House by the River (1950)
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
The unsuccessful writer Stephen Byrne (Louis Hayward) tries to force his servant Emily Gaunt (Dorothy Patrick) sexually while his wife Marjorie Byrne (Jane Wyatt) is visiting a friend and accidentally strangles her. His crippled brother John Byrne (Lee Bowman) coincidently comes to his house in that moment, and Stephen asks him to help to get rid of the corpse and avoid an scandal, since his wife would be pregnant. The naive and good John helps his brother to dump the body in the river nearby his house. Stephen uses the disappearance of Emily to blame her and promote his book. When the body is found by the police, all the evidences points to John, and he becomes the prime suspect of the murder. - Actors:
- Louis Hayward, Lee Bowman, Jane Wyatt, Dorothy Patrick, Ann Shoemaker, Jody Gilbert, Peter Brocco, Howland Chamberlain, Margaret Seddon, Sarah Padden, Kathleen Freeman, Will Wright, Leslie Kimmell, Effie Laird, Edgar Caldwell, Edward Clark, Frank Dae, Watson Downs, Edythe Elliott, William Fawcett
- Directors:
- Fritz Lang
- Producers:
- Howard Welsch
- Writers:
- Mel Dinelli, A.P. Herbert
- Aka:
- Floodtide
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama, Thrillers
- Collections:
- The Instant Expert's Guide, The Instant Expert's Guide to: Fritz Lang
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Reviews (1) of House by the River
Gothic Noir. - House by the River review by Steve
Fritz Lang's career was in freefall when he made this psychological thriller for low budget studio Republic. Surely his lowest point in Hollywood. It did no better than its predecessors, and was forgotten until the last copy was saved and restored in the '70s. And then positively reappraised.
Unlike most film noir, this is isn't contemporary. It is set in Victorian New England, and conveys the minor chords of gothic horror . Louis Hayward plays a struggling middle aged novelist who kills his attractive housekeeper and convinces his brother to help him sink her body in the river that runs past the back of his house.
When the body is found, the murderer makes sure the police suspect the innocent brother. The author is convinced his stories should draw from life, and so starts to spin his escalating paranoia into his next novel. He feels like the kind of monomaniac found in Edgar Allen Poe.
As often with Lang, there is some Hollywood Freud. The depths of the river represent the subconscious of the killer, which occasionally releases troublesome detritus to the surface. It's another typically strange, dreamlike noir from the director, hardly impaired by his reduced circumstances.