Editing Charles Laughton (section)

==Film career==

===1933–1943===
[[File:Charles Laughton in Mutiny on the Bounty trailer.jpg|right|thumb|From the trailer for [[Mutiny on the Bounty (1935 film)|''Mutiny on the Bounty'']] (1935)]]
After his smashing success in ''[[The Private Life of Henry VIII]]'', Laughton soon abandoned the stage for films and returned to Hollywood, where his next film was ''[[White Woman]]'' (1933) in which he co-starred with [[Carole Lombard]] as a [[Cockney]] river trader in the [[British Malaya|Malayan]] jungle. Then came ''[[The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934 film)|The Barretts of Wimpole Street]]'' (1934) as the malevolent father of [[Norma Shearer]]'s character (although Laughton was only three years older than Shearer); ''[[Les Misérables (1935 film)|Les Misérables]]'' (1935) as Inspector [[Javert]]; one of his most famous screen roles in ''[[Mutiny on the Bounty (1935 film)|Mutiny on the Bounty]]'' (1935) as Captain [[William Bligh]], co-starring with [[Clark Gable]] as [[Fletcher Christian]]; and ''[[Ruggles of Red Gap]]'' (1935) as the very English butler transported to early 1900s America. He signed to play Micawber in ''[[David Copperfield (1935 film)|David Copperfield]]'' (1934), but after a few days' shooting asked to be released from the role and was replaced by [[W. C. Fields]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-career-of-melvin/149213675/ |title=Career of Melvin Purvis Will Be Brought to Screen |newspaper=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]] |page=9 |date=27 October 1934 |access-date=12 June 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

Back in the UK, and again with Korda, he played the title role in ''[[Rembrandt (1936 film)|Rembrandt]]'' (1936). In 1937, also for Korda, he starred in an ill-fated film version of the classic novel, ''[[I, Claudius (film)|I, Claudius]]'', by [[Robert Graves]], which was abandoned during filming owing to the injuries suffered by co-star [[Merle Oberon]] in a car crash. After ''I, Claudius'', he and the expatriate German film producer [[Erich Pommer]] founded the production company [[Mayflower Pictures]] in the UK, which produced three films starring Laughton: ''[[Vessel of Wrath]]'' (US title ''[[The Beachcomber (1938 film)|The Beachcomber]]'') (1938), based on a story by [[W. Somerset Maugham]], in which his wife, Elsa Lanchester, co-starred; ''[[Sidewalks of London|St. Martin's Lane]]'' (US title ''[[Sidewalks of London]]''), about London street entertainers, which featured [[Vivien Leigh]] and [[Rex Harrison]]; and ''[[Jamaica Inn (film)|Jamaica Inn]]'', with [[Maureen O'Hara]] and [[Robert Newton]], about [[Cornwall|Cornish]] shipwreckers, based on [[Daphne du Maurier]]'s novel (and the last film [[Alfred Hitchcock]] directed in Britain), before moving to Hollywood in the late 1930s.

The films produced were not commercially successful enough, and the company was rescued from bankruptcy only when [[RKO Pictures]] offered Laughton the title role ([[Quasimodo]]) in ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939 film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'' (1939), with ''Jamaica Inn'' co-star O'Hara. Laughton and Pommer had plans to make further films, but the outbreak of [[World War II]], which implied the loss of many foreign markets, meant the end of the company. Laughton's early success in ''The Private Life of Henry VIII'' established him as one of the leading interpreters of the costume and historical drama roles for which he is best remembered (Nero, Henry VIII, Mr. Barrett, Inspector Javert, Captain Bligh, Rembrandt, Quasimodo, and others); he was also type-cast as arrogant, unscrupulous characters.{{Citation needed|date=May 2012}}

He largely moved away from historical roles when he played an Italian vineyard owner in California in ''[[They Knew What They Wanted (film)|They Knew What They Wanted]]'' (1940); a South Seas patriarch in ''[[The Tuttles of Tahiti]]'' (1942); and a US admiral during World War II in ''[[Stand By for Action]]'' (1942). He played a [[Victorian era|Victorian]] butler in ''[[Forever and a Day (1943 film)|Forever and a Day]]'' (1943) and an Australian bar-owner in ''[[The Man from Down Under]]'' (1943). [[Simon Callow]]'s 1987 biography quotes a number of contemporary reviews of Laughton's performances in these films. [[James Agate]], reviewing ''[[Forever and a Day (1943 film)|Forever and a Day]]'', wrote: "Is there no-one at RKO to tell Charles Laughton when he is being plain bad?" On the other hand, [[Bosley Crowther]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' declared that ''Forever and a Day'' boasted "superb performances".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F00E5D61E39E33BBC4B52DFB5668388659EDE|work=The New York Times|first=Bosley|last=Crowther|title='Forever and a Day', Pageant of Some English People, Made Cooperatively in Hollywood, Is Attraction at the Rivoli|date=13 March 1943}}</ref>

