The Red House **** (1947, Edward G Robinson, Lon McCallister, Judith Anderson, Allene Roberts, Julie London, Rory Calhoun) – Classic Movie Review 8247

Writer-director Delmer Daves’s 1947 black and white psychological thriller The Red House (also known as No Trespassing) is based on a novel by George Agnew Chamberlain, published in 1943 by Popular Library, and stars Edward G Robinson, Lon McCallister, Judith Anderson, Allene Roberts, Julie London and Rory Calhoun. It was the sleeper hit of the year.

Edward G Robinson and Judith Anderson play handicapped farmer Pete Morgan and his sister Ellen, who live on an isolated farm with their adoptive teenage daughter Meg (Allene Roberts), who persuades Pete to hire her 12th grade high school classmate Nath Storm (Lon McCallister) to help with the farm chores.

The question is, what has this case of the murder of a father to do with the one-legged farmer Pete Morgan (Robinson) and his unmarried sister Ellen (Anderson)? Teenagers Nath (Lon McCallister) and Meg (Allene Roberts) probe the screams from the empty house in the forest in this sleek, well-made Gothic spooky tale.

Lon McCallister, Allene Roberts, Edward G. Robinson and Judith Anderson in The Red House (1947).

Daves handles it exceptionally both as writer and director, with excellent performances, atmospheric black and white images from cinematographer Bert Glennon and a strong Miklós Rózsa score. Robinson produces with Sol Lesser.

Julie London plays Nath’s jealous and shrewd girlfriend Tibby and Rory Calhoun plays local handyman and petty thug Teller.

Also in the cast are Ona Munson, Harry Shannon, Arthur Space, Walter Sande and Pat Flaherty.

Allene Roberts (born on September 1, 1928).

Born in Fairfield, Alabama on September 1, 1928, Allene Roberts appeared in 12 movies between 1947 and 1952, and was busy on TV till 1957 when she retired after her marriage. She was a long-lasting friend with Lon McCallister.

Lon McCallister (1923 – 2005).

Lon McCallister (April 17, 1923 – June 11, 2005) began appearing in movies at the age of 13 but, growing only to 5’6″, he found it difficult to find roles as an adult. He retired from acting age of 30 in 1953 and became a successful real estate manager. He was the long time partner of fellow actor William Eythe till Eythe’s death in 1957. McCallister died of congestive heart failure at 82.

The Red House was released as a two disc Blu-ray/DVD set on 24 April 2012, digitally restored in high definition and transferred from original 35mm elements.

Thalia Productions did not renew the 7 February 1947 copyright and The Red House is in the public domain and available for free download at the Internet Archive.

https://archive.org/details/TheRedHouse

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8247

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