"Director: Charles Laughton"

• The Night Of The Hunter | DVD | (19/03/2001) from £4.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (160.32%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In the entire history of American movies, The Night of the Hunter stands out as the rarest and most exotic of specimens. It is, to say the least, a masterpiece--and not just because it was the only movie directed by flamboyant actor Charles Laughton or the only produced solo screenplay by the legendary critic James Agee (who also co-wrote The African Queen). The truth is, nobody has ever made anything approaching its phantasmagoric, overheated style in which German expressionism, religious hysteria, fairy-tale fantasy (of the Grimm-est variety), and stalker movie are brought together in a furious boil. Like a nightmarish premonition of stalker movies to come, Night of the Hunter tells the suspenseful tale of a demented preacher (Robert Mitchum, in a performance that prefigures his memorable villain in Cape Fear), who torments a boy and his little sister--even marries their mixed-up mother (Shelley Winters)--because he's certain the kids know where their late bank-robber father hid a stash of stolen money. So dramatic, primal, and unforgettable are its images--the preacher's shadow looming over the children in their bedroom, the magical boat ride down a river whose banks teem with fantastic wildlife, those tattoos of LOVE and HATE on the unholy man's knuckles, the golden locks of a drowned woman waving in the current along with the indigenous plant life in her watery grave--that they're still haunting audiences (and filmmakers) today. --Jim Emerson, Amazon.com

• The Night of the Hunter | Blu Ray | (28/10/2013) from £11.99   |  Saving you £9.26 (86.30%)   |  RRP £19.99

  This visually ravishing authentically terrifying Southern Gothic masterpiece is one of the cinema's great one-offs not just because it was the only film directed by the actor Charles Laughton. Robert Mitchum gives a career-best performance as Harry Powell a self-appointed preacher with 'LOVE' and 'HATE' tattooed on his knuckles who travels to a small town in search of his executed cellmate's stash of cash under the impression that his two young children know its whereabouts. But the film's melodramatic plot plays second fiddle to some of the most extraordinary images ever captured on film. Laughton and cinematographer Stanley Cortez (The Magnificent Ambersons) imbue almost every shot with a luminosity that recalls the great silent masterpieces of F.W. Murnau and Victor Sjöström. A widely misunderstood flop at the time (which put Laughton off ever directing again) it's now regarded as one of the greatest of all American films. Special Features: New digital transfer made from 35mm film elements restored by UCLA Film and Television Archive in cooperation with MGM Studios with funding provided by the Film Foundation and Robert B. Strum Optional original uncompressed Mono PCM audio and 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio Isolated Music and Effects Soundtrack Charles Laughton Directs 'The Night of the Hunter' - A two-and-a-half-hour documentary on the making of the film featuring outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage Archival interview with cinematographer Stanley Cortez Original theatrical trailer Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly artwork by Graham Humphreys Booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic and filmmaker David Thompson with more to be announced!

• The Night Of The Hunter (1955) (Criterion Collection) UK Only | Blu Ray | (28/06/2021) from £17.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The Night of the Hunterincredibly, the only film the great actor CHARLES LAUGHTON ever directed is truly a standalone masterwork. A horror movie with qualities of a Grimm fairy tale, it stars a sublimely sinister ROBERT MITCHUM (Cape Fear, The Friends of Eddie Coyle) as a traveling preacher named Harry Powell (he of the tattooed knuckles), whose nefarious motives for marrying a fragile widow, played by SHELLEY WINTERS (A Place in the Sun, The Diary of Anne Frank) are uncovered by her terrified young children. Graced by images of eerie beauty and a sneaky sense of humour, this ethereal, expressionistic American classicalso featuring the contributions of actress LILLIAN GISH (Intolerance, Duel in the Sun) and writer JAMES AGEEis cinema's quirkiest rendering of the battle between good and evil. Special Features: New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack Audio commentary featuring assistant director Terry Sanders, film critic F. X. Feeney, archivist Robert Gitt, and author Preston Neal Jones Charles Laughton Directs The Night of the Hunter, a two-and-a-half-hour archival treasure trove of outtakes from the film New documentary featuring interviews with producer Paul Gregory, Sanders, Jones, and author Jeffrey Couchman New video interview with Simon Callow, author of Charles Laughton: A Difficult Actor Clip from The Ed Sullivan Show, in which cast members perform live a scene that was deleted from the film Fifteen-minute episode of the BBC show Moving Pictures about the film Archival interview with cinematographer Stanley Cortez Gallery of sketches by author Davis Grubb New video conversation between Gitt and film critic Leonard Maltin about Charles Laughton Directs The Night of the Hunter Original theatrical trailer PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by critics Terrence Rafferty and Michael Sragow