An embarrassment of riches this last week, and due to combination of late arrivals, a pesky head cold and time-consuming website upgrade, I had less time with them than I would have liked and am late getting my coverage up. Here are two previously available essentials now getting the Criterion treatment on DVD and debuting on Blu-ray, with brief notes on the films and the supplements. Both were released on November 16.

The Night Of The Hunter (Criterion)

The pastoral nightmare

It was a flop upon its release in 1955, but Charles Laughton’s only film as a director is today justly celebrated one of the most beautiful pastoral nightmares the cinema has seen. Robert Mitchum gives a fire and brimstone performance as a demonic con man in preacher man’s robes who stalks two children in search of treasure, and Lillian Gish is a tough but tender shepherd of lost sheep orphans. Part rural film noir and part expressionist parable, this is an American original boasting some of the most striking images to escape from Hollywood.

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