The Night Of The Hunter is probably one of the best movies ever made that never got the attention or recognition it truly deserves. The story behind the making of the movie is as interesting as the movie itself and it deals with egos and tormented artists. The movie was directed by the great actor Charles Laughton and many people feel that because it was unusual for actors to direct back in 1955 and there was also a certain stigma against British actors directing that has long been thought of as the reason why The Night Of The Hunter was never nominated for an Oscar and also why The Night Of The Hunter flopped at the box office. So strong was the stigma against the director that it was thought to be to large a hurdle for the movie to jump. Gary Cooper was offered the lead role but turned it down because he felt the movie would damage his career and it had nothing to do with the story or the script.

The Night Of The Hunter is dark movie about a preacher named Reverend Harry Powell who is a religious fanatic. Powell goes around marrying rich widows and then murders them because he feels that he is doing God’s work by getting rid of these temptresses. Powell is eventually arrested for stealing a car and winds up spending time in prison with condemned killer named Ben Harper played by Peter Graves. Harper tells Powell about $10,000 he had stolen in a different crime and Powell tries to get Harper to tell him where the money is hidden. The money is hidden in Harper’s daughter’s doll but Harper never tells Powell and eventually Harper is executed for his crimes. Powell calls on Harper’s widow and courts her to the point where eventually she agrees to marry him. After the wedding Powell informs Harper’s widow Willa, played by Shelley Winters, that they will never consummate the marriage as that is sinful and Willa sinks into a deep depression and she realizes her fate and resigns herself to it. Eventually Willa catches Powell trying to get the daughter to reveal the location of the money but the children never reveal where it is. In the end the children wind up escaping down a river and the movie ends with them setting out with the money in hand.

The Night Of The Hunter was originally written by James Agee and stories have circulated for years that Charles Laughton fired Agee and rewrote the script himself. The truth, as was recently revealed, is that Laughton did not want to direct a movie that had the original 293 page script that Agee had written and told Agee to cut the script down over and over until it was to a point that Laughton could use it. Agee’s contract for the movie was renewed and in the end it was Agee’s script that was used. Laughton hated children and refused, on many occasions, to direct the children in this movie. Robert Mitchum wound up directing the children but received no director credit. In the end the experience was so horrible for Laughton that he vowed to never direct another movie again. Even though he continued to act in movies, Laughton never again directed just as he had promised.