The making of The Night of the Hunter

Here's a treat: a long documentary with extensive footage of Charles Laughton filming The Night of the Hunter.

It's such a shame that, because it was not a commercial success, this turned out to be the only film that Laughton solely directed. It is now recognised as a masterpiece.

I can also recommend the novel on which it was based: The Night of the Hunter by Davis Grubb. It has all the Southern Gothic, fairy-tale atmosphere of the film.

That's not such a surprise, because Laughton met Grubb and got on well with him, so they spent five days discussing the film. Grubb wasn't asked to write the screenplay, but he was also an artist and drew many of his ideas of what the film should look like. Laughton used some these drawings in the storyboards for his film.

The documentary does freeze and then jump sometimes. I suspect that may because the makers were limited in the length of clips from the film they could use.