BOOK

Preston Neal Jones, Heaven and Hell to Play With: The Filming of The Night of the Hunter (Limelight, $18.95 paper). This 2002 oral history of the making of Charles Laughton’s haunting 1955 screen version of Davis Grubb’s novel about an itinerant preacher-murderer (played to nightmarish perfection by Robert Mitchum) is essential reading for anyone who loves the film. It is also one of the few books I’ve read that gives the layman a clear and illuminating picture of exactly what a director does–and why it matters. No matter whether film or live theater is your main interest, you’ll learn things from Heaven and Hell to Play With that most people only find out by taking part in working rehearsals (TT).