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Night of the Hunter
Based on the novel of the same title, Night of the Huntercasts Robert Mitchum in the lead role as Harry Powell, an unethical preachercum murderer. Alongside Shelley Winters, the film is loosely based on a truestory, as he attempts to romance the unsuspecting widow and steal the hiddenmoney. It was to be the last film directed by Charles Laughton.
Set in 1930’s West Virginia, Harry Powell is a self-labelledpreacher who has been travelling the country attracting widows, then killingand robbing them, all the while convinced that this is what God wants him todo. Arrested for driving a stolen car and temporarily jailed, he meets prisonerBen Harper, a convicted killer and bank robber facing execution. Despite not beingable to convince Ben to disclose where the loot is hidden, Powell hatches aplan to target his next widow, Willa Harper (Shelley Winters). However, withthe two Harper children being the only ones who know where the spoils are,Powell certainly won’t have things his own way.
With Mitchum giving such a skin crawling and menacingperformance, Night of the Hunter is now known to be one of the mostfrightening movies around, for its time. Containing possibly the mostnotoriously twisted, on-screen villain in cinematic history, this is a film youwill either LOVE or HATE.
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Night of the Hunter
Based on the novel of the same title, Night of the Huntercasts Robert Mitchum in the lead role as Harry Powell, an unethical preachercum murderer. Alongside Shelley Winters, the film is loosely based on a truestory, as he attempts to romance the unsuspecting widow and steal the hiddenmoney. It was to be the last film directed by Charles Laughton.
Set in 1930’s West Virginia, Harry Powell is a self-labelledpreacher who has been travelling the country attracting widows, then killingand robbing them, all the while convinced that this is what God wants him todo. Arrested for driving a stolen car and temporarily jailed, he meets prisonerBen Harper, a convicted killer and bank robber facing execution. Despite not beingable to convince Ben to disclose where the loot is hidden, Powell hatches aplan to target his next widow, Willa Harper (Shelley Winters). However, withthe two Harper children being the only ones who know where the spoils are,Powell certainly won’t have things his own way.
With Mitchum giving such a skin crawling and menacingperformance, Night of the Hunter is now known to be one of the mostfrightening movies around, for its time. Containing possibly the mostnotoriously twisted, on-screen villain in cinematic history, this is a film youwill either LOVE or HATE.
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