May 15
Niche fandom award going to
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Niche fandom award going to
THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS by Poul Anderson. (New York: Doubleday, 1961) Cover art by Edward Gorey.
Holger Carlsen, an American-trained Danish engineer, is shot while resisting the Nazis in WWII, and suddenly finds himself transported to a parallel universe in which Northern European legend is real.
Expanded from the novella serialized in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, September and October, 1953.
(New York: Avon, 1962) Cover by Richard Powers. // New York: Avon, 1970) Cover by Jeff Jones.
(London: Sphere, 1974) Cover by Patrick Woodruffe. [digitally enhanced for detail]
(New York: Berkley, 1978) Cover by Wayne Barlowe // (New York: Berkley, 1984) Cover by Carl Lundgren
(London: Gollancz, 2013) Cover by Paul Gregory.
source [Sphere]
Freedom Call | Stairway to Fairyland (1999)
The Edge by Douglas Dare from the album Aforger
The Night of the Hunter premiered on 26 July 1955 in Des Moines, IA, hometown of producer Paul Gregory.
Gregory had been looking for a project for his friend Charles Laughton (the two had collaborated on plays, including The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial in 1953, and Gregory had booked Laughton on a successful lecture tour in 1949-50) and sent David Grubb’s not-yet-published novel to Laughton to consider for his directorial debut. Laughton immediately wanted to make a film adaptation and contacted Grubb to work on a script. The studio, however, wanted an experienced screenwriter, and hired James Agee, who produced a nearly 300-page script. Laughton significantly re-wrote the script (but gave Agee sole credit. Agee died in May 1955, only 2 months before the film’s premiere) and began shooting on a small budget and 36-day schedule.
Laughton initially offered the role of Rachel Cooper to his wife, Elsa Lanchester, but she recommended Lillian Gish. Laughton watched Gish’s old silent movies and became impressed with not Gish, but the look of the black-and-white films. He instructed cinematographer Stanley Cortez to capture the same look. The studio insisted on filming in color, but producer Gregory fought for Laughton’s vision.
Despite the ‘Paul Gregory Day’ of the premiere in Des Moines, Gregory was bitter about the studio’s lack of promotion for the film and it was quickly put on the bottom of a double feature (behind the B-movie Rubber Roost). “United Artists didn't have the muscle, desire, or intelligence to handle the picture,” Gregory said, and The Night of the Hunter was quickly forgotten.
The failure of the film severed Gregory and Laughton’s professional relationship, and Laughton never directed another film.
The Night of the Hunter‘s reputation began to grow in the 1970s and is now considered not only one of the best-looking films ever made, but one of the best films of all-time.
Back from vacation, we sit down to watch THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955), the first and only film directed by Charles Laughton and starring Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish and Billy Chapin.
With stylish stark lighting and intense tone setting, your deadicated hosts discuss horror for children and religion in this southern Gothic fable!
Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 1:11:45; Discussion 1:32:33; Ranking 2:07:23
