The Red House, also known as No Trespassing, is a 1947 psychological thriller starring Edward G. Robinson. It is adapted from the novel The Red House by George Agnew Chamberlain, published in 1943 by Popular Library.

Plot
Handicapped farmer Pete Morgan (Edward G. Robinson) and sister Ellen (Judith Anderson) live on an isolated farm with their adoptive daughter, Meg (Allene Roberts). They keep to themselves and are viewed as mysterious by the nearby town. Now a teenager, Meg convinces Pete to hire one of her 12th-grade high school classmates, Nath Storm (Lon McCallister) to come help with chores on the farm. On the first evening, when it is time for him to go home, Nath says he is going to take a shortcut through the old woods. The woods are part of Pete’s property and he forbids anyone from entering them. Pete becomes agitated, insisting the woods are dangerous and contain a haunted house which is painted red, and that Nath must stay out.

After traveling though the woods in the dark, Nath returns spooked, after hearing moans and yells. However, a few days later, he is embarrassed at his cowardice and goes through the woods again after dark. Nath is struck from behind and knocked out. He returns to the farm and insists that Pete hit him, but Meg and Ellen say Pete has been in the room with them since Nath left. Soon, both Nath and Meg become obsessed with searching for the mysterious “red house” and agree to go into the woods every Sunday, which is the one day Nath has some free time, to look for it. They have no luck.

In the meantime, Meg begins to fall in love with Nath, but his jealous and shrewd girlfriend Tibby (Julie London) has other plans for him. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Pete has secretly given local handyman and petty thug Teller (Rory Calhoun) rights to hunt on the land, as long as he keeps everyone else off of the property.

One Sunday, Nath cannot get out of a date with Tibby, so Meg goes off on her own to look for the red house. She finds it located in a small gully a few miles from Pete’s farm along an unused dirt road. Teller fires at her to scare her away. Running away, Meg falls and breaks her leg. That evening, when Meg does not return, Nath ventures into the woods to find her and brings her back to the farm. Pete is furious that both young people defied his warning to stay out of the woods and he outright fires Nath, banishing him from the farm and from seeing Meg again.

Some months later, Nath has been working for his mother at a local general store in town. His mother marries a long-time admirer and goes off for several weeks on her honeymoon, leaving Nath to mind the store. Nath soon takes additional work for the summer at another farm close to town. As Meg recovers from her broken leg, Pete begins to crack up. He starts calling her Jeannie, and becomes controlling and domineering. Ellen and Pete have a conversation about how it was that several years ago they rented the red house to a young couple. Pete was having an affair with the wife, Jeannie.

Nath catches Tibby flirting with Teller. He confronts her and finally learns how vain and selfish she is. Teller beats up Nath, while Tibby watches with satisfaction.

One evening, Ellen decides to burn the red house down, and end Pete’s obsession. However, Teller fires at her. Although he meant only to scare her, he hits and severely wounds her. Meg, having heard the gunshot, finds Ellen then rushes back to tell Pete, who refuses to act to help his sister. Meg phones Nath for help and he says he will bring a stretcher after he calls the sheriff and the doctor. Pete fails to dissuade Meg from returning to the woods. By the time Nath arrives, Ellen is dead. In the meantime, Teller goes to Tibby’s home and persuades her to leave town with him. They are pulled over and arrested by the state police.

Meg and Nath bring Ellen’s body back. Meg demands the truth about the red house and who Jeannie is. Pete finally confesses that Ellen had been keeping the secret for him, about having had an affair with a married woman named Jeannie and what had happened to her and the husband. After the man discovered the affair, the couple decided to move away. Pete went to the red house to plead with Jeannie to choose between her husband and him. As they heard her husband returning, Jeannie began screaming. To stop her, Pete covered her mouth, but suffocated her. Pete claims he was just trying to keep her quiet, and her death was accidental. However, he admits that he killed the husband in cold blood. Pete buried the bodies in the basement of the ice house that sits next to the red house, and he lives in fear that they will be discovered.

Pete takes Meg to the red house. By this point, he has completely gone crazy and thinks Meg is actually Jeannie, who is leaving him again. He begins to re-live the experience, puts his hand over her mouth and starts suffocating her. Nath and the sheriff show up in time. Pete takes off in his truck, but drives into the ice house, where the truck sinks in the large pond formed by the melted ice, and Pete drowns.

The final scene shows Nath and Meg a few days later, talking about starting a new life together, as they watch the smoke from the red house. Nath has burned it down to put it in the past.

Cast
Edward G. Robinson as Pete Morgan
Lon McCallister as Nath Storm
Judith Anderson as Ellen Morgan
Rory Calhoun as Teller
Allene Roberts as Meg
Julie London as Tibby
Ona Munson as Mrs. Storm
Harry Shannon as Dr. Jonathan Byrne
Arthur Space as The Sheriff
Pat Flaherty as Motorcycle Cop (uncredited)
Walter Sande as Don Brent (uncredited)