The Red House (1947)
A one-legged farmer and his sister raise their adopted niece on an isolated farm, forbidding anyone near a boarded-up house deep in the woods — a prohibition that only sharpens her curiosity once she falls for the hired hand.
Edward G. Robinson trades tommy guns for a hunting rifle and a guilty conscience, and Miklós Rózsa’s eerie theremin cues do as much to unsettle the woods as anything that actually happens in them.
Background
The Red House was directed by Delmer Daves and stars Edward G. Robinson as a farmer who lives on an isolated place with his sister and the adopted niece they are raising. Judith Anderson plays the sister, and Lon McCallister and Rory Calhoun are in the cast. Miklos Rozsa’s score, with its eerie theremin cues, does much of the work of building dread in the woods. The copyright was not renewed, and the film is in the public domain. Its woodland mystery and psychological focus made it a notable example of the postwar thriller.
What to watch for
Watch the house in the woods, the film’s central mystery and the place the niece has been forbidden to approach. The household’s rules around it, and the niece’s growing curiosity once she falls for the hired hand, drive the story. Robinson’s performance is restrained, and his character’s guilt is revealed slowly through the film’s suspense. Rozsa’s score is one of the film’s best assets, since its theremin lines make the woods feel unsettling even in quiet scenes. At 100 minutes the film is patient, and its atmosphere carries as much weight as its plot.
