Tennessee Williams on Stage & Screen in New York -Festival Begins December 9th
Some Like It Wilder: The Life and Controversial Films of Billy Wilder - Coming in February
5 Chillers in the Universal Cult Horror Collection on DVD
Robert Redford in Downhill Racer on DVD
Ballast - Lance Hammer's Critically Acclaimed Drama
Z - Costa-Gavras's Oscar-winning Thriller on DVD

Heaven and Hell to Play With: The Filming of The Night of the Hunter

"This is the story of the making of The Night of the Hunter, which in my opinion is the greatest picture ever made, as told by all the people involved in making it. A must-read for all film makers and students of the cinema."
- Christopher Lee, actor, (Horror of Dracula, The Lord of the Rings trilogy)

"A splendid, completely absorbing oral history...This is a celebratory book. (It) is an important book, as well. (It) transcends The Night of the Hunter and becomes a fascinating exploration of the private sources of art, and the evolution of artists."
- Filmfax, July/September 2005

"...offers the kind of back story actually worth one's undivided attention."
- Film Comment, March 2003

It was Mother Goose with goose bumps. It scared the living Levis off a young kid in Maine named Stephen King, and it has had the same impact on many another child and grown-up. It drew inspiration from D.W. Griffith and the German expressionists, but there has never been another movie, before or since, like The Night of the Hunter.

Although The Night of the Hunter wasn't a hit when it was released in 1955, today it boasts the honor of inclusion in the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress as well as a ranking among the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest Thrillers." In Heaven & Hell to Play With: The Filming of The Night of the Hunter (Limelight Editions), published by Limelight Editions, author Preston Neal Jones reveals the fascinating inside story of the film's making - from its beginnings in the pages of Davis Grubb's novel to the acquisition of film rights by producer Paul Gregory, to the hiring of the late actor Charles Laughton to direct and James Agee to write the script, to every aspect of the film's development and production - casting, design, shooting, scoring, and editing - to the profound disappoint upon its release.

Heaven & Hell to Play With is the result of over a decade of archival research and interviews with a dozen key people associated with the film. Like the artistic collaboration inherent to the power of the film, Jones's narrative flows through the dramatic montage of memories offered by the interviewees: author Grubb; author's brother Louis Grubb; producer Gregory; actor Robert Mitchum; actress Lillian Gish; actor Don Beddoe; art director Hilyard Brown; cinematographer Stanley Cortez; editor Robert Golden; widow of composer Walter Schumann, Mrs. Sonya Goodman; second unit director Terry Sanders; actor/friend William Phipps. "Laughton, himself, of course, was a remarkable person, and the memories and insights of his associates--often at wide variance with each other--combine to evoke a portrait of the artist and the man." It was Laughton who strove beyond jolts and shudders to bring The Night of the Hunter a tenderness and compassion almost unheard-of in the suspense stories of the time. Surprisingly, it was the only film he ever directed. "As Gregory remembers, 'I think Charlie could see himself in the rendition of it. Yes, he could put you through miseries, but there was much that was saintly in Charles Laughton, too. And with the young children aspect of it, and the devil in Preacher Powell and all that, you see, that gave Laughton both heaven and hell to play with, and he was the master of both of those at that time.'"

The journey of Heaven & Hell to Play With takes place in four parts--Pre-production, Production, Post-production, The Morning After--and includes numerous artifacts from the film's making--photos, sketches, character portraits, telegrams, posters, press kit materials, sheet music--along with dozens of film stills.

With Heaven & Hell to Play With, Jones has not only produced the definitive source on the creation of The Night of the Hunter, but composed a symphony of voices, ideas, and action as compelling as the film it celebrates.

To order Heaven and Hell to Play With: The Filming of The Night of the Hunter, use this link to Barnes and Noble.