That’s quite a combination but thanks to director Fritz Lang, it works. HOUSE BY THE RIVER was unseen for many years for 2 reasons 1) Republic Pictures studio head Herbert J. Yates refused to sell the Republic film library to TV in the 1950s believing that TV was a fad that wouldn’t last (wrong!!) and 2) Lang’s pronounced use of light and shadow coupled with contrasty 16mm prints, insured that the film didn’t register well on early black & white TVs.
I first saw a 16mm print in 1970 while taking a film course at the University of South Carolina and even in a darkened theater there were issues. Today that’s no longer a concern as this Kino DVD is taken from original 35mm materials and we can finally see the film the way Lang intended it to be seen. The look of the film was quite deliberate as Lang was not only trying to set the mood but he was trying to disguise his low budget sets. It shows his complete mastery of the visual aspects of filmmaking, something that stretches back to the silent era in the DR. MABUSE films and METROPOLIS.
As visually impressive as HOUSE BY THE RIVER is, it’s also another one of Lang’s fascinating studies into the workings of the criminal mind. Louis Hayward is Stephen Byrne, a 19th century dilettante novelist who accidentally kills a maid while trying to seduce her. Terrified, he enlists the aid of his crippled brother (Lee Bowman) to help him dispose of the body in the river next to the house. Once that happens his personality begins to change as he starts to relish his guilt especially when the body is found and his brother is accused of the crime.
The surrounding publicity makes him a celebrity and as his books begin to sell, he decides to base his next book on the murder with his brother as the killer. Stephen’s long suffering wife (Jane Wyman) begins to fall in love with the brother as Stephen becomes more egotistical and duplicitous. Will he be found out? Will justice prevail? It’s a melodrama set in the 19th century so you already know the answer to those questions but the end result is not what HOUSE BY THE RIVER is about. It’s about the journey there.
The Capsule Critic 