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

Preston Neal Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2004

Jones uncovers the fascinating inside story of the making of this film, one of the American Film Institutes's 100 Greatest Thrillers. Every aspect is revealed of the film's development and production - casting, design, shooting, scoring, and editing - to the profound disappointment upon its release. This book is the result of over a decade of archival research and interviews with a dozen key people associated with the film, including Grubb, Gregory, actors Robert Mitchum and Lillian Gish and cinematographer Stanley Cortez. Their oral histories, along with numerous artifacts and film stills, are here deftly assembled into an account that is as compelling as the movie it celebrates.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Jones interviewed Stanley Cortez at length...[his] recollections about the creation of this landmark film make for highly compelling reading." -- American Cinematographer, March 2003

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

...one of the most delightful, funny, serious and detailed books on a classic movie ever -- Tom Tykwer, writer/director

Combining these interviews into a group diary is welcome and the resulting anecdotes and gossip are terrifically entertaining. -- Video Watchdog, April 2003

Impressively detailed! -- Leonard Maltin, November 2003

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Limelight Editions; 1 edition (August 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879109742
• ISBN-13: 978-0879109745
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,159,220 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Compelling Look at What Film Histories Can Be, February 25, 2006

By 

William Latham (Connecticut) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Heaven and Hell to Play With: The Filming of The Night of the Hunter (Paperback)

Heaven & Hell To Play With: The Filming of The Night of the Hunter by Preston Neal Jones is by no means a trivial read, and it is its sheer density that makes it so special. Jones compiled numerous interviews and basically provides an oral history of what many consider a compelling masterpiece, offering as thorough a history as one could ask for. Yes, there is much detail here, and perhaps those not familiar with Laughton's film (or fond of it) may be overwhelmed, but consider for a moment what you have here.

How many of us dream of actually observing the creation and production of a favorite film? Jones provides just that -- even without interviews from Laughton or the principal performers (save Robert Mitchum and Lillian Gish), we see the film of Davis Grubb's novel being imagined, created, and released as described by those who were there, including Davis Grubb. Where a director's commentary on a DVD is typically a trifle, providing some interesting notes and observations limited by the film's running time, this book is all about immersion -- you almost feel you are there, and you're invited to stay for awhile. Jones rarely intrudes upon the first person accounts of the participants, and when he does, it's usually to point out potential discrepancies between remembered versions of events.

The "loose" narrative of oral history, any oral history, fills in an amazing amount of detail by accident, rather than by authorial intent, and this book leaves one feeling completely satisfied (or for those with shorter attention spans on the subject, perhaps a bit full) on a subject that seemed lost -- that we're seeing this book in 2002, nearly two generations separated from the film's creation, shows us the result of determined and dedicated sleuthing. This book can't have been easy to write or compile.

As presented, the book doesn't read like a typical film history, but more like an eyewitness account, and of course, that's what it is. If only more film books like this existed -- the greatest accomplishment of this book is not that you can walk away with facts -- it's that you can walk away feeling not only like you were there, but that you actually knew the participants, and could see where the social fabric between the personalities grew taut and relaxed at key points in the narrative.

Hats off to Jones -- a fine job, and one would hope, as novel in its execution as the film it describes, that will hopefully inspire imitation. Fans of the film are decidedly in your debt.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Night of the Hunter...unplugged, September 12, 2002

By 

D. Sorensen (Northern, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Heaven and Hell to Play With: The Filming of The Night of the Hunter (Paperback)

Night of the Hunter is the kind of movie that jolts your senses in every way. Preston Jones account on the genesis of this cinematic masterpiece is engrossing as the film itself. Meticulously researched, Jones covers every aspect of the making of this classic. Any serious film aficionado would benefit greatly to add this superb book to their library.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GET THIS BOOK NOW !, July 12, 2006

By 

Lester G. Sullivan (New Orleans, LA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Heaven and Hell to Play With: The Filming of The Night of the Hunter (Paperback)

Preston Neal Jones has written the best book ever about the production of a particular movie, "Heaven and Hell To Play With," which treats the making of Charles Laughton's neo-D. W. Griffith "The Night of the Hunter." Not only is his book the best of its general category but also it represents an almost-unique category of its own, which is to say that it is the story of a movie production told almost entirely in the words of those who participated in that production. It is built from detailed oral history, and the author, Mr. Jones, is almost entirely absent from the narrative. It is a great book that I read in one day. You just can't put it down. (Now, if only we could have a sumptuous re-recording of Walter Schumann's carefully crafted score. The state of movie music today would be far better if directors were willing to bring composers into their projects early in the process as Laughton did. Schumann was in on "The Night of the Hunter" almost from the beginning, and its shows in the results) GET THIS BOOK NOW !