[[C. A. Lejeune]], wrote Callow, was "shocked" by the poor quality of Laughton's work of that period: "One of the most painful screen phenomena of latter years", she wrote in ''[[The Observer]]'', "has been the decline and fall of Charles Laughton." On the other hand, [[David Shipman (writer)|David Shipman]], in his book ''The Great Movie Stars: The Golden Years'', said "Laughton was a total actor. His range was wide".<ref>David Shipman ''The Great Movie Stars: The Golden Years'', London: Macdonald, 1989, p.353</ref>

===1943–1962===
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Laughton played a cowardly schoolmaster in [[occupied France]] in ''[[This Land Is Mine (film)|This Land is Mine]]'' (1943), by [[Jean Renoir]], in which he engaged himself most actively;<ref>Lourié, Eugène (1985) ''My Work in Films''. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich {{ISBN|0-15-164019-X}} (Lourié, who worked after hours to work on the decors, once found Laughton working after hours to get used to move in the scenery.)</ref> in fact, while Renoir was still working on an early script, Laughton would talk about [[Alphonse Daudet]]'s story "The Last Lesson", which suggested to Renoir a relevant scene for the film.<ref>Sesonske, Alexander (1996) ''Persistence of Vision'' (Maspeth), no. 12–13, 1996<!-- ISBN # needed --></ref> Laughton played a henpecked husband who eventually murders his wife in ''[[The Suspect (1944 film)|The Suspect]]'' (1944), directed by [[Robert Siodmak]], who would become a good friend.<ref>Dumont, Hervé (1981) ''Robert Siodmak''. Lausanne: L'Age d'homme</ref> He played sympathetically an impoverished composer-pianist in ''[[Tales of Manhattan]]'' (1942) and starred in ''[[The Canterville Ghost (1944 film)|The Canterville Ghost]]'', based on [[The Canterville Ghost|the Oscar Wilde story]] in 1944.

Laughton appeared in two comedies with [[Deanna Durbin]], ''[[It Started with Eve]]'' (1941) and ''Because of Him'' (1946). He portrayed a bloodthirsty pirate in ''[[Captain Kidd (film)|Captain Kidd]]'' (1945) and a malevolent judge in Alfred Hitchcock's ''[[The Paradine Case]]'' (1947). Laughton played a megalomaniac press tycoon in ''[[The Big Clock (1948 film)|The Big Clock]]'' (1948). He had supporting roles as a Nazi in pre-war Paris in ''[[Arch of Triumph (1948 film)|Arch of Triumph]]'' (1948), as a bishop in ''The Girl from Manhattan'' (1948), as a seedy go-between in ''[[The Bribe]]'' (1949), and as a kindly widower in ''[[The Blue Veil (1951 film)|The Blue Veil]]'' (1951). He played a Bible-reading pastor in the multi-story ''[[A Miracle Can Happen]]'' (1947), but his piece wound up being cut and replaced with another featuring [[Dorothy Lamour]], and in this form the film was retitled as ''[[On Our Merry Way]]''. However, an original print of ''A Miracle Can Happen'' was sent abroad for dubbing before the Laughton sequence was deleted, and in this form it was shown in Spain as ''Una Encuesta Llamada Milagro''.

Laughton made his first colour film in Paris as [[Inspector Maigret]] in ''[[The Man on the Eiffel Tower]]'' (1949) and, wrote the ''Monthly Film Bulletin'', "appeared to overact" alongside [[Boris Karloff]] as a mad French nobleman in a version of [[Robert Louis Stevenson]]'s ''[[The Strange Door]]'' in 1951. He played a tramp in ''[[O. Henry's Full House]]'' (1952). He became the pirate Captain Kidd again, this time for comic effect, in ''[[Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd]]'' (1952). Laughton made a guest appearance on the ''Colgate Comedy Hour'' (featuring [[Abbott and Costello]]), in which he delivered the [[Gettysburg Address]]. In 1953 he played [[Herod Antipas]] in ''[[Salome (1953 film)|Salome]]'', and he reprised his role as Henry VIII in ''[[Young Bess]]'', a 1953 drama about Henry's children.

