Rating summary
| Movie |  | 3.5 |
| Video |  | 2.5 |
| Audio | | 2.5 |
| Extras |  | 0.0 |
| Overall |  | 3.0 |
The Red House Blu-ray Movie Review
The Woods Are Lovely, Dark and Deep . . .
Reviewed by Michael Reuben March 28, 2016
The latest release from The Film Detective's public domain library is The Red House, the 1947
"farmhouse noir" starring Edward G. Robinson. Like the recent Kansas City Confidential, this
disc is a remaster of title previously issued by Film Chest and previously reviewed here. In this
case, however, the improvement from Film Chest's version is offset by a major negative, which
is the omission of the extras included on the earlier Blu-ray.
For a thorough review and discussion of
The Red House, please consult Jeffrey Kauffman's
review of the Film Chest disc.
The Red House Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality
As with all of its titles, The Film Detective's 1080p, AVC-encoded presentation of The Red
House has been sourced from a release print, and the image bears numerous small specks and
minor scratches as a reminder of its less-than-ideal source. Where Film Chest's disc was notable
for its heavy application of digital clean-up to remove such flaws, the new version does not
appear to have been subjected to such electronic manipulation. Depending on one's taste and
temperament, this may be either a blessing or a curse, because the flaws in the source are more
obvious, but the overall image is more film-like with a slight increase in image detail (although
the improvement is so slight that it may easily go unnoticed except in an A/B comparison). Until
the vaults at MGM (or whoever has The Red House) yield a fine-grain master positive or some
other superior element, the film's scenes of a bucolic landscape concealing a dark secret will
remain soft and indistinct.
The new disc has been mastered with an average bitrate of 28.48 Mbps, and the compression has
been capably performed.
The Red House Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality
As on the previous release, The Red House's mono soundtrack has been encoded in lossless
DTS-HD MA 2.0 with identical left and right channels, but the encoding cannot overcome issues
noted in the previous review. Dialogue is clear, but the
mood-setting Miklos Rozsa score still
suffers from muddy harmonics, limited dynamic range and audible background hiss. Even with
advanced digital processing, it is doubtful whether further improvement is possible in the
absence of a superior source.
The Red House Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras
No extras are included. Film Chest's disc offered a commentary by William Hare (which I have
not heard but Jeff Kauffman found unenlightening), a trailer (though not the original one) and a
short before-and-after featurette on the restoration. Film Chest also included a DVD copy.
The Red House Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation
The Film Detective is continuing in its mission of releasing public domain titles in the best
possible presentations, but its Blu-ray of The Red House offers only limited improvement over
the predecessor, which is still available (and at a lower price). I see little reason for current
owners to upgrade, but those acquiring The Red House for the first time should consider the new
release for its greater fidelity to the source material (such as it is).
