Sightlines · reception
How The Night of the Hunter was received
1955 · Charles Laughton · The Night of the Hunter on Sightlines
The arc
A critical and commercial flop in 1955 — audiences didn't know what to make of it — it's now routinely ranked among the greatest American films ever made, a rehabilitation so total it's become the textbook flop-to-classic story.
What’s debated
Fans perennially debate whether the gentler, fairy-tale final stretch is a tonal misstep or exactly the point of the whole film.
Its footprint
Robert Mitchum's LOVE and HATE knuckle tattoos are one of cinema's most referenced images — homaged and parodied everywhere from Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing to The Simpsons.
Where it stands
A stone-cold canon staple and cinephile rite of passage — the 'you must have seen this' entry for anyone getting serious about classic Hollywood.
Did you know? It was Charles Laughton's only film as director — its failure on release stung him so badly he never directed again, and he died before its reputation was restored.
Named by the director
- D.W. Griffith — Laughton screened Griffith's silent films while preparing, saying he wanted to recapture the simplicity and directness of that early silent style.