Even before the credits finish, you can tell
Night of the Hunter won’t be your average
western…or thriller…or anything else. You hear
music—straight out of the most savage westerns. Music
that screams out: a killer’s coming—Lee van Cleef… maybe Robert
Mitchum?
And facing the killer down–John Wayne… Gregory Peck?
No, a young boy alone, really alone, in a world of chaos.
Abruptly, the music changes into a child’s lullaby,
“Dream Little One, Dream.” You can’t figure
out what’s going on, but if you have a pulse, you are getting
curious.
Night of the Hunter is now ranked
as an American classic, a World classic. Yet when it was
released (1955) it did not make money. Its director, the
great actor Charles Laughton worked long and hard to get
everything the way he wanted. He dreamed of directing more
movies. But the poor showing at theaters stopped him cold—he
never directed another.
One problem–the movie was hard to put in a category.
Second, maybe 50’s audiences felt it was too creepy—they had
enough anxiety in real life, thank you. Soviet Union moving
into Eastern Europe. Atomic bomb tests.
Most of us wanted something reassuring— something
telling us basically, if you go to church every week, then
things should be okay.
But in this movie, almost everyone believes in God
and the church… at least they claim to. Yet the most devoted man
of God—the self appointed preacher Harry Powell is a serial
killer. Many are taken in by him.
People are narrow-minded, often mean-spirited. Most
50’s movie-goers were looking for escape… and this wasn’t
it.
No one can forget Harry Powell, the fanatic with one
hand tattooed “LOVE” the other “HATE.” The riveting sermon
using his hands that he preaches at a minute’s notice.
Robert Mitchum’s iconic role–sociopath posing as a man of God
But overshadowed by this great character and Mitchum’s great
performance is an under-rated character and performance—the boy
John Harper, played by Billy Chapin. His career shorted out
before the 60’s even began; he was still a teenager.
He is a kid forced to be a man. People
around him want to help but they are useless. His world is
in free fall. John becomes hard as nails—by necessity.
Yet later you see his need for love…his acceptance of
love—it hits you like a mule’s kick.
Billy Chapin as John; a forgotten actor giving a much
under-rated performance
The story begins with an overhead shot of a
small town on a river. Far from the noise and stress of the
big city. The good old days…
Not for long. A group of young kids approach
cellar stairs behind a house. Sprawled on the stairs the
dead body of a woman.
Next, Harry Powell driving through the countryside
and small towns. Loudly asking God what’s next for him.
He says he hates women wearing anything provocative.
But when you see him next, he’s in a burlesque theater.
You have a bad feeling—a religious fanatic with some heavy
compulsions.
Harry watches the burlesque show
Meanwhile a young brother and sister sit
quietly, not knowing their peace is about to be shattered—forever.
Suddenly their dad appears, on the run after a bank
robbery: he killed two people. Only a minute to tell his son John
everything.
I’m hiding the money I stole. Only you will
know where. You can’t tell anyone where it’s hid. From that
moment, John is thrust into an adult’s world. Again and
again, the movie reminds you he has no choice.
The father, Ben Harper is sentenced to hang.
Sharing Ben’s cell is the same fanatic, sentenced to
30 days for car theft. Ben talks about the money in his
sleep; Harry is desperate to know where the cash was hidden.
Ben quotes the Bible; “a child shall lead them.
You see John’s new life—all quiet desperation.
Kids sing a nasty song about a guy being executed—they don’t
care if John and Pearl hear them.
The movie goes out of its way to make Harry seem a
force of nature. The proverbial wolf in lamb’s clothing that
eventually finds us. You see his shadow as a train speeds
by; he sings a hymn loudly. A man mentions meeting him.
Next the preacher is in town. Doing the dramatic ‘Love
and Hate’ parable again. John stares at him with pure
dislike; he knows bullshit when he hears it.
But John is finding out fast that no
one else can see through Harry. The store owner Mrs. Spoon
is taken with the preacher from the beginning, and she is someone
people listen to. She is shallow, vain, ignorant…and sure
about her small-minded opinions. Her words are important in
getting Harry to stay, and in getting Willa, John’s passive mother
to marry him.
Maybe this was the biggest reason people disliked
this movie in 1955, for not taking that populist attitude.
That down-home, salt-of-the-earth people may not be
educated, but they have instincts; they can spot a liar by
intuition.
Here, they often come off like Mrs. Spoon. Not
just foolish but self-assured in their foolishness. A good
talker with Bible-knowledge can sucker them.
A facade no one sees through
Once again, you watch John, unable to control what
happens around him. He can only try to stay strong.
His mother, without much will of her own, soon agrees to
marry the preacher. John snaps at Harry: “You’ll never be my
dad. You’ll never make me tell—“
He catches himself a second too late; he knows Harry
knows.
