The house That Would Not Die is one of the all-time great ghost stories ever filmed. In fact, the only thing wrong about it is that it's total running time was only about 75 minutes to fit into a 90-minute time slot. It should have been a full ninety minutes or longer and released to theaters. Ruth Bennett (played by the great Barbara Stanwyck who hands off scene after scene to her younger co-stars to let them shine in their own right) inherits a centuries-old house built before the Revolutionary War, in the Amish Country of Pennsylvania. The original owner, General Douglas Campbell, was suspected of collaborating with the British during the war. His daughter, Amanda (Ammie) and her boyfriend, American Soldier Anthony Doyle, confront him, and they disappear shortly after, ostensibly eloping. For the rest of his life, Old General Campbell roams the countryside calling: "Ammie, come home!", a cry heard two hundred years later by Stanwyck and her young niece, Sara Dunning (played by the pretty and very talented Kitty Wynn, after they move into the house. Aided by Stan Whitman (played by Michael Anderson, Jr., another very talented actor), and Professor Pat McDougal (played by another great actor, Richard Egan) they endeavor to discover the reason why the general is still searching for his long-lost daughter after two hundred years. The resolution and climax of this exciting ghost story will have one and all riveted to the edge of their seats, especially if properly viewed at midnight, Saturday night, during a thunderstorm with howling winds and crashing thunder.
Review of The House That Would Not Die
