Why you
might wonder was I reading a novel written in 1955? I was reading an magazine article about “film
noir” and there was a picture of the actress Lillian Gish in the role of Rachael
Cooper in the movie adaptation made in 1955.
The article also described how terrifying Robert Mitchum was in the role
of Harry Powell, a truly evil man, a serial killer of women, who ultimately
stalks two small children because he knows they are key to his finding money a
fellow convict was found guilty of stealing and was hanged.
The children
are nine year old John and Pearl, his 4 ½ year old sister. The novel evokes the isolation of rural
America in the middle of the 20th century and the grinding despair
of a life of poverty. It also evokes a
time of belief in clear lines between good, God-fearing folks and the evil
fallen ones. The children are on the run
following Powell’s murder of their mother and are taken in and ultimately saved
by the actions of Rachael Cooper, described as “old yet ageless”. Rachael faces down Powell in an
extraordinarily written show-down in the dark night of her isolated cabin.
Harper and
Brothers, 1953. 273 p.
P.S. This is the movie image; my borrowed print copy had one of those wonderful pastel commerial binder covers.
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