He returned to Britain to star in ''[[Hobson's Choice (1954 film)|Hobson's Choice]]'' (1954), directed by [[David Lean]]. Laughton received Academy Award and [[Golden Globe]] nominations for his role in ''[[Witness for the Prosecution (1957 film)|Witness for the Prosecution]]'' (1957). He played a British admiral in ''[[Under Ten Flags]]'' (1960) and worked with [[Laurence Olivier]] in ''[[Spartacus (film)|Spartacus]]'' (1960). His final film was ''[[Advise & Consent]]'' (1962), for which he received favourable comments for his performance as a Southern US Senator (for which accent he studied recordings of [[Mississippi]] Senator [[John C. Stennis]]).

===''The Night of the Hunter'' and other projects===
{{main|The Night of the Hunter (film)}}
In 1955, Laughton directed ''[[The Night of the Hunter (film)|The Night of the Hunter]]'', starring [[Robert Mitchum]], [[Shelley Winters]] and [[Lillian Gish]], and produced by his friend [[Paul Gregory (producer)|Paul Gregory]]. The film has been cited among critics as one of the best of the 1950s,<ref name=Ebert1996>{{Cite journal|last=Ebert|first=Roger|year=1996|title=Review: Night of the Hunter|journal=Chicago Sun-Times|url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19961124/REVIEWS08/401010344/1023|access-date=3 December 2008|archive-date=7 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207070242/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F19961124%2FREVIEWS08%2F401010344%2F1023|url-status=dead}}</ref> and has been selected by the United States [[National Film Registry]] for preservation in the Library of Congress. At the time of its original release it was a critical and box-office failure, and Laughton never directed again. The documentary ''Charles Laughton Directs The Night of the Hunter'' by Robert Gitt (2002) features preserved rushes and outtakes with Laughton's audible off-camera direction.<ref>Robert Gitt in ''The Guardian'', 6 June 2003 [https://archive.today/20120709094338/http://film.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,4684207-3181,00.html "Charles Laughton directs The Night of the Hunter."] Retrieved 25 October 2008.</ref>

Laughton had intended to follow up ''The Night of the Hunter'' with an adaptation of [[Norman Mailer]]'s ''[[The Naked and the Dead]]''. [[Terry Sanders|Terry]] and [[Denis Sanders|Dennis Sanders]] were hired as writers, and press releases announced that Robert Mitchum was to star and that [[Walter Schumann]] would compose the score.<ref>{{cite journal|title=A Tale of Two Brothers|journal=Point of View Magazine|date=Spring 2007|page=20|url=http://www.americanfilmfoundation.com/AFFTwoBrothers.pdf|access-date=11 September 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/806/the-naked-and-the-dead |title=The Naked and the Dead (1958) – Overview |publisher=Turner Classic Movies |access-date=14 June 2014}}</ref> Following the box-office failure of ''The Night of the Hunter'', Laughton was replaced by [[Raoul Walsh]] as director on [[The Naked and the Dead (film)|the film]] and recruited an uncredited writer to rewrite the Sanders brothers' screenplay.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americanlegends.com/Interviews/paul_gregory_natd.html |title=American Legends Interviews Paul Gregory on making: The Naked and The Dead |publisher=Americanlegends.com |access-date=14 June 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.indiewire.com/article/recalling_the_past_and_the_future_with_terry_sanders2/ |title=Recalling The Past (And The Future) With Terry Sanders&#124;Filmmakers, Film Industry, Film Festivals, Awards & Movie Reviews |date=13 February 1998 |publisher=Indiewire |access-date=14 June 2014}}</ref>

Laughton also developed a remake of the 1927 [[silent film]] ''[[White Gold (1927 film)|White Gold]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.filmcomment.com/article/unproduced-and-unfinished-films-l-through-z-a-ongoing-film-comment-project/|title=Unproduced and Unfinished Films: An Ongoing Film Comment project|website=[[Film Comment]]|date=May 2012|access-date=9 July 2023}}</ref>