Julie London

(On Cable TV, October 2022) Given that I’m easily amused, I’m still smiling at the irony of black-and-white films named after a colour. But that’s roughly the last funny thing about The Red House, a sombre film-noir era horror thriller featuring, yes, a red house but also a grumpy farmer, a plucky boy, a dangerous forest and about as close a femme fatale as a rural thriller can get. Edward G. Robinson, predictably enough, plays the cranky farmer. Convinced by his adoptive daughter to hire some help, he’s not pleased when his overeager helper starts poking around the forest at the edge of the field, and seems determined to stop him from entering. What’s in there? Well, the red house, of course. As for the rest, the film gets us dark secrets, a love quadrangle, a psychotic break and murder before everything is through. It takes a while to get going (the opening act is heavy on atmosphere and not so much on plot) but it’s not bad when it’s in the thick of its own story. Lon McCallister and Judith Anderson are not bad as the young couple in the middle of the story, but a special mention belongs to Julie London, who brings the femme fatale to the farm. That rural turn is what helps The Red House feel fresh in a sea of mansion gothic thrillers and urban film noir of the same period. There’s a lot brewing under the surface of the script as well, and it seems less coy than many contemporaries in setting up a nightmare. Not a bad pick at all.