enjoying the film, and reading it for further entertainment. Though, digging deeper into the overall meaning and significance, ‘The Night of the Hunter’ could be a literal order of words put together. Many of the scenes and especially important plot-progressors, do take place at night, the film plays around very intelligently with shadows and the main Antagonist, Henry Powell, is depicted quite like a hunter who is after the money hidden by the children, whom he refers to as ‘lambs’.

An interesting thing to note about the film is the biblical references Henry Powell communicates with the letter markings on his hands, the left hand spelling out ‘HATE’ and the right-hand spelling ‘LOVE’. What is an implicit and subliminal reference to the plot and the character in the film turns out to actually be something very intelligent, with on the film’s poster the left hand’s knuckles being on display pointing straight to the camera. Before even watching the film, a viewer would notice and understand that the character in the picture, Powell, is associated with negativity.

Technical Aspects

The film uses a variety of technical aspects to get its implicit meaning across to the audience. While shot types and angles, like bird’s eye view and close-ups to establish the setting and convey deep emotions felt by the characters, respectively, are used with their significance to capture a moment in the film with ambiguity but still providing a lot of information, music in ‘The Night of the Hunter’ plays a key role in the suspense and thriller atmosphere heightened throughout. The loud booming soundtrack adds a sense of danger to the backdrop of the film while the lyrical songs scattered across which are sung by different characters give the film an eerie feel, for example, the song that Powell sings ‘Leaning on the Everlasting Arms’ (‘a hymn published in 1887 with music by Anthony J. Showalter and lyrics by Showalter and Elisha Hoffman.’ – Wikipedia) may have an innocent and soothing nature and meaning though it becomes associated with Powell committing his acts of crime.

Along with the above, the major aspect of the film, for which it is famous for, is the use of lighting to complement the nature of the scenes. Lighting in the film is used to maintain a degree of secrecy, ambiguity and mystery, in a film that is all about its suspense. The play with shadows in the film impact the way in which characters and scenes are perceived by the audience. The expressionistic usage of light, rather than realistic, is what makes Henry Powell a cunning criminal with psychopathic tendencies, and on the other hand, the light technique makes the audience feel pity for the children while being shadowed in the large and devasting world they live in. These messages are constantly switched from one to another and it adds to the ever-changing attitude of the audience towards the way certain characters act. To add on, the lighting setup is done decently well, with accuracy and consideration given to the time of day and the source of light (like the position of the sun and moon, or lamps and candles inside or outside the setting). It seems as though a lot of the day scenes have been shot with natural lighting and a limited use of added external lights to enhance the scene. This allows the characters to seem more realistic rather than over-exposed. Though on the other hand, many of the scenes take place in the night and this compliments the shadowy, eerie feeling portrayed throughout the film. An interesting concept in relation to lighting is that in a couple of scenes the lighting technique creates the shape of a triangle around characters. Being a film with a major influence of faith and belief, the triangular shape of light could symbolise the Holy Trinity.

Favourite Scene

When Henry Powell is out to catch John and Pearl once and for all, they escape his villainous capture by rowing a book down a river bank and letting the current guide them to wherever they can find shelter. This scene is one of the more calmer and non-distressing parts of the movie that actually makes one quite sad for the poor children who never asked for such a complicated life. The first significant thing about the clip is the song that young Pearl sings to herself and her doll:

Once upon a time there was a pretty fly
He had a pretty wife, this pretty fly
But one day she flew away, flew away
She had two pretty children
But one night these two pretty children flew away… flew away
Into the sky
Into the moon

The lullaby bears a lot of similarities to the situation John and Pearl are in the middle of, involving their own parents and the fact that they have been taken away or have ‘flown away’ from them. The effect of this song in this scene makes the audience feel more emotional and sympathetic towards the children, growing their desire to see them have a happy ending and find a family once again. The symbolism in this song is strong, with comparing the children and their parents to bugs and ‘normal folk’ whose lives are pretty insignificant to the dominating predators, like human beings and in this case, Henry Powell, who could just swat these ‘flies’ away in order to successfully receive his desires.

Another interesting concept portrayed in this scene is how the children, in their wooden boat, pass by a couple of animals who are seen living in their homes, like a spider on its web and a frog by the water. This could perhaps symbolise that through the children progressing forward down the river, they have no home or place of belonging, compared to these animals who seem to have a satisfactory system of survival. John and Pearl are drifting forward with no idea about what the future could have for them and yet desperately needing to escape the comfort of their home since the threat of Henry Powell rules over them.

Another brilliant aspect used in the film, regarding mise-en-scene, is the use of lighting to portray a certain tone and mood in scenes. Though the lighting angle constantly changes, where at one point the character’s face is illuminated and the next it is not, the use of ‘natural’ moonlight appearing to shimmer and glisten as a reflection on the river adds a fairytale-like feel and atmosphere as John and Pearl drift ahead in the clam and dark night. The moonlight alone is enough to illuminate the scene and yet keep some aspects hidden in the shadows to continue the ambiguity the film has created for the audience. The scene is very simplistic and it is this point that deepens the meaning and the emotions projected onto the audience. The fact that children of such a young age as John and Pearl have to suffer such tragic and horrific times makes the audience feel more sympathetic towards them. One loophole in the lighting choice and direction is that during a wide shot of the boat on the water, the stars shine down on the characters but the moon, that is clearly seen reflected in the water, does not appear in the sky. This is a lacking on the design part since the backdrop omitted such a large part of the setting that would make the lighting logical and natural.

What would I do differently?

I thoroughly enjoyed this film’s plot and method of production. For the time, it looks incredible and it is brilliant that the story is still applicable in today’s time. If I were to create this film, I would aim to have a better continuity with the lighting. In many scenes the direction of light changes with the type of shot like, for instance, the scene where Ms Cooper is sitting near a window with her gun while singing a song. When the shot transitions from a medium shot to a close-up, the lighting changes. Though it is done to create an effect to imply certain hidden messages of the character’s emotions, it is pretty illogical since light definitely does not work like that in life. Moreover, I would use a better grade of special effects along with making the film in full colour. This would enable a modern audience to connect with the film better as it would be of the standard that films are of nowadays.