The Night of the Hunter : It was a box office failure and here's why.

This is a brilliant movie. Unfortunately it was a box office failure in its day, its failure made Charles Laughton swear never to direct another film and he never did despite continuing to act. I never knew why it failed until I read this on the TCM website

"The picture failed so miserably at the box office and that Laughton was, as many people observed, destroyed by its poor reception. Gregory said the main problem during production was United Artists executive Bert Allenberg, who cast Mitchum in the higher-profile, big-budget picture Not as a Stranger (1955), knowing full well director Stanley Kramer planned to start shooting before The Night of the Hunter was finished. The action disrupted the filming, forcing Mitchum to return to Laughton's set on Sundays while they shot around him the rest of the week. Those involved have also said United Artists disrupted the film's chances at the box office by burying it while heavily promoting Not as a Stranger."

Source: http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/17678/The-Night-of-the-Hunter/articles.html Webpage compiled by Rob Nixon & Jeff Stafford.

And isn't it ironic that today Not As A Stranger isn't considered a classic any where near what Night Of The Hunter is.

Don't get me wrong - I like Not As A Stranger and it has some really good actors in it, but I don't enjoy it near to the degree that I do Night Of The Hunter.

It's amazing this film was handled so badly when it originally came out. Mr. Laughton and all those involved in the making of this fine film deserved better.