Saying that The Night of the Hunter is a film that must be watched, if not only for those gorgeous camera shots.“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. Since the dialogue is lifted straight from the book, it does not work too well in the film’s context. The acting is hammy, something I would not expect from both Robert Mitchum or Lillian Gish, with only the children being the saving grace.

However the film is not without it’s fault. I also did like the fact that Laughton ditched the surreal dream sequence and replaced it with a scene that breaks the fourth wall.

I was amazed that such camera tricks could be pulled off in that era. There are tons of amazing shots throughout the whole movie. Laughton enhances the novel’s southern culture by including various fauna and replicating the aesthetic, and trust me, the aesthetic of the film is strong. The film is a carbon copy of the book, this being 1955, the more explicit scenes in the book are toned down, same with the bad language (bastard and dammit) are omitted. The Night of the Hunter is a thrilling novel that encapsulates suspense from it’s beginning to the final paragraph. Not to mention the ending, which is basically one of the children narrating the final events, in which he thinks he is dreaming.Īs with all most southern gothic novels, there are passages which describe the south: one character speaks about garfish, some descriptions about the marshland, Grubb goes as far to describe a typical steamboat ride down the Mississippi. Or the preacher going to burlesque shows and fondling his knife as he is both angry and aroused at so much flesh. There’s a creepy, eerie vibe and quite a few weird moments, like the cellmate’s widow announcing her sins while naked in front of a mirror.

When the preacher is released he sets on his mission to find the money even if it means killing anything that stands in his way. Later on he finds out that his cellmate, who will be hanged, has hidden 10, 000 dollars and only his two children know the location. Like Southern gothic literature Davis Grubb’s novel is a tale of greed, murder, sex and deceit: A preacher, who is a serial killer,is arrested for stealing a car. I’ve heard of the film being a cult classic but I never even knew it was an adaptation. The first film is Davis Grubb’s The Night of the Hunter, written in 1953 and then adapted by Charles Laughton in 1955 is an interesting choice. Although I’m pretty good on the book side, I’m quite lacking when it comes to films but out of the 12 books, I’ve only read 2 and out of the 12 films, I’ve only seen 2 so I was keen to educate myself. When booktuber, Adam at Memento Mori set up a book club, where one reads a book and then watches the adaptation over the course of a year, I was quite eager to participate.

The night of the hunter davis grubb