The Film: Having already conquered stage and screen as an actor, Charles Laughton chose the 1950s as the time to helm his directorial debut. The result was Night Of The Hunter, an adaptation of author Henry Grubbs novel of the same name, which sees a psychotic ex con work his way into a widows affections while being secretly hellbent on unearthing the spoils of her dead husbands loot. Its hard finding where to start laying the plaudits with this unique feature Robert Mitchum turns in one of cinemas greatest ever performances as the faux evangelical Harry Powell, Laughton draws on Europes silent greats to inform the way this was shot and Walter Schumanns score is still terrifying and whats even harder is the fact that as the film was neither a critical or commercial hit for United Artists, Laughton was put off enough by this response to never direct another feature film again. Classic Moment: As the film enters its final third, the terrified Harper children take to a skiff and escape from a howling Powell. As they paddle by night, Laughton employs expressionist angles, lens shadows to an art form and frames his shots with all manner of nocturnal creatures in order to form a jarring sense of tranquillity and menace.
Shaun is a former contributor for a number of Future Publishing titles and more recently worked as a staffer at Imagine Publishing.
He can now be found banking in the daytime and writing a variety of articles for What Culture, namely around his favourite topics of film, retro gaming, music, TV and, when he's feeling clever, literature.
