5/11/12 5:05 PM The Red House Blu-ray - Edward G. Robinson Page 1 of 34 http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews54/the_red_house.htm Search Search DVDBeaver S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r (aka "No Trespassing" ) directed by Delmer Daves USA 1947 DID YOU EVER RUN FROM A SCREAM? YOU CAN'T! On the outskirts of a rural town, an isolated farm hosts a small family with a dark secret. At the heart of the neighboring forest sits the red house, terrorizing trespassers with the sound of horrific screams emanating from within its walls. The solitary family keeps the knowledge of the house closely guarded, but when a stranger comes to the farm to help with chores, the web of secrecy begins to unravel. The violence that scarred the family begins to revisit the land and threatens to destroy them all. Filled with noir-ish motifs and striking lighting, The Red House brings together
Transcript
5/11/12 5:05 PMThe Red House Blu-ray - Edward G. Robinson
Page 1 of 34http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews54/the_red_house.htm
SearchSearch DVDBeaver
S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r
(aka "No Trespassing" )
directed by Delmer DavesUSA 1947
DID YOU EVER RUN FROM A SCREAM? YOU CAN'T!
On the outskirts of a rural town, an isolated farm hosts a small family with a dark secret. At theheart of the neighboring forest sits the red house, terrorizing trespassers with the sound of horrificscreams emanating from within its walls. The solitary family keeps the knowledge of the houseclosely guarded, but when a stranger comes to the farm to help with chores, the web of secrecybegins to unravel. The violence that scarred the family begins to revisit the land and threatens todestroy them all. Filled with noir-ish motifs and striking lighting, The Red House brings together
5/11/12 5:05 PMThe Red House Blu-ray - Edward G. Robinson
Page 2 of 34http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews54/the_red_house.htm
breathtaking drama and chilling horror. Edward G. Robinson is masterful as the burdened recluse,and Julie London is seductive as a spoiled schoolgirl.
***
Edward G. Robinson stars as Pete Morgan, an honest small town student who finds after schoolemployment with local farmer Nath Storm (Lon McCallister). Things go awry for the sedulous Peteone day, when he takes a short cut home through haunted woods. Storm warns Pete to stay out ofthe woods and away from THE RED HOUSE within. Unwilling to buy into the supernatural hocuspocus, Pete enlists the help of Storm's fresh-faced and innocent daughter, Tibby, to help him solvethe mystery of THE RED HOUSE.
Director Delmer Daves only endeavor into the horror genre, THE RED HOUSE starts out slow, butends with a bang. Young Julie London is swooning as the virginal Tibby and McCallister'sexpressions of madness and trepidation seem absolutely authentic. Miklos Roza's score is perhapsthe most fun, as it prominently features the Theremin: an instrument played without touch oftenheard in early sci-fi films.
Posters
Theatrical Release: 16 March 1947 (New York City, New York)
5/11/12 5:05 PMThe Red House Blu-ray - Edward G. Robinson
Page 3 of 34http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews54/the_red_house.htm
Comparison:
Alpha - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Acme DVD Works / VCI (Edward G. Robinson Film Noir DoubleFeat) - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Pop Flix / Allegro (Midnight Mysteries Collection) - Region 0 -
NTSC vs. HD Cinema Classics - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Big thanks to Gregory Meshman for all the Screen Caps!
1) Alpha - Region 0 - NTSC - LEFT2) Acme DVD Works / VCI (Edward G. Robinson Film Noir Double Feat) - Region 0 - NTSC - SECOND3) Pop Flix / Allegro (Midnight Mysteries Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC - THIRD4) HD Cinema Classics - Region FREE - Blu-ray - RIGHT
Box Covers
Distribution AlphaRegion 0 - NTSC
Acme DVD Works / VCIRegion 0 - NTSC
Pop Flix / AllegroRegion 0 - NTSC
HD Cinema ClassicsRegion FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime 1:39:54 1:39:57 1:40:09 1:40:23.350
Video 1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 4.67 mb/sNTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 4.58 mb/sNTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 3.80 mb/sNTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
Blu-ray Release Date: April 24th, 2012Standard Blu-ray CaseChapters 12
Comments NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were ripped directly from the Blu-ray
disc.
