| runtime = 100 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget = $1 million

| gross =

The Red House is a 1947 American psychological horror film directed by Delmer Daves and starring Edward G. Robinson, Lon McCallister, Judith Anderson, Rory Calhoun, Allene Roberts, and Julie London. Its plot follows a young woman raised by a brother and sister who are concealing a secret involving an abandoned farmhouse located deep in the woods on their sprawling property. It is based on the 1945 novel of the same name by George Agnew Chamberlain, which was popularly serialized in The Saturday Evening Post. The screenplay was adapted by Daves and Albert Maltz, the latter uncredited.

Principal photography of The Red House took place in the spring of 1946, largely in Sonora, California. The film was released theatrically through United Artists, and received largely favorable reviews from film critics.

Retrospective assessment of the film has noted its genre-defying elements, surreal musical score, and provocative themes. In 2019, Paste magazine declared The Red House the best horror film released in 1947. The film marked a career breakthrough for London, who had been known primarily as a singer at the time.

Filming

The Red House was shot on location in the Sierra Nevada in and around Sonora, California. Some scenes were shot near abandoned gold mines in the historic mining community of Columbia. before being released in the United States on February 7, 1947.

The movie was registered for copyright by Thalia Productions (LP864; 7 February 1947); that copyright was not renewed.

The film is highlighted in the first segment of Martin Scorsese's documentary A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies.

An abridged version (edited down to 20 minutes) is occasionally shown on NEW Condensed Classics on the Silver Screen Classics channel in Canada.

Home media

The Red House was released in various home media formats through public domain companies due to its lapse in copyright. On April 24, 2012, it was released in a two-disc DVD and Blu-ray set, transferred from original 35mm elements and digitally restored in high definition, by Film Chest and HD Cinema Classics. Features include the theatrical 35mm trailer, a comparison of scenes before and after restoration, and an original movie art postcard. The film was released again on March 29, 2016, by The Film Detective as a standalone Blu-ray. This release contains no special features.

Reception

Critical response

Writing for The New York Times, A. H. Weiler enjoyed the picture, calling it "an edifying offering, which should supply horror-hungry audiences with the chills of the month... told intelligently and with mounting tension". As a strength of the film, Weiler cited a "uniformly good cast", including an "excellent" Robinson, a "fine" McCallister, and Anderson, who gives a "taut performance". Weiler also praised "Delmar Daves' fluid direction... and an appropriately macabre musical assist from Miklós Rózsa."

Herbert L. Larson of The Oregonian deemed the film "grim" and "anything but light entertainment," concluding: "While the picture will not go down as one of the great films of the year it certainly will keep audiences awake."

Spencer Selby commended the film in his 1997 book Dark City: The Film Noir: "Murky psychological thriller with resonant settings and an emotive Rózsa score".

Dave Sindelar gave The Red House a positive review in 2008: "It's not perfect; it's a little too long, so you end up figuring some of the final revelations before you should, and it gets a little repetitive at times, but the strong acting and some memorable images make it worth the investment." Time Out gave the film a favorable assessment in 2012, describing it as "very Freudian, in fact, and often very frightening."

Michael Barrett, reviewing the film in 2012 for PopMatters, praised it, noting: "From some angles, The Red House is an eerie ghost story; from others, a Peyton Place; at its height, a suspenseful and despairing noir. Overall, this is a melodrama of high order. It’s heady stuff, with subtexts out of the wazoo, all handled slowly and beautifully by writer/director Delmer Daves early in a career marked by intelligence, maturity, and sexual knowledge."

Filmmaker Charles Burnett praised the film in 2012 for its frank depiction of sexuality, as well as Miklós Rózsa's musical score, concluding: "I can’t understand why it’s not shown more in film classes, why it’s not better appreciated. Delmer Daves was a very good director." On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 83% of 6 critics' reviews are positive.

Legacy

In 2019, Paste magazine declared The Red House the best horror film released in 1947.