The honeymoon is painful for Willa. Not so
much that Harry says sex is disgusting, but the way he throws it
in her face. Telling her—look at yourself in the mirror (she
is not even dressed slutty).
Willa becomes a powerful speaker at Harry’s prayer
meetings. But even she can finally realize Harry wants more
than preaching. The subject of the stolen money will not go
away.
Willa has a realization. A strange one.
She tells Harry the Lord brought him into her life to
deliver her from sin. The money is gone but that no longer
matters, only her soul being saved.
Harry’s reaction is quick and brutal; he stabs her
to death. Next day the grieving preacher tearfully tells
Mr. and Mrs. Spoon that Willa drank, took the car and ran away.
But he will do the right thing by his kids. All the
while, the hand tattooed HATE stares right in your face.
Here, the movie goes furthest into horror film
territory. The next time the children see Harry, they watch
him through a filthy basement window. John suspects
(correctly) that nothing can stop Harry now from hurting them.
So much of the next stretch is shown from the kids’
point of view—watch the shot where Harry talks to them from the
top of the basement stairs. For the first time he shows them
his knife…and mentions using it on ”meddlers.” Both kids
know he means it.
John’s plan is to say the money is in the
basement—and somehow get the time to escape. But Harry’s not
stupid—he tells both kids to come down with him.
You see Harry put a hand on John for the first time;
forcing his head against the top of a barrel. Harry pulls
out his knife—like someone about to make a ritual sacrifice.
Pearl can’t take anymore; she tells him the money is inside
her doll.
Before Harry can move, John drops a heavy shelf on
him. For a second it looks like both are within reach of a
furious monster…then Harry’s foot slips on a glass jar.
Terrifying; you remind yourself, these are children.
They get a rowboat. The look of the movie is
suddenly different. Dark sky, large bright stars; more like
an illustration from a kid’s book. Almost as if the children
have left the everyday world and entered a fantasy.
But ‘fantasy’ is not the same as ‘safe.’ You
see a shot of their rowboat far off, and much closer, a thick
spider web—the boat seems to pass right through it.
The message is clear—Harry is part of this dream
world. On a stolen white horse, he patiently follows the
river road. Days pass. Once in the dead of night, John
hears him singing a hymn as he rides by. “Don’t he
ever sleep?” John asks himself.
Exhausted, half-starved, the children reach a muddy
riverbank and sleep a long time after sunrise. A shot of the
daytime sky; dark clouds but a holy light breaking free. A
woman calls to them, sounding tough, like a disciplinarian.
But lighthearted music makes you feel that first impression
is wrong. And the words she speaks tell you for sure:
“Gracious, so I’ve got two more mouths to feed.”
Unconditional love.
Pearl is more than happy to find a new family.
(Four other kids live with Rachel Cooper, this gracious
older woman.) John is afraid to trust anyone.
Slowly, you feel him open up, risk trusting Rachel.
When she takes the kids into town, people know her eccentric
ways. But they definitely like and respect her…John can see
it.
Rachel tells a Bible story. Everyone
faces her except John. But he listens to every word.
When the two of them are alone Rachel tells John to get her
an apple. A long pause. “And get one for yourself
too.”
Not for the first time, she asks him about his
parents. Hesitantly, John puts his hand on top of hers.
It’s a powerful moment. His need for love was not
dead; only frozen inside him a long time.
But it was certain Harry would find John and Pearl.
He rides up to the house on the white horse. You want
to believe he has finally met his match; someone who sees him for
what he is, who will risk everything to protect her children.
You want to believe that John’s time in Hell
may finally end. Life has taught him the world is not a safe
place. He has met bad people, actively ignorant people.
His mother was passive she failed her kids. His (real)
father made a decision too, one that left his kids alone.
Much later in the movie, you see an owl looking for food,
then a rabbit. From inside, Rachel hears the rabbit’s
scream. “It’s a hard world for little ones,” she says.
Rachel (silent film star Lillian Gish)–the first to protect
John and Pearl
Rachel is special, unlike anyone John knew
before. Not that she knows everything. Her oldest foster
child Ruby fools her a long time, sayings she goes to town for
sewing lessons. She is actually hanging out with town boys.
But Rachel never claims she knows everything.
More important, she knows how to forgive. Watch the
scene where Ruby tells her she’s been lying. Rachel
understands what Ruby was looking for– love. Ruby thinks
Rachel will hit her. “Did I ever—“ Rachel starts to
say– you know right away she never has. A “Christian” in the
best sense of the word.
John finds Rachel after a long time drifting.
Without a father, with no one to guide him. A cynic
could say it was actually John who caused a lot of his own pain by
keeping his word about the money.
They have an argument. But remember, John is
just a kid. A kid trying to function as an adult…but still a
kid, with a kid’s emotions. You can’t judge him like an
adult.
Like so many other child actors, Billy Chapin (John)
crashed to earth and never came back. Watch this movie and
judge for yourself how much we lost.