The Silver Screen Oasis

Ever since I saw it on TV as a kid (I was home sick and not in school) one of my favorite thrillers has been director Delmer Daves often overlooked THE RED HOUSE which stars Edward G. Robinson, Lon McCallister and Judith Anderson.

Unfortunately, the film fell into public domain decades ago and has only been available as horrible quality VHS and DVD copies. I know because over the years, I've bought at least a dozen versions from as many different companies and they all originated from the same, very used, 16mm print. It got to a point where I could recognize every splice, scratch and mark. Well, I'm thrilled to say that THE RED HOUSE has finally been released remastered from the original 35mm film elements and it's beautiful.

Distributed by a company I never heard of before, HD Cinema Classics, it comes in a combo pack the includes both Blu-Ray and DVD discs. It's list priced at $15.99, but I got mine from amazon.com for just $10,49 which is not much more than many of those retched PD copies. Even if one doesn't have a Blu-ray player yet and buys it just for the DVD it's still a bargain.

If you've never seen THE RED HOUSE or only some very poor copy of it, this one is well worth checking out.

Thanks for the good news. Frankly, this is one I never thought would get a decent restoration, and my copy is absolutely wretched.

Thanks to you, Mark, I got to discover this little known film with an unusual story, cast. Daves masterfully creates an aura of dread in peaceful, bucolic surroundings. It's a very fine film and I'm glad to hear it has been restored. It deserves it and to be better known. It would be great if TCM would broadcast the restored version to give it more exposure.

I saw it a couple of years ago at the Roxie and it was as if I'd never seen it before. Can a TCM airing be far behind?