The Red House (film)

The Red House
Theatrical release poster (1947)
Directed by	Delmer Daves
Produced by	Sol Lesser
Screenplay by	Delmer Daves
Based on	the novel The Red House by George Agnew Chamberlain
Starring	Edward G. Robinson Lon McCallister Judith Anderson Rory Calhoun Julie London
Music by	Miklós Rózsa
Cinematography	Bert Glennon
Edited by	Merrill G. White
Production company	Sol Lesser Productions Thaila Productions
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	March 16, 1947 (1947-03-16) (New York City)
Running time	100 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Red House is a 1947 film noir psychological thriller starring Edward G. Robinson. It is adapted from the novel The Red House by George Agnew Chamberlain, published in 1943 by Popular Library.

Handicapped farmer Pete Morgan (Edward G. Robinson) and sister Ellen (Judith Anderson) live on an isolated farm with their adoptive daughter, Meg (Allene Roberts) who is actually their niece. They keep to themselves and are viewed as mysterious by the nearby town. Now a teenager, Meg convinces Pete to hire one of her 12th grade high school classmates, Nath Storm (Lon McCallister) to come help with chores on the farm. Everyone gets along great, until one evening Nath says he is going to take a shortcut home through the old woods to go home. The woods are part of Pete's property and he forbids anyone from entering them. Pete becomes agitated, insisting the woods are dangerous and contain a haunted house which is painted red, and that Nath must stay out.

After traveling though the woods in the dark, Nath returns spooked, after hearing moans and yells. However, a few days later, Nath is embarrassed at his cowardice and goes through the woods again after dark. Nath is struck from behind and knocked out. Nath returns to the farm and insists that Pete hit him, but Meg and Ellen say Pete has been in the room with them since Nath left. Soon, both Nath and Meg become obsessed with searching for the mysterious "red house", but can't find it in their daily travels to the woods to look for the house.

In the meantime, Meg begins to fall in love with Nath, but his jealous and shrewd girlfriend Tibby (Julie London) has other plans for him. Meanwhile, Pete secretly gives local handyman and petty thug Teller (Rory Calhoun) rights to hunt on the land as long as he keeps everyone else off of the property.

One Sunday, Meg goes off on her own to look for the red house and she finds it located in a small gully a few miles from Pete's farm along an unused dirt road. Teller fires at her to scare her away. Running away, Meg falls and breaks her leg. That evening, when Meg does not return, Nath ventures into the woods to find her and brings her back to the farm. Pete is furious that both Meg and Nath defied his warning to stay out of the woods and he outright fires Nath and banishes him from the farm and from seeing Meg again.