Charles Laughton Directs THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER previously at Film Forum in New York City

“Gitt's film holds several surprises for fans… scenes of Mitchum trying
slightly different line readings or a frustrated Laughton driving co-star
Shelley Winters to tears as he calls for retakes. Because director of
photography Stanley Cortez always kept the camera rolling, occasionally an
exasperated Laughton lumbers into view to adjust a prop or even play the
parts himself… ‘Elsa Lanchester said it broke his heart,’ says Gitt, who met
Laughton's widow when the material was first uncovered in the early '70s.
‘She said he had just put so much of himself into it.’ That remains clear,
even today. And it can be seen by anybody this week who goes to one of the
screenings of the behind-the-scenes film, and watches how carefully Laughton
and crew set up the shots of Robert Mitchum's arrival or Shelley Winters'
death or the flight of the children down river.”
– Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledge. Click here to read the entire article

Preservationist Robert Gitt of the UCLA Film and Television Archive

Night of the Hunter [Bear Family] [IMPORT] [CAST RECORDING] [SOUNDTRACK] Walter Schumann, Charles Laughton	Robert Mitchum: Baby I Don't Care by Lee Server	Tall Dark Stranger [IMPORT] Robert Mitchum	(Not Shown) The Night of the Hunter (Film Ink Series) by Davis Grubb
Lillian Gish: Her Legend, Her Life by Charles Affron	Lillian Gish: A Life on Stage and Screen by Stuart Oderman	AFI Lifetime Achievement Awards: Lillian Gish (1984)	(Not Shown) Mitchum: In His Own Words by Robert Mitchum, Jerry Roberts (Editor), Robert Ebert, Champlin, Roger Ebert

	ENDED



	CHARLES LAUGHTON DIRECTS “THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER” Legendary UCLA film preservationist Robert Gitt presents this “rare and glorious event” (Leonard Maltin) on the making of Laughton’s masterwork (his sole directorial effort). But this isn’t your run-of-the-mill film talk: Gitt has selected from over eight hours of original rushes, trims and cuts from the film (it’s the only classic for which such an abundance of material survives) to create an alternate view of the film’s most memorable sequences, including variant camera angles and dialogue missing from the final film and, most fascinating of all, between-takes glimpses of Laughton directing his actors by playing all the parts himself - men, women and children. That these out-takes survived at all is a miracle... To watch them is to feel present at the creation of a classic motion picture.” – Kenneth Turan, L.A. Times. 2:50, 7:40 158 minutes.				THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955) "Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms" sings both shotgun-toting child protector Lillian Gish and lurking psycho preacher Robert Mitchum, who sports a pocket switchblade, as well as fingers tattooed "Love" and "Hate." (Director Laughton told him "this character I want you to play is a diabolical shit." Mitchum: "Present.") Fairy tale and nightmare combine as Shelley Winters' orphans Sally Bruce and Billy Chapin odyssey through the American heartland, in this spellbinding folk tale adapted from the Davis Grubb novel by legendary critic and scenarist (The African Queen) James Agee (though Laughton purportedly completely rewrote his 350-page draft). Laughton's sole directorial effort is a hypnotic tribute to the visuals of D.W. Griffith, with memorable images including a startling A-frame ceiling above a timorous victim (underscored by Sibelius' valse triste); the undulations of an underwater corpse's hair; and the children's nightmarish downriver trip; all stunningly photographed by cinematographer Stanley Cortez, who considered it one of the two most exciting experiences of his long career (the other was Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons). “Haunting and highly personal ...clearly the work of a master.” – New York Times. 1:00, 5:50, 10:30 93 minutes.