Abstract
Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter (1955) has rarely been considered a film noir. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether the film has any noirish qualities. The Night of the Hunter lacks most noir markers: retrospective narration, a private detective with a dubious moral as the protagonist, banter laden with sexual innuendo, an urban setting, and a scheming femme fatale. However, it is my claim that the film conforms to some of the most important and radical aspects of French critics Raymond Borde and Ètienne Chaumeton's theories. Their essay "Towards a Definition of Film Noir" was the first attempt at trying to define film noir. When looking at film noir, not as a genre or a style, but more in terms of theme, The Night of the Hunter goes beyond being noirish; it is a true film noir and one of the most unsettling films of its generation.