An Unusual Man
Delmer Daves’ difficult to categorize The Red House—thriller, film noir, and gothic horror—film from 1947.
Delmer Daves’ 1947 film The Red House isn’t easy to categorize. At once a thriller, film noir, and gothic horror, it makes a good aesthetic pairing with Charles Laughton’s The Night of the Hunter, despite the fact that Laughton’s masterpiece was made eight years later. Perhaps its oddness is because it was independently produced by Edward G. Robinson and Sol Lesser through Thalia Productions (often low-budget productions, especially of that time period, ended up with cinematic gems, both intentionally and unintentionally).
Robinson plays the lead—Pete Morgan, an older farmer with a wooden leg, who lives in isolation from the small town with his sister, Ellen (the great Judith Anderson), and their adopted daughter, Meg (Allene Roberts). There’s something strange and perhaps sinister about the Morgan family. They keep to themselves, which in a small town is reason enough to concoct various rumors about them.
Life is pretty much the same on the Morgan farm until Meg persuades Pete to hire Nath Storm (Lon McCallister) to help out. There’s a budding romance between Nath and Meg, and Pete’s aware of this. As much as he accepts Nath as a hired help, Pete’s still protective of Meg. This may be construed as a fatherly love, but Pete’s an unusual man.
Beyond the house are the woods. Pete constantly warns Meg to not explore the woods, especially the red house that’s overgrown with large bushes and surrounded by sinister trees. But the fruit’s naturally always more interesting when it’s forbidden, and with Nath’s help, Meg decides to explore.