Gregory remarked: " 'The Night of the Hunter' is still shown at film schools and universities. The movie lasted because Its appeal is in its honesty, its truth. The film ensconced all of the natural fears we have as people. I don't like to use the word symphonic, but it all seemed harmonized. It had a flow of the innocence of the time -- the barren innocence." After "The Night of the Hunter," Paul Gregory produced only one other movie, "The Naked and the Dead," based upon Norman Mailer's war novel. Why did Paul Gregory leave movie making? Gregory responded: "I didn't like movies. There's so much compromise. Today, people have gotten used to it which is why there are so many so-so movies. And I didn't like the cut-throat people who make the movies. I had a man, my production designer Hilyard Brown, who built a house out of the budget for 'The Night of the Hunter.' In the theater, I dealt with more literate people, Mr. Lee Shubert. I had a wonderful group of backers. I was anxious to get out of movies and come back to my natural self. Let me say this: I went to Hollywood a gentleman and didn't want to wind up like the rest of them".
