The Night of the Hunter is the ultimate one-and-done thriller

Charles Laughton, the revered Oscar-winning character actor known for Henry VIII, Captain Bligh and Quasimodo, directed only one film: 1955’s The Night of the Hunter. In his mid-50s he discovered a preternatural talent for making movies, but never got the chance to make another before the end of his life.

The Night of the Hunter follows the evil preacher Harry Powell, played by Robert Mitchum, who pursues two children who know the location of a stashed fortune. After Powell briefly shares a cell with Ben Harper, who killed two men in a bank robbery that netted him $10,000 and is hanged, he woos and marries Ben’s widow Willa (Shelley Winters) to get at the cash.

When the children, John and Pearl, escape downriver in a skiff, the film shifts from a crime drama into an eerie, hallucinatory horror story.

charles laughton, robert mitchum, shelley winters, harry powell, ben harper, 1955 film, thriller, horror, crime drama, bank robbery