Thursday, November 16 8:00 p.m. (ET)/5:00 p.m. (PT) THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955) * Requested by Wendy Sage of Alabama In his own words, director Charles Laughton described The Night of the Hunter (1955) as "a nightmarish sort of Mother Goose tale." Based on a popular novel by David Grubb, the film takes place in West Virginia during the Depression and follows a homicidal preacher as he stalks two children, a brother and sister, across the rural landscape. The reason for his pursuit is $10,000 in cash and it's stuffed inside a doll the little girl is carrying. Laughton worked with James Agee on the screenplay but the famous author of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men had a severe drinking problem (he died the same year) and the screenplay he delivered was a mammoth 350-page script that Laughton had to whittle down to an acceptable length. Luckily, Laughton had a more positive experience with his second-unit directors, Terry and Denis Sanders, whose documentary film, A Time Out of War (1954) won an Oscar, and cinematographer, Stanley Cortez. The latter once remarked: "Apart from The Magnificent Ambersons, the most exciting experience I have had in the cinema was with Charles Laughton on Night of the Hunter..every day I consider something new about light, that incredible thing that can't be described. Of the directors I've worked with, only two have understood it: Orson Welles and Charles Laughton." The casting was also exceptional and Laughton coaxed excellent performances from Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, and Lillian Gish. However, he developed an aversion to the two child actors and when he overheard the little boy, Billy Chapin, brag about winning the New York Critics' Circle Prize for a recent play, Laughton roared, "Get that child away from me." After that, the two children took their direction mostly from Mitchum. The only other problem Laughton encountered was having to juggle his shooting schedule so that Mitchum could begin work on his next film, Not as a Stranger (1955). Ignored and misunderstood at the time of its release, except by a handful of critics, The Night of the Hunter had to wait several decades before it took its rightful place alongside other revered works of the American cinema like John Ford's The Searchers (1956) and Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958). It was the sole directorial effort of actor Charles Laughton and he took the film's commercial failure very hard, abandoning any future plans to direct another film. Yet, The Night of the Hunter is anything but a failure and is chock full of riches: Robert Mitchum creates a chilling portrait of evil in one of his finest performances (and one of his personal favorites); the rock-steady presence of Lillian Gish is both a homage and a direct link to the films of D.W. Griffith, the film pioneer Laughton pays tribute to with this movie; the shimmering beauty of Stanley Cortez's cinematography also recalls the shadows and lighting of other silent era classics by Fritz Lang and Josef von Sternberg, and the music score by Walter Schumann is unusually evocative, mixing hymns, children's songs, and orchestral effects. Director: Charles Laughton Producer: Paul Gregory Screenplay: James Agee, Charles Laughton (uncredited), based on the novel by Davis Grubb Cinematography: Stanley Cortez Editor: Robert Golden Art Direction: Hilyard Brown Music: Walter Schumann Cast: Robert Mitchum (Rev. Harry Powell), Shelley Winters (Willa Harper), Lillian Gish (Rachel Cooper), James Gleason (Birdie Steptoe), Evelyn Varden (Icey Spoon). BW-93m. By Jeff Stafford 10:00 p.m. (ET)/7:00 p.m. (PT) A KISS BEFORE DYING (1956) * Requested by Betty Lamond of Washington, D.C. 1956 was the year Robert Wagner decided to risk alienating his juvenile fans and do something about his boyish, clean-scrubbed screen image. First, he played the bad seed brother of Spencer Tracy in The Mountain. (In one scene, he discovers a recently crashed plane and proceeds to loot the bodies of the victims.) Then, he went a step further and played a cold-blooded psychopathic killer in A Kiss Before Dying (1956). This is the one where he lures his pregnant girlfriend to a lonely rooftop under the guise of a quickie wedding ceremony and then he...Well, you get the idea. He's just not a very nice boy. In addition to Wagner's unconventional casting as Mr. Evil Incarnate, A Kiss Before Dying generated some controversy over the use of the word "pregnant." Remember, this was the Eisenhower era. Hollywood's self-censorship organization, the Breen Office, would not allow the studio to use the word in advertisements. At a Chicago preview of the film, they actually excised the word from the soundtrack. On the positive side, A Kiss Before Dying was a trouble-free production and featured a solid supporting cast that included Mary Astor, Joanne Woodward, Jeffrey Hunter, George Macready, and Virginia Leith. Astor, in particular, is memorable as the psychopath's mother. It was her first film role since Any Number Can Play in 1949 and in her autobiography, A Life on Film, she reported that an unnamed co-star in the film actually said to her at their introduction, "Mary Astor! I thought you were dead!" Joanne Woodward, who has the smaller, more unfortunate role of the unwitting victim in the film, was at the beginning of her screen career. A Kiss Before Dying was her second movie and she wasn't at all happy about it. In fact, she once referred to it as her "worst picture." Woodward was very outspoken about her dislike of Hollywood and its emphasis on glamour but she did agree to appear at a New York promotion for