Review of House by the River (1950) by Stella D — 12 Jul 2011
Stephen Byrne, a wealthy writer, has just hired a new attractive maid. He tries to seduce her while his wife is away, but when she resists, he strangles her to death. His brother arrives and Stephen convinces him, with much resistance, to help in hide the body.
Time passes and Stephen begins to prophet off the publicity of Emily's death, as it begins to help his book sales. As the cops begin to gather clues, Stephen gets nervous and uptight and deviously begins to realize that it would be easy to pin the crime on his brother.
House By The River is a solid thriller that features a great lead performance by Louis Hayward as the devious writer. The relationship between these two brothers is really fantastic, as they are brotherly but at the same time never seem to trust each other, which in the end turns out to be a good idea.
Fritz Lang elevates the film with some killer black and white cinematography particularly during the murder of the maid and the night where the two brothers hide the body in the river. Its fascinating to know that Fritz Lang intially wanted the maid to be a black women but was vetoed by the studio.
Would love to have seen what he did with that, but its a solid film either way.
This review of House by the River (1950) was written by Stella D on 12 Jul 2011.
House by the River has generally received positive reviews.
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