Movie Discussion – The Night of the Hunter (1955) by Charles Laughton

“It’s a hard world for little things…” Set in a small West Virginia community during the Great Depression, the only film the great actor Charles Laughton ever directed is truly a stand-alone masterwork. A surrealistic horror film with qualities of a Grimm fairy tale, The Night of the Hunter stars a sublimely sinister Robert Mitchum as a traveling preacher whose nefarious motives for marrying a fragile widow, played by Shelley Winters, are uncovered by her terrified young children. Graced by images of haunting visual poetry and a sneaky sense of humor, this ethereal, expressionistic American classic — also featuring the contributions of actress Lillian Gish and writer James Agee — is cinema’s most eccentric rendering of the battle between good and evil.

"With his only film, Laughton set out to film fear, and he succeeded.” (Sight and Sound)

"A stunning piece of work... Every frame of this film is brilliantly contrived." (The Guardian)

"Perverse, yet remarkably life-affirming, Night of the Hunter may be the best film ever made about spiritual perseverance." (Slant)

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Join the Toronto Philosophy Meetup to discuss the influential American horror classic The Night of the Hunter (1955) directed by Charles Laughton, recently voted the 25th greatest movie of all time in Sight & Sound's international survey of film critics and scholars, and the 41st greatest movie of all time in the related poll of filmmakers. The movie is based on a best-selling novel of the same name by Davis Grubb, which was itself based on a true story.

Please watch the movie in advance and bring your thoughts, reactions, and queries to share with us at the meeting. You can stream it with a viewing link to be posted on the main event listing here.

A trailer.

We'll be joined by many other participants from the Toronto Philosophy Meetup at this meeting — https://www.meetup.com/the-toronto-philosophy-meetup/events/308569737/

Check out other film discussions in the group every Friday and occasionally other days.