US Cinema Greats - 'The Night of the Hunter' Quiz

Answer: Playing Hide and Seek

After the discovery of the woman's body the scene cuts to the preacher Harry Powell driving down a dirt track and talking to his God. The implication is that this woman is one of the dozen or so that he has murdered to this point. How do we know that he's killed this many? During his conversation with God he asks, "How many has it been? Six... Twelve? You say the word Lord, I'm on my way." Harry Powell, brilliantly and menacingly played by Robert Mitchum, is later arrested whilst he is watching a burlesque show.

At this stage the authorities have little idea as to who they have in their custody. His thirty day incarceration for car theft sets in motion a disturbing and tragic chain of events.

Answer: Miss Jenny

"Hold Miss Jenny still!" says young John Harper to his little sister Pearl as he tries to help her dress her doll. "Stand still, Miss Jenny!" repeats Pearl as John slips on the doll's socks.

Ben Harper, played by Peter Graves, arrives back at his home where his children are playing in the garden. Frantically he tries to think of a safe hiding place for the proceeds of the robbery that he has carried out and in which he was wounded. Realising that the police will never think to look inside his daughter's stuffed dolly, he decides to hide it inside and then makes both John and Pearl swear that they will never divulge where the money has been hidden; not even to their mother.

Answer: Two counts of murder

Whilst awaiting his sentence being carried out, Ben Harper is incarcerated in a cell with Harry Powell, the lay preacher. Powell, an evil psychopath, overhears Ben talking in his sleep and attempts to trick him into telling him where he has hidden the ten thousand dollars that he stole during an armed bank raid; a raid in which he shot and killed two people, Ed Smiley and Corinne South, and for which he now finds himself under sentence of death.

Ben Harper finally goes to his death but he never discloses the whereabouts of the stolen money with any certainty. Powell, on the other hand, is convinced that Harper's children know where it is and he determines to travel to Harper's home town on his release from prison to take it from them.

Answer: False

Harry Powell has the words 'love' and 'hate' tattooed across his knuckles and uses them to explain the battle between good and evil. Shortly after his arrival in town he relates his tale at Icey and Walt Spoon's store.

"H.A.T.E.!" exclaims Harry Powell holding up his left hand. "It was with this left hand that old brother Cain struck the blow that laid his brother low!"
"L.O.V.E.!" he continues, raising his right hand. "You see these fingers dear hearts? These fingers have veins that run straight to the soul of man! The right hand friends, the hand of love"

He then demonstrates the fight between good and evil, linking his fingers together, his left hand forcing down his right as he explains the battle to his audience; then the right turning the left over before smashing it down onto the Spoons' counter in victory.

"I never heard it better told," says Icey Spoon with a hint of admiration in her voice.

Answer: A large flick-knife

As Willa makes her way back into the bedroom and the marital bed, she hears something heavy inside Harry Powell's jacket knock against the bathroom door. Slipping her hand inside the pocket she pulls out a large flick-knife... The tool of Harry Powell's trade!

"Men," she says and smiles as she slips the weapon back inside the jacket pocket; a decision she will come to regret in the not too distant future.

Answer: She had made paper people with it.

As John and Pearl were hurriedly trying to stuff the money back inside Miss Jenny, Harry Powell appears on the veranda of the house behind them. John tries to explain that he and Pearl are playing and fortunately Harry cannot see what they are really doing. Later that evening on her return from work, Willa hears a scream from her daughter and discovers Pearl running upstairs crying after Harry had tried to force her to tell him where the money was hidden. Realising that his wife might now suspect what was in his mind, Harry Powell murders Willa as she lies in bed. Downstairs, John is awoken by the sound of a car being started and driven away but, unable to see what is going on because of thick mist outside, he climbs back into bed and falls back to sleep.

Answer: Down in the cellar.

Powell eventually discovers that the money is hidden inside Pearl's doll. As he sits on the cellar floor laughing at the obviousness of what he has just been told, John causes a shelf to collapse above Powell and the heavy jars temporarily stun him enabling the children to make their escape.

As John and Pearl reach the cellar door, Powell screams as they slam the door on his fingers. Powell is locked in the cellar as the children make good their escape. As they make their way to the river, Powell escapes from the cellar and pursues them.

The children escape in a boat in the nick of time, just as their tormentor flounders in the soft mud at the banks of the creek.

Answer: A caged songbird

John and Pearl sail down the river in Uncle Birdie's small boat for a week. Exhausted they set ashore and seek shelter and rest in a barn. As they step ashore they are both captivated by the movement of the bird and by the beautiful singing coming from within the homestead. "Are we going home now?" asks the exhausted little girl. "Shush," whispers John as the pair make their way to the warm barn. During the night the children are forced to flee again when John sees the distinctive figure of Harry Powell pursuing them albeit at a leisurely pace on horseback.

As the children sleep, once again their boat is gently washed up on the riverbank. Early the following morning, John and Pearl are rudely awakened by a woman out walking the riverbank who promptly marches them off to her house; the house of the gentle and kindly Miss Rachel Cooper.

Answer: Ice cream

Ruby foolishly confirms to Powell that John and Pearl are both living at Miss Cooper's and that Pearl is still in possession of Miss Jenny, her rag-doll containing the ten thousand dollars. The following day Powell arrives at Miss Cooper's and, after shedding a few crocodile tears, he demands that she hands over the two children into his care. Miss Cooper, played by Hollywood legend Lillian Gish, realises very quickly that Harry Powell is not what he seems and, after he launches an attack on John in order to snatch Pearl's doll, she threatens to shoot him with her shotgun if he doesn't leave immediately. Powell leaves but says that he will return later that night for John and Pearl. Later that night he returns and is shot and wounded by Miss Cooper as she promised; as Powell flees screaming in pain to her barn, she calls on the telephone for assistance from the West Virginia State Troopers.

Answer: Bart, the state hangman

On arrival at Miss Cooper's barn, the troopers arrest Powell for the murder of Willa Harper whose body had been discovered since she had disappeared. Seeing Powell being roughly man-handled to the ground, John rushes at Powell and the police, hitting Powell with Miss Jenny.

The doll breaks open and the stolen money flies out. Later, after Powell has been sentenced to hang for his crimes, a lynch mob descends on the police station and Powell is bundled to safety through the back door. As the car is about to pull away, Bart the hangman, whose surname is never revealed, is just leaving his home as the police car speeds away with the evil Powell. Back at Miss Cooper's house, Christmas has arrived and John, Pearl, Ruby and the other children enjoy a happy and peaceful Christmas Day.