Episode 126: Movies By Actors #1: THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955)

"It's a hard world for little ones". This week on the pod we kick off a new recurring series looking at films directed by actors. For our inaugural entry, we take a look at one of the greatest 'one-hit-wonder' films in history, Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter. While the film was a critical and commercial failure on initial release, one that resulted in Laughton never directing again, its reputation grew in the subsequent decades. Today, it is regarded as one of the greatest films of all time (the most recent 2022 Sight and Sound ranking had it 25th). We had a great time discussing the film's twisted 'Mother Goose' southern gothic vibe, the expressionist visuals, the memorable characters, and our favourite scenes. Before that, John and Quinn run through some news of the week and some recent watches. Next week, we're going the distance to discuss John's canon pick: ROCKY. TIME STAMPS 00:00:00 Introduction 00:03:06 Shaun of the Dead turns 20. 00:04:07 Peter Jackson's company announce 'LET IT BE' restoration; coming to Disney Plus 00:05:32 Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson join 'Naked Gun' remake 00:06:25 Guy Maddin's new film RUMOURS heading to Cannes 00:07:42 New release run down (Godzilla x Kong: A New Empire; Kung Fu Panda 4; Abigail; Sasquatch Sunset) What We Watched This Week 00:11:15 The Jinx Part Two [TV] (Quinn) 00:14:17 Hollywood 90028 (John) 00:17:06 A Chinese Odyssey Part One: Pandora's Box (John) 00:19:30 Late Night with the Devil (John) 00:22:11 THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER Discussion 01:04:10 Our Ratings for THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER 01:13:55 Coming Up Next! CREDITS AND PLUGS Intro and Outro: "Dream, little one dream" - Intro to "The Night of the Hunter" Quinn: @seatstruckreviews https://www.youtube.com/@seatstruck Curtis: https://www.the-back-row.com/ - check out 'Runstedler's DVD Pick of the Month' https://curtisrunstedler.ca/ John: johnnycakes.substack.com @johnnycakes on Letterboxd Check out John's other podcast Domestic Pints ONLY! @domesticpintsonly on IG; find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts