Editing The Night of the Hunter (film) (section)

===Development===
[[Harold Matson]], a literary agent, sent a copy of the 1953 novel ''[[The Night of the Hunter (novel)|The Night of the Hunter]]'' by [[Davis Grubb]] to Paul Gregory.{{sfn|Algar|1995|loc=2:29}} He sent the book to Laughton, who loved it and described it as a "nightmarish [[Mother Goose]] story".{{sfn|Clubb|Rosas|2010|loc=0:46}} Laughton contacted Grubb, and the two of them instantly got along very well. He traveled to Philadelphia, where Grubb lived, and they spent five days discussing ideas for the film. Grubb had studied art in college, so he offered to draw sketches as a form of inspiration. Laughton loved the drawings, and many of them were used in the film's [[storyboard]].{{sfn|Clubb|Rosas|2010|loc=6:28}}

At first Grubb was being considered to write the screenplay himself, but the studio wanted to hire someone with experience writing for films.{{sfn|Clubb|Rosas|2010|loc=8:32}} [[James Agee]] was hired as the screenwriter because he was from the South and had experience writing about the Depression.{{sfn|Clubb|Rosas|2010|loc=7:37}} Agee began writing in April 1954, and finished in June, but his script was 293 pages: much too long for a feature film. Laughton made significant rewrites to the script, and his was the version used for shooting, even though he insisted that Agee be credited as the only writer.{{sfn|Clubb|Rosas|2010|loc=8:48}}<ref name="afi" /> Agee's original script ended with a shot of children's faces floating among the stars, an idea that was eventually moved to the opening of the film.{{sfn|Clubb|Rosas|2010|loc=11:00}} Throughout 1954, Gregory worked with the [[Production Code Administration]] to change the script to meet the guidelines of the Production Code. There was much concern about depicting a preacher on screen as an evil person, and Gregory made an effort to make the character of the Preacher not appear to be a real, ordained minister. Eventually the script was approved, but Protestant groups who had read the script continued to object to the film's production.<ref name="afi">{{cite web |title=The Night of the Hunter |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/51604 |website=[[AFI Catalog of Feature Films]] |publisher=[[American Film Institute]] |access-date=February 8, 2020}}</ref>

While preparing for the filming, Laughton studied [[silent film]]s by viewing their original nitrate prints, including ''[[The Birth of a Nation]]'', ''[[Intolerance (film)|Intolerance]]'', and ''[[The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (film)|The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse]]''. He wanted to "restore the power of silent films to [[talkies]]."{{sfn|Clubb|Rosas|2010|loc=17:45}}

The budget of the film was a little under $600,000,{{sfn|Clubb|Rosas|2010|loc=32:40}} of which about $75,000 was for the rights to adapt the novel.{{sfn|Clubb|Rosas|2010|loc=13:20}}