The Red House Review

Overall 4.00 of 5 (by 1 user)

GeorgeChabot
Conyers, GA

Exciting bit of Farm Noir: The Red House

Movie guru, Film noir guru, fan of clever plots, admirer of great storytelling, Lover of quirky, unique films

Pros

Edward G Robinson, Story, Cinematography, Music

Cons

Not better known

NOV

2008

The Red House (1947)

Edward G Robinson made a strong part of his career making these low budget black and white crime movies during the 40s and 50s. He first made his name in Warner Bros gangster movies and many people still remember him as only that, due to parodies and cartoon characters based on his Rico performance. But Robinson made far more movies than just those old gangster films and is one of the best actors ever, in my opinion.

The Red House is a low budget poverty row production in black and white directed by Delmer Daves (3:10 to Yuma).

The movie starts out with kids going home on the school bus in a rural district. A boy (Lon McCallister) is flirting with a girl (Julie London) planning to go skinny dipping on the weekend. The girl gets off the bus and another girl (Allene Roberts) starts talking to Nat. She is offering a job at her farm working for her father. It is the Depression and the boy's mother is barely able to keep in business at her store so the boy is happy for the offer. He meets with Mr Morgan (Edward G Robinson) who agrees to hire him for 35c an hour.

When Nat stays after dark he decides to cut through the woods out back to save a mile or two but Robinson forbids it telling him to take the long way around. Naturally, the boy has to find out what is back there and his trespass unleashes a tremendous storm where the elements themselves seem to scream and snatch at him. He runs back to the farm and sleeps in the barn.

But Nat and Meg keep after it, trying to find the secret and the movie has some strange developmnets and ends up thrilling to the end. Edward G Robinson is good as always, and Rory Calhoun is good, too, in his film debut. The scoring, by Miklos Rosza, also adds to the thrills.

The DVD is from Alpha, a public domain publisher. The movie is very nice black and white and lasts 100 minutes. Any film noir or thriller fan will enjoy The Red House.

Last edited on Nov 11, 2008

The Red House is recommended by GeorgeChabot

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Comments about GeorgeChabot’s Review

In response to LoveisJoy's comment from Nov 15, 2008 at 8:03PM:

That's great - glad I could be of service! ;>

In response to GeorgeChabot's comment from Nov 11, 2008 at 7:16PM:

I asked my mom about this movie, and she remembers it vividly! She said that Rory Calhoun was gorgeous and that the neighborhood kids would scare each other after watching this movie. She's definitely getting this DVD for Christmas. Thanks for the tip! :)

In response to Meri's comment from Nov 13, 2008 at 10:54AM:

I don't know. I just do. ;>

How do you find the time? I want more time... ;-)

In response to PattyTherre's comment from Nov 13, 2008 at 1:58AM:

Thank you, Patty. No, I don't hate when you call me that, just when you don't call. ;>

Another excellent review from Georgie! (You hate when I call you that, don't you? lol)

In response to LaurieM's comment from Nov 12, 2008 at 11:13AM:

This one has got a lot of romance, for you ladies. ;> Thanks for stopping by! :>

This sounds interesting George!

Sounds like another winner, George! How ya doing?

Umm...thriller, I think I'll pass.

In response to LoveisJoy's comment from Nov 11, 2008 at 6:18PM:

This is a good one for an Edward G Robinson fan and Rory Calhoun was at his best looking, as a young lad. I think you'll both like it. ;>

This sounds like a perfect gift for my mom's Christmas stocking. She loves film noir in general and Edward G. Robinson in particular. I've heard her mention Rory Calhoun, but I don't think I've seen him in any movies, myself. Intriguing review. :)