The Night of the Hunter (1955) [Reg.A/B/C Import - Spain] (Blu-Ray)

This visually ravishing, authentically terrifying Southern Gothic masterpiece is one of the cinema s great one-offs, not just because it was the only film directed by the actor Charles Laughton. Robert Mitchum gives a career-best performance as Harry Powell, a self-appointed preacher with LOVE and HATE tattooed on his knuckles who travels to a small town in search of his executed cellmate s stash of cash, under the impression that his two young children know its whereabouts. But the film s melodramatic plot plays second fiddle to some of the most extraordinary images ever captured on film. Laughton and cinematographer Stanley Cortez (The Magnificent Ambersons) imbue almost every shot with a luminosity that recalls the great silent masterpieces of F.W. Murnau and Victor Sjöström. A widely misunderstood flop at the time (which put Laughton off ever directing again), it s now regarded as one of the greatest of all American films.