ADDITION: HD Cinema Classics - Region FREE Blu-ray - May 2012:Once again HD Cinema Classics are giving a clinic in DNR taking out all the
5/11/12 5:05 PMThe Red House Blu-ray - Edward G. Robinson
Page 5 of 34http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews54/the_red_house.htm
grain from the image as they did with the Blu-rays of The Stranger, KansasCity Confidential, Dementia13 and The Terror. Kind of a magic trick "Poof -and now the grain is all gone!." It's not so much that the plasticized, waxy,softness looking bad (they are very clean and smooth) - they just look morelike video than film. There is also brightness boosting. So what we get is notwhat the film really looked like but what some restorer that HD Classics uses -what they think it should look like. Now, some scenes, or stills, do look betterbut there are many patches of smearing that will be offensive to thosesensitive to it.
To each his own - I have nothing against a few scratches and cue blip markers- it feel 'real' to me with that.
Audio is lossless and seems to represent the source used decently. There areoptional Spanish subtitles on the region FREE Blu-ray disc.
HD Classics are at least 'trying' with the supplements offering an audiocommentary (that I will indulge in this evening) and a split-screen restorationdemonstration.
I'd appreciate seeing The Red House - a cracking suspense Noir! - completewith cue-markers and damage not simply boosted away, and an image richwith grain. Nice to see a commentary added but what price do we pay? Is thisbetter than the SD versions? It depends on what you value. My admission isthat I enjoyed my viewing and they aren't gouging on the price. That is all.
- Gary Tooze
***
ON THE DVDs: ADDITION: Pop Flix / Allegro - August 2011: I was pointedto this DVD collection at Home Theater Forum as having superior imagequality for this particular title. Just like Acme DVD Works / VCI disc, PopFlix / Allegro disc features superior transfer compared to Alphaabomination. It still has all too familiar scratches, marks and damage - allthree transfers were clearly made from the same print. Unfortunately,mono soundtrack is still problematic on this disc with lots of distortion andnoise on the soundtrack. The two-disc set features five other films noir, allmainstay of public domain. Unfortunately, all other transfers are very poorquality - The Stranger and Scarlet Street exist in superior versions, TheScar/Hollow Triumph and The Woman on the Run are just as poorreleases we already reviewed. Inner Sanctum (1949) hasn't been reviewedat DVDBeaver yet, although the transfer on this disc is poor. Compared todouble feature from VCI, this set will get more bang for your buck, but weare still on a lookout for a better version of The Red House to surface.
The Red House is an effective rural film noir / gothic horror from anunderrated Delmer Daves, who directed Humphrey Bogart noir DarkPassage the same year. Unlike the latter movie from Warner, The RedHouse was an independent production from Sol Lesser, mostly known forhis various Tarzan productions that was distributed by United Artists andeventually found its place among public domain jewels. The film saw manyreleases on digital media, starting with Madacy disc in 1998 and endingwith most recent DVD-R editions from various public domain companies.Unfortunately, none of these releases can be recommended since the filmdid not go any restoration and mostly transferred from the same beat-up
5/11/12 5:05 PMThe Red House Blu-ray - Edward G. Robinson
Page 6 of 34http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews54/the_red_house.htm
16mm print.
We selected two editions to compare - the DVD from Alpha and part of adouble feature from VCI under Acme DVD Works imprint. The same marksand scratches shows that the same print was used for these transfers, butwhile Alpha disc was sourced from a tape (note the bottom of eachcapture and straight line bitrate), the VCI disc is much closer to the sourcematerial. Yet, both transfers are interlaced. The single-layered disc fromAlpha also has some contrast boosting and chroma. Audio is belowaverage for both releases and neither have subtitles provided. VCI is aclear winner in terms of image quality and extras with this double-layereddisc - it features a brief 1948 Movietone newsreel from Fox and an extrafilm, Fritz Lang's Scarlet Street, although we recommend either US editionfrom Kino or UK edition from Odeon Entertainment rather than thecompanies who specialize in public domain films. But The Red House isunlikely to get such a costly restoration and it's unknown if good materialsexist for this film. So since the price is low for either releases, VCI disc isour recommendation, although we hope that a better quality release willeventually surface.
