reveal its location. John accidentally reveals that he and Pearl know where the money is hidden. After Powell refuses to consummate their marriage, Willa deludes herself that he married her to redeem her soul and begins preaching alongside him in tent revivals. She later overhears Powell threatening Pearl to reveal the money’s whereabouts and loses her faith in him. After Powell murders Willa and ties her body to a Model T that he sinks in the river, he claims that she left her family for a life of sin when Walter and Icey question her abrupt disappearance. He threatens the children and learns the money is hidden inside Pearl's doll. Birdie Steptoe, an elderly friend of the family, discovers Willa’s body while fishing but refrains from telling the police for fear that he will be accused of murder. The children escape an enraged Powell and attempt to seek refuge with Birdie, who they find in a drunken stupor. They use their father's small johnboat to flee down the river and find sanctuary with Rachel Cooper, a tough old woman who looks after stray children. Powell tracks them down, but Rachel sees through his deceptions and runs him off her property with a shotgun. Powell returns after dark. During an all-night standoff, Rachel gives Powell a face full of birdshot and he flees into her barn. She summons the state police, who arrive and arrest Powell for Willa’s murder. John breaks down during Powell’s handcuffing, having a flashback of his father’s fate. He beats the doll against Powell's struggling body in anguish, spilling the cash. During Powell’s trial John cannot bring himself to testify against him. After Powell's sentencing, Rachel takes John and the other children away as a deranged Icey leads a lynch mob toward the police station. Powell is escorted out the back to safety just in time, but the prison hangman vows to see him again soon. John and Pearl spend their first Christmas together with Rachel and her brood of stray children. Cast Production This was the only film directed by the actor Charles Laughton. Laughton had directed plays on Broadway, most produced by his friend Paul Gregory. Development Harold Matson, a literary agent, sent a copy of the 1953 novel The Night of the Hunter by Davis Grubb to Paul Gregory. He sent the book to Laughton, who loved it and described it as a "nightmarish