16 October 2024
The Red House (1947)
100 min.
Directed by Delmer Daves.
With Edward G. Robinson, Judith Anderson, Lon McCallister, Allene Roberts, Rory Calhoun, Julie London.
An enjoyable '40s thriller.

Gentle farmer Pete Morgan (Robinson) lives with his sister Ellen (Anderson) and their adopted teenage daughter Meg (Roberts) on a secluded rural ranch.

Life seems serene and steady until Pete hires local boy Nath (McCallister) for some parttime chores.

Soon Nath and Meg are venturing into the mysterious Oxhead Woods, a nearby zone Pete has explicitly forbidden them to enter.

Seems there's a strange 'red house' buried somewhere deep in the foliage...and Pete wants the godawful place forgotten forever.

But what horrible secret could be hidden there?

This melodramatic horror is classy fun, thanks to the likes of greats Anderson and Robinson (the latter in a touchingly sympathetic role here).

A young Rory Calhoun (from 1980's Motel Hell) turns up as a brazen hood while popular chanteuse Julie London plays the town flirt.

Good old school times with a great ending for Robinson.

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