The Night of the Hunter
With Halloween around the corner, I thought I'd dig out some items that are seasonally appropriate... with that in mind, gather the kids around the MP3 player and listen to a scary story.
Most probably wouldn't consider THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER to be Halloween fare. Specifically, it's not - but it's plenty scary, the kind of scare that follows you in dreams, if you were young enough to see it on the Late Show. It holds up, and it's the kind of film for Halloween that you can let the kids see as well.
Part of what makes the film work so well is the music by Walter Schumann (who's also known for co-composing the theme for DRAGNET). RCA did release an album, but instead of being merely musical selections, got Charles Laughton (the director of the film) to also perform a reading of the story with the underscore. Most of the time, this drives soundtrack listeners nuts, but this is one of the few times when it works well... pretend that you're listening to an old-time radio broadcast - or, to be more contemporary, listening to an audiobook performance.
Check it out
Most probably wouldn't consider THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER to be Halloween fare. Specifically, it's not - but it's plenty scary, the kind of scare that follows you in dreams, if you were young enough to see it on the Late Show. It holds up, and it's the kind of film for Halloween that you can let the kids see as well.
Part of what makes the film work so well is the music by Walter Schumann (who's also known for co-composing the theme for DRAGNET). RCA did release an album, but instead of being merely musical selections, got Charles Laughton (the director of the film) to also perform a reading of the story with the underscore. Most of the time, this drives soundtrack listeners nuts, but this is one of the few times when it works well... pretend that you're listening to an old-time radio broadcast - or, to be more contemporary, listening to an audiobook performance.
Check it outLabels: Charles Laughton, Davis Grubb, NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, soundtracks, Walter Schumann
posted by L. Rob Hubb | 8:21 PM
5 Comments:
Thanks, I've been looking for this for sometime now. Awesome move, awesome soundtrack.
Peace.
Hi--
just saw your site listed at 'youdont...' and decided to check it out. it's pretty cool and greatly appreciated. thanks for this post. it's one of my favorite movies---and i never even knew this record existed. i can't wait to hear this!
Til Next Time,
Rocket From Mars
Hey thanks for the great stuff. Do you, by chance, also have the other version - Night of the Hunter [CAST RECORDING]?
You Rock.
I've seen cd's of the cast version, but have never heard it. I'm curious as to how well it works as a musical.
Huge thanks for sharing a rip of the 1955 Charles Laughton And Walter Schumann 'The Night Of The Hunter' record, it has been one of those cultural artifacts that I had read about but never thought I would ever hear it (apart from a short excerpt used on a compilation but together by French DJ/artist Pilooski called 'Dirty Edits Vol 1' back in 2007) so I am blown away to see it posted here!
The least I can do (just in case you or anyone else who stumbles across this post are not aware of it) Charles Laughton released another spoken word album (recorded in front of a live audience so sadly no Walter Schumann atmospherics) that is well worth a listen and is open source via the Archive website:
http://www.archive.org/details/TheStory-teller
The album was is called 'The Story-Teller...A Session With Charles Laughton' and was released on Capitol Records (Cat. No. TBO 1650). The Archive site says it was released in 1955 but I think they are getting it confused with 'Night Of The Hunter' which was released that year, the reason why I say this is one reading is from Kerouac's 'Dharma Bums' novel which was not published till 1958!
I read in a review of someone who got the album that it was released in 1962 which makes more sense (also a British version of the album was released in 1967 on Ember Records label).
Anyway, you can download it from the Archive site in OGG or MP3 format and a google search will turn up the covers.
Thanks again for the Night Of The Hunter! You are a star!
Post a Comment
<< Home