Alex da Silva You get to find out. You can probably guess what the secret of the Red House is but it doesn't matter as the film gently carries you through the story with some spookiness, tension and drama thrown in and used to good effect. It's a simple setting and a simple story about the effect of a house on nutcase Edward G (Pete) and the curse of the woods.After student Lon McCallister (Nath) takes his first walk through the woods at night-time, the scary woods become the most important cast member. No way would I be returning. We get a mystery/thriller as teenagers Lon and Allene Roberts (Meg) explore the woods in search of the Red House. There are many secrets and dangers that lurk in this forest setting.Julie London turns up in a role as sexually aware student Tibby before her singing career took off in real life. All the cast do fine although sometimes the dialogue delivery from Lon is slightly off – he has moments where he is a little too rude to Edward G and out of his depth when challenging farmhand Rory Calhoun. He's got guts but I don't think so!

Uriah43 "Meg" (Allene Roberts) is a teenage girl who lives on the edge of a dark and dreadful forest with a man named "Pete Morgan" (Edward G. Robinson) and his sister "Ellen Morgan" (Judith Anderson) who adopted her when she was 2 years old. As long as she can remember she was told not to venture into the forest. Then one day Pete hires a teenage boy named "Nath Storm" (Lon McCallister) to help with the chores on the farm which pleases Meg to no end even though Nath has a girlfriend named "Tibby" (Julie London) who keeps him focused solely on her. Unfortunately, one stormy night Nath decides to take a short-cut through the woods which greatly displeases Pete and begins a series of bad feelings between the two of them. The friction soon becomes even worse when Meg decides to disobey Pete's instructions and venture into the woods with Nath in search of a mysterious "Red House" which she is told is particularly horrendous. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an entertaining movie which was actually enhanced by the fact that it was filmed in black-and-white as it added a certain macabre feel to everything. It also helped that the sub-plots blended well together to form a cohesive story-line. That being said, I have rated the film accordingly. Above average.

writers_reign This is Eddie Robinson as Eddie Carbone, almost a full decade of Arthur Miller's A View From The Bridge we find Robinson drawn incestuously to his adopted daughter and unnaturally jealous when she shows a healthy interest in a boy of her own age. There are no further parallels, Lon McCallister is a school friend and not an illegal immigrant but nevertheless writer/director Delmer Daves serves up a heady brew with an interesting cast including Judith Anderson, Julie London Ona Munson and Rory Calhoun. It's a dark meller and though set in the wide open spaces there's definitely a touch of noir about it as we wait for the secret of the red house to be revealed. Well worth a look.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . especially when he's down to his last leg, as "Pete" (Edward G. Robinson) is in THE RED HOUSE. This low-budget mess resulted from someone's lame idea that if you threw several unknown young actors together with "Mrs. Danvers" (REBECCA's Judith Anderson) and DR. CLITTERHOUSE himself (Robinson) you might get a passable suspense and\or horror flick. Unfortunately, the trashy script, based upon a magazine serial, plays like Eugene O'Neill Lite. Instead of DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS, we're treated to WAILING IN THE WOODS. Pete is mad as a hatter, but he lives in some alternate universe in which everyone else exists as his zombie-like enablers, whose sole purpose is to carry out his crazy commands. From sister Ellen to ward Meg, from gamekeeper Teller to handy boy Nath, from Nympho Tibby to Doc Byrne, everyone lets Peg-leg Pete get away with murder. To add insult to injury, this flop is filmed in grainy black & white. Truth-in-advertising dictates that it be retitled THE GRAY HOUSE.