Which 1955 film starring Robert Mitchum and Shelley Winters is a suspense thriller about a sinister preacher?

Which 1955 film starring Robert Mitchum and Shelley Winters is a suspense thriller about a sinister preacher? The Night of the Hunter is the film. Charles Laughton directed this Southern Gothic thriller, adapted from Davis Grubb’s 1953 novel, with Mitchum playing Harry Powell, a self-proclaimed preacher who is also a serial killer.

Powell learns that a jailed man hid $10,000 stolen in a robbery and targets the man’s widow, Willa Harper, played by Shelley Winters. He marries her while trying to discover whether her children know where the money is hidden. The children’s fear and suspicion drive the film’s pursuit narrative, while Lillian Gish plays Rachel Cooper, a protector of vulnerable children.

Its stark imagery, river journey, shadows, and fairy-tale atmosphere distinguish it from a conventional crime thriller. The film was initially poorly received, but later became celebrated as a classic. It was Laughton’s only completed feature as a director and entered the National Film Registry in 1992.