Night Of The Hunter Outtakes
Written by Joe D on August 10th, 2008

Laughton reads from the Bible in an unused scene

I went to see the Night Of The Hunter Outtakes last night and I'm glad
I did. It was an excellent show, narrated by the restorer, really the
man responsible for this wonderful artifact existing at all, Robert
Gitt. By the way the show was packed! This magical film draws people,
even it's outtakes! And it wasn't just a bunch of academics, there
were all ages and types of people. It's sort of especially wonderful
considering that Laughton had thought he failed in making this film.
That the film was basically a flop when it was initially released. I
blame United Artists! They had a technique of under budgeting films,
then when the filmmakers were faced with needing more money or shutting
down, UA would swoop in and supply the cash but take all rights, profits,
etc. They used this same technique on my pal Robert Downey when he
directed Pound for UA. But back to last night, I was extremely gratified
to see that Preston Neal Jones, the author of the incredible Heaven and
Hell To Play with- The Filming Of Night Of The Hunter was there. I love
this book and I think it should be required reading at every film school
in the country, on second thought the world! He is a very nice guy, very
humble, and was so pleased that people liked his book and had many
complimentary things to say about it. I wrote about the book in a previous
post, check it out here.

Me & Preston Neal Jones, I know I look like a psycho

Anyway the show was great, Bob Gitt narrated the proceedings from a
podium at the side of the stage, first he gave a bit of history of
the footage, Laughton's widow donated the footage to the AFI back in
1974. Students there began using it as fill leader, i.e. just to fill
spaces between sections of magnetic track, in other words as junk film.
Someone noticed this and put a stop to it and the film was shipped to
the AFI in Washington D.C., Bob Gitt worked at the AFI and found out about
the film. He later moved to UCLA and got the film shipped back to LA and
began restoring it. It took 20 years of work to get it pieced back
together and restored! Thanks for being so resolute!

Bob Gitt, restorer and narrator

The first scene was something Laughton shot for the opening of the
film, a close up of himself reading from the Bible, it was never used
but I think some of the audio may have appeared on the soundtrack album.
Some of the highlights were, seing scenes that didn't appear in the
movie. For example a nighttime shot of downtown Cresap's Landing where
Robert Mitchum first comes to town, This was replaced by a stock footage
shot of a locomotive steaming furiously at the camera. A wise move by
Laughton and Robert Golding, the film's editor. Outtakes of Mitchum
screwing up were always amusing, especially when 5 year old Sally Jane
Bruce would tell him " You forgot your lines again".

There was footage of the actor originally cast to play Uncle Birdie,
a much more mild mannered man than James Gleason who replaced him. I
think if he had continued in the part it would have been more realistic,
less showbiz than James Gleason. I guess Laughton felt he needed more
energy in that part. It's pretty cool to see Robert Mitchum dressed as
the Preacher sitting in his jalopy on a dark stage, then a slate comes
in, the background projection starts, they begin rocking the car and
Mitch starts speaking to the Lord! Incredible! Shelly Winters acts up a
storm in this film. In the outtakes from her torchlit testifying scene
she seems on the edge of a psychotic episode. Lauhton's off camera voice
commands her to say a prayer, any prayer and she begins chanting in
Yiddish! This got quite a reaction from the crowd. Another powerful scene
dealt with in depth is the one where Mitch kills Shelly. She's alone in
bed, illumined by a shaft of moonlight, a beatific gleam in her eyes,
she's at peace with her God and about to join him. Laughton hammers at
her relentlessly, tweaking her performance, giving line readings, stopping
her in mid sentence, starting her over. Bob Gitt included all the outtakes
of this scene ostensibly to demonstrate what a great director Laughton
was, how he shaped Winter's performance but for me it had a different
effect.

Robert Mitchum and Shelly Winter's and many other members of this
cast were excellent even incredible actors. That they would allow someone
to constantly interrupt them, give them readings, talk at them the whole
time they were on camera is a sign of the respect they had for Laughton.
I think they would have told anyone else to shut the hell up! Laughton,
a great actor, basically played every part in the movie off camera, often
delivering the lines of whoever was in a scene but not on camera, playing
the little girl or the boy's father or whoever. I did feel he created a
tension with his off camera direction that added to the depth of seriousness
or weight of particular scenes but I think his real direction was probably
given in the preliminary discussions with the actors, especially Mitchum and
Winters. It's fascinating to watch Shelly Winters, a devotee of the Actor's
Studio strip herself bare emotionally. It's like being in her psychiatrist's
office during an especially heated session. But I think this is one of the
things that makes a great actor, the ability to expose true naked feelings,
things everybody else tries so hard to hide. A tribute to Laughton's genius
is the fact that he allowed Shelly to go to that point of hysteria but the
used the more restrained takes that were in the end much more effectual.
It's also great to see Li llian Gish's outtakes, once again Laughton is
on her like an octopus, she begins a take " Too Much!" bellows Charlie
time and again and he's always right. Another tragic element connected
with this film is put clearly on display by screening these scenes, the
talent of Billy Chapin who played John Harper. He took direction like an
old pro, capturing nuances Laughton demanded of him. He was a great actor
at that young age and yet he never worked again! I don't get it. Another
example of the stupidity of the Hollywood system. I have a theory about
Laughton, I think he was a tortured soul, gay at a time when that was
anathema to a career, having to live a secret life of self-loathing, I
think he used this in his performances, like his great Quasimodo, read Fun
In A Chinese Laundry and see what von Sternberg said about his acting in
the unfinished I, Cladius, it's all about torturing himself to give a good
performance.

Von Sternberg

I think he projected his technique that he used on himself onto the
actors in this film and I think instinctively they knew what he was doing
and respected it, otherwise I don't think they would have put up with it.
I'll close my review with two musical notes. One, we get to hear Sally Jane
Bruce's original track singing the "Pretty Fly" song as they float down the
river. It was later replaced by a professional adult singer, Sally Jean's
is pretty amazing, for a 5 year old to sing a minor key song acapella blew
me away, she got the part because she had just won a singing contest.

Sally Mayes, she sang the beautiful version that's on the musical
theater (Varese Sarabande) CD of HUNTER

Then over the end credits we get to hear Mitchum sing a sort of boogie
woogie version of " Leaning On The Everlasting Arms" really Cool. There
are a lot of other moments that make this show so great, and make us so
lucky that this material exists and that a man like Bob Gitt loves film Bob say they're trying to get this released on dvd, keep your fingers
crossed.

Posted in Directors, Actors | 5 Responses ť

Night Of The Hunter Outtakes To Screen At UCLA
Written by Joe D on August 8th, 2008

This Saturday August 9th UCLA will screen The Night Of The Hunter
Outtakes at the Billy Wilder Theater. This material was donated to
UCLA by Laughton's widow, Elsa Lancaster (The Bride Of Frankenstein),
Robert Gitt, retired head of Preservation restored the film and is
presenting this screening. I've long been a fan of this film, Charles
Laughton's directorial debut and swansong, and this is a chance to see
Laughton in action behind the camera, he kept it rolling as he directed
actors between takes. Preston Neal Jones, author of the wonderful book
Heaven And Hell To Play With, The Filming Of Night Of The Hunter has
screened the foot age and describes it in detail in his book. It just
made me want to see it even more and now I have my chance. Besides I will
look at any frame of celluloid that Robert Mitchum appears in. I'll report
back about the experience when I can.

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