The Red House Blu-ray Movie

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 . . .

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.

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).