You want to do what with my step-daughter?
At the center of The Red House (1947) lies the disasters caused by unrequited love. And requited love. Maybe just love. The little town that serves as the backdrop of this story may seem idyllic, but just because 12th graders Nath and TIbby seem like a sure thing doesn’t mean they are, for high-school drop out, but attractive, Teller has caught Tibby’s eye and helped write on her secret t-shirt Manipulative Bitch, as my Arts Editor observed. Teller has certain rights to the small forest owned by the Morgans, and there his secret love lives, which would be … himself.
But Nath is at the center of unrequited love as well. His father long gone, his mother has been playing with the affections of a high school sweetheart, and is last seen going thataway with him, leaving Nath to work for the Morgans, Pete, his sister Ellen, and their adopted daughter Meg.
Meg, who is developing a fancy for Nath. Ellen, who has a finger in the game in the character of the town’s Doctor Byrne, who scuttles hither and yon and occasionally sees Ellen, thus inflaming the old spinster’s passions all the more.
And Pete? His leg, long lost in an accident, still yearns after a woman who disappeared in the forest long ago, but now his heart is set on … Meg, his adopted daughter. Squirm if you must. It’s the right thing to do.
Especially as Pete’s vision of being in love is quite territorial.
None of this is going to turn out well. Maybe Nath’s mother does OK, but the rest are having a hard time, between familial duties keeping them from pursuing their happiness, to an all too frenzied pursuit of, well, their own happiness, leading to a police pursuit and an unhappy ending.
Still, Nath is brave when it counts, even when the red house is screaming at him and let’s not mention the time he hid in the Morgan’s barn, yeah?
Full of anxiety and suspense, The Red House isn’t quite compelling, but it’s a pleasant little descent into psychosis that you may very well enjoy.
Have fun, and leave some breadcrumbs to follow.
