The Red House

Within a cycle of films that made a standard character out of dark city streets, Delmer Daves’ The Red House stands out as one of only a few American noirs of the 1940’s set exclusively in a rural setting: all the action takes place on a farm and its surrounding land with a few ventures onto a school bus. Edward G. Robinson stars in an unusual role as Pete Morgan, a tormented farmer with a bum leg and a terrible secret that compels him to hire a local good-for-nothing (Rory Calhoun) to patrol the surrounding woods and scare off any trespassers with his rifle (“There’s a curse on these woods!”) When Pete’s adopted daughter Meg (Allene Roberts) arranges for her handsome classmate Nath Storm (Lon McCallister) to take a job on the farm, Nath takes an interest in the woods and recruits Meg to help him find the mysterious red house rumored to exist. Judith Anderson plays Pete’s sister Ellen, a spinster who helps manage the farm and is the only other soul who knows about the violent crimes and betrayals that color Pete’s history. Director Daves combines elements of noir and horror, especially when Nath first walks home through the howling winds of Oxhead Woods (“Did you ever run away from a scream? You can’t!”) while veering momentarily into adventure territory for the final sequence in which Pete drives through rough, wooded terrain for his final confrontation at the ice house.