***SPOILERS*** Tough guy Edward G. Robinson as farmer Pete Morgan goes psycho here much like he did as "Wolf" Larson in the movie "The Sea Wolf" as he tries to keep of what the mysterious and creepy Red House-That's on his property-has hidden in it. All hell breaks loose when he hires his step daughter Meg's, Allene Roberts, boyfriend Nath Storm,Lon McCallister, as a farm hand who get's not only very romantic with Meg, whom control freak Morgan wants to keep all to himself, but insists to check out the area where the red house is located in.It soon becomes apparent that both Morgan and his live in sister Ellen, Judith Anderson, have a skeleton hidden in the closet that they've been hiding from the world for at least 15 years and in Pete Morgan's case is more then willing to kill to keep that secret from seeing the light of day. There's also both the sexy and hot to trot Tibby, Julie London, who's got the hots from the boyishly handsome Nath and the devilishly handsome local sh*t kicker Teller played by an Elvis Presley looking, some seven years before anyone ever knew of him, Rory Calhoun whom Morgan uses to terrorize anyone from finding out the secret about his red house that he keeps hidden deep in the woods.****SPOILERS**** You can see that Morgan is not all there to begin with but as the secret of the red house and what's hidden in it starts to leak out, due to the efforts of both Meg & Nath, that he completely cracks up.From at first being a kind and gentle soul who wouldn't hurt a fly to a crazed out of control lunatic going so far as murdering his own sister Ellen. It was Ellen who was about to go to the local authorities and have him committed before he did any more damage. The mentally deranged Morgan even attempts to rape, in thinking that she's his former girlfriend, and murder Meg for walking out on him by getting overly friendly with Nath whom he also attempts to murder. With the secret of the red house now known all over the papers and news outlets-radio & TV- and the police about to take him into custody Morgan makes a dash for it in his jalopy of a pick-up truck and ends up drowning himself. That as he burst into the red house's ice house-with the ice melting in the summer heat- where all the evidence of his many crimes-of some 15 years ago-are hidden.

I had forgotten all about this film until I acquired it in the Dark Crimes 50-Pack Films Collection and watched it again. It's a pretty good mystery thriller. It is worth watching if you happen to run across the film. It is in fact a Dark Crime film.A secret is being harbored about the red house in the woods by Pete Morgan (Edward G. Robinson). Pete adopted Meg for his daughter after her parents ran off and raised her with the help his sister Ellen. Pete has a wooden leg and his sister insisted he is in need of some help around the farm. Pete finally agrees and hires Meg's friend Nath to help but tells Nath and reminds Meg NOT go to into the "haunted woods" where the red house stands. Nath and Meg are very curious and ends up trying to solve the mystery of the red house.Unnecessary to the core of the story is Tibby, Nath's girlfriend - their part of the story is really more of a time filler than anything.Overall a good little mystery film.6/10

An old man (Edward G Robinson) and his sister (Judith Anderson) are concealing a terrible secret from their adopted teen daughter called Meg (Allene Roberts) . The fostered girl is attracted to a young man of the village called Nath Storm (Lon McCallister) . Meg starts falling in love with Nath , but his sweetheart Tibby (Julie London) has other plans for him . She then brings home the suitor and the old man attempts to keep everyone out of mysterious red house located on his ownership . The elderly farmer unsuccessfully attempts to bury the horrid past . Curious , Meg and Nath ignore dangers and begin exploring beyond the following warning : ¨No trespass at your own risk¨ . Meantime , they all get closer to real risk and the horrible truth about the property . At the end , the terrible secret concerning a hidden abandon farmhouse and located deep in the woods bursts out , as leaving a grand ending the resolution of the mystery .This first-rate but slow-paced picture draws its riveting tale and power from the interaction of finely drawn roles as well as drama and emotion . Rare film Noir about troubled relationships , being based on the novel by Agnew Chamberlain and screen-written by the same director and by notorious and black-listed Albert Maltz . It has a good realization , an original script , haunting atmosphere , intriguing events ; for that reason madness and murder prevail . Exciting as well as strange film , possessing a mysterious and fascinating blend of rural serenity , baroque suspense in which especially stands out the magnificent musical score by Miklos Rozsa . This is pure cinema from the first to the last shot, where there's nothing left and each image has its sense and meaning . Very good acting by Edward G. Robinson on the character of an old crippled farmer "Pete Morgan", who lives with his sister in a secluded farm in front of an eerie forest . He does an excellent job and proves once again he is one of the best players in the history of cinema . Support cast is frankly well such as Judith Anderson of Rebeca as Ellen Morgan , Rory Calhoun as Teller , Allene Roberts as Meg , Julie London as Tibby , Ona Munson as Mrs. Storm , Pat Flatherty as cop and Harry Shannon . Dark cinematography plenty of lights and shades by Bert Glennon . The failure of the original copyright holder to renew the film's copyright resulted in it falling into public domain, meaning that virtually anyone could duplicate and sell a VHS/DVD copy of the film. Therefore, many of the versions of this film available on the market are either severely and usually badly edited and/or of extremely poor quality, having been duplicated from second- or third-generation or more copies of the film. The motion picture produced in low budget by Sol Lesser was well directed by Delmer Daves . Nice work by Delmer Daves in demonstrating his skill at all areas : as technical , using all kind of resources for illustrating the interesting as well as dramatic story with an engaging screenplay , adding great actors filmmaking and enjoyable narration . Daves was a Western expert , including his characteristic use of landscape , for the reason he lived a long time of his boyhood with the Navajo and Hopi Indian tribes as he realized the notorious trail-blazing ¨Broken arrow¨ the first movie for many years not treat the Indians as cannon-fodder for the cavalry , which made the picture unpopular in some quarters . He went on directing the suspenseful ¨3:10 to Yuma¨, other pro-Indian as ¨The last wagon¨ and about Modoc Indians as ¨Drum beat¨ , the Shakespearian style of ¨Jubal¨ , ¨Return of the Texan¨ and ¨Cowboy¨ which a fairly spectacle about a long cattle drive . From 1959 Delmer Daves becomes embroiled for the remainder of his career with teenage love epics and very popular at the Box-office as ¨A summer place¨, ¨Parrish¨, ¨Susan Slade¨, and ¨Rome adventure¨, among others . And of course , he realized Noir films such as ¨Dark passage¨ and this ¨The red House¨ that is absolutely recommended .

Aces all around—from acting to directing to musical score. So what is the mystery with the red house. Every time gimpy farmer Pete (Robinson) hears 'red house' or talk about shortcuts through the woods, he goes all dark and sinister. Sister Ellen (Anderson) knows some but not all the secret, while sweetly radiant Meg (Roberts) knows nothing but boyfriend Nafe (McAllister) and that she's adopted. It's a heck of a psychological thriller, riveting from beginning to end. And catch director Daves great close-ups. He knows when to use them for maximal effect, along with atmospheric lighting from cameraman Glennon.There's a subplot involving romantic complications, and though sexy Julie London's role as the conniving rival to Meg adds interest, the acting is good enough not to detract from the mystery. In fact it would be hard to find a more winning couple than Meg and Nath who look like genuinely unspoiled farm kids. Then too, those close-ups of Meg are indeed almost angelic. Contrast them with the close-ups of Pete that get appropriately darker and darker until the darkness of his own mind symbolically swallows him up.Anyway, it's good to see Anderson in a non-meanie role, for a change. In fact, her rather aristocratic features are allowed to come to the fore and be admired, chin mole and all. All in all, it's a memorable movie with all sorts of side benefits—too bad that Daves is under- recognized as the outstanding moviemaker he was. Still, I won't be going into the woods any time soon.