The Red House 1947
Pete Morgan: “I picked up the whip and beat him till he wasn’t handsome anymore, till he was dead, finished.”
Written for the screen and directed by Delmer Daves (Dark Passage 1947) this is a tautly wound horror/thriller featuring one of my favorites, the gruff everyman Edgar G Robinson as Peter Morgan, a very ‘unbalanced’ guy.
Pete ( Edgar G Robinson) and sister Ellen Morgan ( Dame Judith Anderson) have raised pretty Meg ( Allene Roberts) as their own child after her parents ran off and abandon her as a baby.
Meg now a young woman gets her friend Nath (Lon McCallister) to come help out doing odd jobs on the farm because her father Pete has a wooden leg and is getting on in years.
One night, Nath decides to use a shortcut home through the woods, which enrages Pete who warns him to stay clear of the red house, for fear of the unspeakable horrors associated with the dilapidated old wreck.
But like all great horror thrillers, Meg and Nath ignore his warnings and start digging around anyway and of course, the two begin falling in love, which is not only a problem for Meg’s mysterious caretaker, but for Nath’s sexy girlfriend Tibby played by a very young Julie London.
What is the dark secret of the red house, and what is deranged father Pete Morgan hiding after all these years?
Happy Father’s Day from MonsterGirl!
Just saw two of Lang’s films with Robinson, Woman in the Window and the far better Scarlet Street (in my humble opinion)….
Love Fritz Lang and yes Scarlet Street is truly amazing… I agree with your opinion- I love Robinson in anything…even named my cat after him.(:)) Thanks for stopping by – Joey (MonsterGirl)
That quote was just about the scariest part of a pretty scary movie, in my opinion.
Thanks! I agree… it was pretty chilling and the quote is a really intense piece of dialogue, when you think of the film being done in the 40s! Thanks for stopping by- Joey