On a summer night in 1955, one of the most acclaimed films of all time made its world premiere in Des Moines. That film was The Night of the Hunter, an otherworldly fairy tale thriller that has gone on to influence countless filmmakers, including Spike Lee and Martin Scorsese.
It would be decades before The Night of the Hunter achieved classic status, but the film’s opening night was the talk of the town in Iowa’s capital city 70 years ago. And yet, today, that historic screening remains largely overlooked — and all but forgotten.
“Honestly, I think almost nobody knows that The Night of the Hunter premiered in Des Moines, and I'm including people in Des Moines,” said Ben Godar, executive director of the Varsity Cinema in Des Moines. “For whatever reason, it's just not something that's remained in the public consciousness here.”
The Varsity hopes to rejuvenate that fading history with an upcoming event celebrating the extraordinary day Hollywood came to Iowa. The theater is presenting a special screening of The Night of the Hunter Sept. 3 that will feature a conversation between Godar and the Des Moines Art Center’s Laura Burkhalter.
Why 'The Night of the Hunter' premiered in Des Moines
How did a major Hollywood movie find its way to a mid-sized Midwestern town for its world premiere? The answer, it turns out, comes down to one man: Paul Gregory.
The Waukee-born son of a butcher was the driving force behind the movie’s creation and release. After producing a string of successful Broadway shows, including The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, Gregory set his sights on film production in the mid-1950s.
Gregory reportedly bought the film rights to The Night of the Hunter before the original novel, written by Davis Grubb, was even published. He then took it to his longtime friend and colleague Charles Laughton, asking the Oscar-winning British actor to direct.
It would be Laughton’s first — and only — time directing a movie.
The film’s story and style
With Laughton as director and Gregory as producer, The Night of the Hunter was off to the races. Robert Mitchum was cast, alongside Shelley Winters and silent film legend Lillian Gish, to star in the twisted tale about a devious killer in pursuit of two young children and a stolen fortune.
Mitchum’s instantly iconic, deeply unsettling portrayal of “Preacher” Harry Powell is widely considered one of the actor’s greatest on-screen roles. But Gish, in her small supporting part, cast an impressive shadow over the film.
Laughton, who was evidently a fan of Gish’s era, incorporated many techniques from cinema’s silent years to create a highly stylized look that echoed the films of German Expressionism. With sharp angles and distorted dimensions, watching The Night of the Hunter often feels like peering in a funhouse mirror — and seeing a nightmare unfold from the eyes of a child.
A film premiere and a parade to boot
The Night of the Hunter premiered at the Paramount Theatre in downtown Des Moines on July 26. That day, the city welcomed home the film’s Iowa-born producer with a full day of festivities. There was a parade, TV and radio interviews, a luncheon with the chamber of commerce — the mayor even dubbed the affair “Paul Gregory Day.”
The special event doubled as a fundraiser for the downtown YMCA and was also broadcast on NBC’s original iteration of The Tonight Show, hosted by Steve Allen.
The Hollywood-style spectacle during the day led to a record box office night at the Paramount Theatre. According to reports at the time, an estimated 45,000 Iowans took part in the salute to Gregory and the premiere of The Night of the Hunter.
A misunderstood masterpiece
Unfortunately for Gregory, Laughton and the film studio United Artists, the opening night excitement in Des Moines did not translate to the rest of the country. Upon its release in 1955, The Night of the Hunter received poor reviews from both critics and audiences alike.
According to Burkhalter, senior curator at the Des Moines Art Center, the movie was “ahead of its time to a certain degree.” She thinks the initial negative reaction was due to the changing landscape in mid-century America.
“This is an era of big Technicolor and bright things and America in this post-war boom,” Burkhalter said. “A super dark movie about good and evil and religion and Depression-era rural life might not have been the most fun thing that people wanted to go see.”
An influence on a new generation
It wasn’t until around the 1970s that the film world started to reassess the movie, according to Burkhalter.
“One of the things about watching this movie, if you've never seen it, is you just are like, ‘That's where they got that,’’ she explained. “You can see that people like David Lynch or the Coen brothers or even Steven Spielberg — they processed this movie when they were coming up because you can see its influence.”
In the decades that followed, The Night of the Hunter has been reevaluated by a broader audience as well, and its initial unwelcome reviews have been replaced with praise and prestige.
“I think — and many people think — it's one of the greatest and most important films, really, ever made,” Godar said.
In 1992, The Night of the Hunter was added to the National Film Registry, an honor given to a select number of films each year for their cultural and artistic contributions. The movie has also appeared near the top of many renowned lists of the greatest films of all time. The French film magazine Cahiers du Cinéma ranked it at number two, only behind Citizen Kane.
Sharing the film with a modern audience
There are many elements that make The Night of the Hunter stand out, according to Godar. In addition to Laughton’s artistic direction, he believes the story’s subject matter sets it apart from other films of the period.
“This is a film that is just unbelievably rich and complex in its themes — and dark, like so dark,” he said. “The themes of this film are dark by today's standards. It wrestles with sexuality and evil and trauma.”
That blending of thematic complexity and expressionistic visuals is what makes The Night of the Hunter a favorite of Burkhalter’s. For her, it’s like watching a horror movie, a fairy tale and a drama, all mixed together.
“It sounds weird to say that a film is visually unique, because film is a visual medium, but this movie really does something with visuals that I can't really think of another equivalent for,” Burkhalter said.
Godar agreed, highlighting the opportunity to screen the film on the Varsity screen with added context and community discussion.
“When we can bring that to the community, we just feel like that really fulfills our mission,” Godar said. “And it helps take the film from just something that we all watch together to sparking a conversation that we all have and can carry with us outside the movie.”
The 70th anniversary screening of The Night of the Hunter at the Varsity is a one-night only event. Limited tickets are available on the Varsity’s website.
Clinton Olsasky contributed to this story.
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The Varsity Cinema and the Des Moines Art Center are sponsors of Iowa Public Radio.