- Gregory Meshman
Menus(Alpha - Region 0 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Acme DVD Works / VCI (Edward G. Robinson Film Noir Double Feat) - Region 0 - NTSC - RIGHT)
5/11/12 5:05 PMThe Red House Blu-ray - Edward G. Robinson
Page 7 of 34http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews54/the_red_house.htm
Pop Flix / Allegro (Midnight Mysteries Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC LEFT vs. HD Cinema Classics - Region FREE - Blu-ray - RIGHT
5/11/12 5:05 PMThe Red House Blu-ray - Edward G. Robinson
Page 8 of 34http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews54/the_red_house.htm
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Screen Captures
1) Alpha - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP2) Acme DVD Works / VCI (Edward G. Robinson Film Noir Double Feat) - Region 0 - NTSC - SECOND3) Pop Flix / Allegro (Midnight Mysteries Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC - THIRD4) HD Cinema Classics - Region FREE - Blu-ray - BOTTOM
5/11/12 5:05 PMThe Red House Blu-ray - Edward G. Robinson
Page 9 of 34http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews54/the_red_house.htm
Cue Blip
5/11/12 5:05 PMThe Red House Blu-ray - Edward G. Robinson
Page 10 of 34http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews54/the_red_house.htm
5/11/12 5:05 PMThe Red House Blu-ray - Edward G. Robinson
Page 11 of 34http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews54/the_red_house.htm
1) Alpha - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP2) Acme DVD Works / VCI (Edward G. Robinson Film Noir Double Feat) - Region 0 - NTSC - SECOND3) Pop Flix / Allegro (Midnight Mysteries Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC - THIRD4) HD Cinema Classics - Region FREE - Blu-ray - BOTTOM
5/11/12 5:05 PMThe Red House Blu-ray - Edward G. Robinson
Page 12 of 34http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews54/the_red_house.htm
5/11/12 5:05 PMThe Red House Blu-ray - Edward G. Robinson
Page 13 of 34http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews54/the_red_house.htm
5/11/12 5:05 PMThe Red House Blu-ray - Edward G. Robinson
Page 14 of 34http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews54/the_red_house.htm
1) Alpha - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP2) Acme DVD Works / VCI (Edward G. Robinson Film Noir Double Feat) - Region 0 - NTSC - SECOND3) Pop Flix / Allegro (Midnight Mysteries Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC - THIRD4) HD Cinema Classics - Region FREE - Blu-ray - BOTTOM
5/11/12 5:05 PMThe Red House Blu-ray - Edward G. Robinson
Page 15 of 34http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews54/the_red_house.htm
5/11/12 5:05 PMThe Red House Blu-ray - Edward G. Robinson
Page 16 of 34http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews54/the_red_house.htm
5/11/12 5:05 PMThe Red House Blu-ray - Edward G. Robinson
Page 17 of 34http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews54/the_red_house.htm
1) Alpha - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP2) Acme DVD Works / VCI (Edward G. Robinson Film Noir Double Feat) - Region 0 - NTSC - SECOND3) Pop Flix / Allegro (Midnight Mysteries Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC - THIRD4) HD Cinema Classics - Region FREE - Blu-ray - BOTTOM
5/11/12 5:05 PMThe Red House Blu-ray - Edward G. Robinson
Page 18 of 34http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews54/the_red_house.htm
5/11/12 5:05 PMThe Red House Blu-ray - Edward G. Robinson
Page 19 of 34http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews54/the_red_house.htm
5/11/12 5:05 PMThe Red House Blu-ray - Edward G. Robinson
Page 20 of 34http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews54/the_red_house.htm
1) Alpha - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP2) Acme DVD Works / VCI (Edward G. Robinson Film Noir Double Feat) - Region 0 - NTSC - SECOND3) Pop Flix / Allegro (Midnight Mysteries Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC - THIRD4) HD Cinema Classics - Region FREE - Blu-ray - BOTTOM
5/11/12 5:05 PMThe Red House Blu-ray - Edward G. Robinson
Page 23 of 34http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews54/the_red_house.htm
1) Alpha - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP2) Acme DVD Works / VCI (Edward G. Robinson Film Noir Double Feat) - Region 0 - NTSC - SECOND3) Pop Flix / Allegro (Midnight Mysteries Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC - THIRD4) HD Cinema Classics - Region FREE - Blu-ray - BOTTOM
5/11/12 5:05 PMThe Red House Blu-ray - Edward G. Robinson
Page 24 of 34http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews54/the_red_house.htm
5/11/12 5:05 PMThe Red House Blu-ray - Edward G. Robinson
Page 25 of 34http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews54/the_red_house.htm
1) Alpha - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP2) Acme DVD Works / VCI (Edward G. Robinson Film Noir Double Feat) - Region 0 - NTSC - SECOND3) Pop Flix / Allegro (Midnight Mysteries Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC - THIRD4) HD Cinema Classics - Region FREE - Blu-ray - BOTTOM
