House by the River (1950)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Fritz Lang

Writers:

Mel Dinelli (writer)
A.P. Herbert (novel)

Release Date:

25 March 1950 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Horror

Tagline:

WOMEN SPOKE OF HER with Scorn...MEN THOUGHT OF HER with Longing!

Plot:

A deranged writer murders a maid after she resists his advances. The writer engages his brother's help in hiding the body...

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Cast

Louis Hayward	...	Stephen Byrne
Jane Wyatt	...	Marjorie Byrne
Lee Bowman	...	John Byrne
Dorothy Patrick	...	Emily Gaunt
Ann Shoemaker	...	Mrs. Ambrose
Jody Gilbert	...	Miss Bantam
Sarah Padden	...	Mrs. Beach
Peter Brocco	...	Harry, the coroner
Howland Chamberlain	...	District Attorney
Leslie Kimmell	...	Mr. Gaunt
Effie Laird	...	Mrs. Gaunt
Will Wright	...	Inspector Sarten
Kathleen Freeman	...	Effie, young, heavyset woman at party
Margaret Seddon	...	Older, heavyset woman at party
Alex Gerry	...	Miller, bookseller

Also Known As:

Floodtide (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #14101) | Sweden:15

Company:

Fidelity Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Fritz Lang originally wanted a black woman to play the role of Emily Gaunt but the producers refused.

Lang's hidden masterpiece

For some reason, the great director chose to degrade this film on some occasions, yet at other times he would revel in details of the film's opening quarter-hour. However, at the time that he made this film, he was despondent over the collapse of his Diana Productions which was a co-venture with Joan Bennett and her husband Walter Wanger. With no offers in sight from the majors, Lang chose to visit "Poverty Row" which may have left him with bad memories of a film of which he should have been more pleased - after all, even at Warners and with superstar Gary Cooper, the resultant CLOAK AND DAGGER is difficult even for this Lang fan to justify.

In HOUSE BY THE RIVER, we have Lang working at the bargain basement Republic Pictures, where Orson Welles had just made a similar descent to make MACBETH. In each case, the decline was only in budget, not in quality. In Lang's case, we have a film that plays as a great companion piece to his SECRET BEHIND THE DOOR, both being a change of pace Gothic thriller from the master of spies and noir.

The screenwriter, Mel Dinelli, working from the A.P. Herbert novel, was a past and future hand at these "house" mellers - he previously did the screenplay for THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE and would do BEWARE, MY LOVELY in 1952. He segued well from Robert Siodmak to Fritz Lang as long-time Langian themes such as conscience and fate are in evidence here. Oddly, it is not the lead who suffers a conscience. Hayward's Stephen Byrne, a hack writer (if he was ever even published) who has been lusting for the new maid played by Dorothy Patrick, revels in his self-promoted celebrity now that she's "disappeared." She's actually been accidentally murdered by Stephen, who had been filled with lustful thoughts as the maid bathed and seems to have a near orgasm as he hears the bathwater go down the drain outside the house - the look on Hayward's face is priceless.

Incidentally, the promise of artistic freedom offered at Republic did stop when Lang attempted to cast a black actress as the maid. We're just lucky that Vera Hruba Ralston (wife of company head Yates) wasn't cast as the wife.

It's his brother John who aided him in hiding the body (and who is referred to as having gotten his brother out of other scrapes) who turns to drink to quell his conscience and who is the primary suspect in the inquest. Little does he know that his brother is subtly implicating him in the crime in toto. His fate would be that no good deed (siblingly speaking) goes unpunished. The brother is played by Lee Bowman, and it's the only role of his in which I can say he's memorable. That's not to say that otherwise he's a forgettable player, just that he's not distinguishable in general from a bunch of mustachioed players who came out while the head ranks were off to war and who quickly had to retreat once they returned.

Hayward is so enjoying his celebrity that he's signing books by day and wife Jane Wyatt refers to him being out all night and smelling of cheap perfume when he comes home. She's beginning to realize that Lee Bowman's John Byrne is the better of the brothers, although the story implies that she was his own unrequited love.

When the body (in a sack) starts popping up in the river, we recall the image of a floating deceased deer from earlier in the film and a character's claim that it shows up at about the same time every day given the tide. But as unsympathetic as Stephen Byrne may be, before an audience ever rooted for Robert Walker trying to retrieve his lighter in STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, we share Stephen's fears of the body doing some synchronized swimming with the deer. While attempting to retrieve it, he only makes it worse for himself by accidentally (he can't do much right it seems) opening the top of the sack and letting out some flowing blonde hair to make it even more obvious. When Stephen later finds that his brother's monogram is on the sack, he breaks into a devilish smile of contentment.

Cinematographer Edward Cronjager works well with Lang, enough so that with the sound off, one can even more see Lang's hand - it resembles his silent films at times in the compositions. Stephen, earlier in the film realizes that he's been spared retribution and celebrates at a square dance, something that brother John can't participate in as he's crippled with a limp. Later on, a punch from the accused brother results in no further action as John realizes that he's incapable of standing up to his brother physically. One brother is crippled mentally, the other physically.

If the ending seems rushed, it's only a reflection of the lead character's madness, unlike the state of mind of Chris Cross (Edward G. Robinson) at the ending of SCARLET STREET. It could have been a bit tidier, but maybe the head man cut the budget and schedule short. It was known to happen at Republic.