A Kiss Before Dying where she struck pin-up poses in a sexy, tight-fitting sleeveless dress. Although you might be more familiar with the 1991 remake of A Kiss Before Dying starring Matt Dillon, the original is still the best version and works well as a cautionary tale about the deceptive nature of a person, who to all appearances is charming, handsome, and considerate. In a way, you could say Robert Wagner's role became a prototype for all the devilishly handsome killer roles that followed, from Bradford Dillman and Dean Stockwell in Compulsion (1958) to Christian Bale in American Psycho (1999). Director: Gerd Oswald Producer: Robert L. Jacks Screenplay: Lawrence Roman, based on the novel by Ira Levin Cinematography: Lucien Ballard Editor: George A. Gittens Art Direction: Addison Hehr Music: Lionel Newman Cast: Robert Wagner (Bud Corliss), Jeffrey Hunter (Gordon Grant), Virginia Leith (Ellen Kingship), Joanne Woodward (Dorothy Kingship), Mary Astor (Mrs. Corliss). C-94m. Letterboxed. By Jeff Stafford 12:00 a.m. (ET)/9:00 p.m. (PT) OUT OF THE FOG (1941) * Requested by Lori Doering of Michigan A loan shark terrorizes the citizens of Brooklyn in Out of the Fog (1941). John Garfield plays the completely amoral racketeer, Harold Goff, whose extortion schemes finally go too far, leaving his victims to take matters into their own hands. Ida Lupino is the woman who loves him despite his criminal activity. Hollywood wasn't quite ready for a story like Out of the Fog in 1941. This dark drama is actually closer to a film noir and was ahead of its time. The play on which it was based, The Gentle People by Irwin Shaw, ended much differently from the movie version. Shaw's more pessimistic pre-World War II play makes a symbolic plea against fascism and calls for a united front in Europe. And the stage version leaves the criminal unpunished, something the Hays Office would not yet allow in Hollywood. So the story was changed and a more hopeful ending added, where the bad guy gets what he deserves. Out of the Fog, and The Maltese Falcon (1941) which was released the same year, helped set the tone for even darker and more cynical noirs that would follow like Double Indemnity (1944) and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946). Another interesting bit of trivia about Out of the Fog is who wasn't cast. Humphrey Bogart actually lobbied Warner Bros. to play the lead in the film. But the studio thought Garfield was a better box office draw. Garfield went on to define himself by the noir genre, starring in movies like Force of Evil (1948). 1941 would be Bogart's break out year with the above mentioned The Maltese Falcon, and Bogie's best known role, Rick in Casablanca, would follow a year later in 1942. Director: Anatole Litvak Producer: Hal B. Wallis, Henry Blanke Screenplay: Richard Macaulay, Robert Rossen, Jerry Wald, based on the play by Irwin Shaw Cinematography: James Wong Howe Editor: Warren Low Art Direction: Carl Jules Weyl Music: Heinz Roemheld Cast: Ida Lupino (Stella Goodwin), John Garfield (Harold Goff), Thomas Mitchell (Jonah Goodwin), Eddie Albert (George Watkins), John Qualen (Olaf Knudsen). BW-86m. Close captioning. By Stephanie Thames 1:30 a.m. (ET)/10:30 p.m. (PT) A THOUSAND CLOWNS (1965) * Requested by Deborah Leigh of California As a non-conformist comedy writer, Murray Burns (Jason Robards, Jr.) learns the value of compromise in A Thousand Clowns (1965). When Murray quits his job as head writer on the children's show Chuckles the Chipmunk, his ability to provide for his twelve year old nephew is drastically affected. Barry Gordon plays the young dependent who was dropped off on Murray's doorstep by his mother seven years earlier. It takes social workers (Barbara Harris and William Daniels) to prompt Burns to return to the rat race he has shunned, finding romance (with Harris) and a lesson about sacrifice along the way. Though the themes sound serious, A Thousand Clowns sparkles with humor from a script by Herb Gardner, based on his play. Robards re-creates his Broadway role joined by Tony nominated Gordon and play producer Fred Coe, producing and directing the big screen version. A Thousand Clowns won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Martin Balsam who plays Murray's sympathetic agent/brother. The film was also nominated for three more Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Score (by Don Walker) and Best Adapted Screenplay. Herb Gardner attended Abraham Lincoln High School in Coney Island, which obviously encouraged future writers; an amazing forty plus members of the Writer's Guild attended. And while he did not win an Oscar for this film, Gardner would garner a bigger prize in the writing world in 1986 -- a Tony for his play I'm Not Rappaport. Gardner also had a small part as a rabbi in the famous flop Ishtar (1987). There's also a story behind the title song from A Thousand Clowns. It was written by saxophonist Gerry Mulligan, with lyrics supplied by his long-time lover, Judy Holliday. The comedic actress, who was diagnosed with cancer soon after completing her final film Bells Are Ringing (1960), continued to work on stage and in the record industry after retiring from Hollywood. Sadly, she died at age 43 before A Thousand Clowns was released. It was Holliday's last screen credit. Director/Producer: Fred Coe Screenplay: Herb Gardner Cinematography: Arthur J. Ornitz Editor: Ralph Rosenblum Art Direction: Burt Smidt Music: Gerry Mulligan, Don Walker Cast: Jason Robards (Murray Burns), Barbara Harris (Sandra Markowitz), Martin Balsam (Arnold Burns), Gene Saks (Leo 'Chuckles the Chipmunk' Herman), William Daniels (Albert Amundson). BW-119m. By Stephanie Thames