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

==Release==
[[File:The Night of the Hunter trailer screenshot.jpg|thumb|An image from the original trailer for ''The Night of the Hunter'']]
''The Night of the Hunter'' premiered on July 26, 1955, in [[Des Moines, Iowa]], a special event to raise money for the YMCA in Gregory's hometown, which included a parade and a broadcast on ''[[The Tonight Show]]''.{{sfn|Couchman|2009|p=196}}<ref name="afi" /> It later had its premiere in Los Angeles on August 26, 1955,<ref name=tcm>{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/17678/the-night-of-the-hunter|website=Turner Classic Movies|title=The Night of the Hunter|access-date=December 23, 2017}}</ref> and in New York on September 29, 1955.{{sfn|Couchman|2009|p=196}}

To promote the film, the ''[[Los Angeles Herald-Express]]'' serialized the film's script throughout April 1955.{{sfn|Couchman|2009|p=198}} The film also received an extensive promotional campaign from United Artists,{{sfn|Couchman|2009|pages=196–8}} but they weren't sure about the best way to promote it because it didn't fall into any typical film genres, and the promotional material didn't give a good sense of what the film was about.{{sfn|Clubb|Rosas|2010|loc=34:30}} However, one of the film's advertisements won an award for being in the top 50 best advertisements of 1954 from the [[American Institute of Graphic Arts]].<ref name="afi" /> According to Paul Gregory, "absolutely no money was spent on promotion...[[United Artists]] didn't have the muscle, desire, or intelligence to handle the picture."{{sfn|Algar|1995|loc=13:15}} He originally had the idea to tour the film "road show style", stopping at certain cities that were familiar with Laughton's plays, but he could not convince the studio.{{sfn|Clubb|Rosas|2010|loc=32:40}}

The [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Cheyenne]] denied the film's release, and Gregory wanted to put together a lawsuit against them, but the studio would not allow him to.{{sfn|Clubb|Rosas|2010|loc=35:38}}