The Night of the Hunter

Laughton's only directorial work is a sparkling noir mixture of fairy tale and Bible story - and a masterpiece. At the beginning, the religious Rachel tells of false prophets, wolves in sheep's clothing. One such is the travelling preacher Harry Powell, a crazed killer who wanders the country murdering the widow of his cellmate in a target cross ... Hansel and Gretel meets Isaiah: The insane battle between good and evil, iconically depicted in Powell's tattoos, has left its mark on cinematic posterity in terms of both style and content (allusions can be found in David Lynch and the Coen brothers, for example, as well as Spike Lee in DO THE RIGHT THING). It's not for nothing that Cahiers du Cinéma ranked THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER as the second best film of all time behind CITIZEN KANE. (Klaus Davidowicz)