House By The River, The ( 1949 )

Fritz Lang´s Gothic Mystery

Exiled to poverty-row Republic Pictures in 1949, Fritz Lang (M, Metropolis), the self-proclaimed "master of the unusual," created House by the River, a shocking and mordant low-budget thriller. Like fellow cinema giants Orson Welles (Macbeth) and John Ford (The Quiet Man), Lang enjoyed a freedom at Republic that allowed him to make a unique and truly personal film. In House by the River, Cahiers du Cinema declared, "Lang´s main erotic obsession is displayed more clearly than in any of his other films."

Victorian ne´er-do-well Stephen Byrne (Louis Hayward) assaults and murders his wife´s virginal housekeeper. With the reluctant assistance of loyal brother John (Lee Bowman), Stephen remorselessly consigns the girl´s corpse to the river. But as John´s affection for Stephen´s wife Marjorie (Jane Wyatt), police suspicion about the girl´s disappearance, and the depths of Stephen´s depravity all escalate, the river itself provokes a horrifying reunion between victim and murderer. By House by the River´s climax, "melodrama is transformed into a work of art and a moral nightmare" (Lang biographer Lotte Eisner).

Boasting an ingenious script by Spiral Staircase scribe Mel Dinelli and evocative photography by Edward Cronjager, House by the River is a criminally underrated American Grand Guignol that belies its modest origins.

Regissör:	Fritz Lang
Skådespelare:	Louis Hayward, Lee Bowman, Jane Wyatt
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Bild:	1.33:1 FullScreen
Ljud:	Engelska DD Stereo
Text:	.
Längd:	85 Minuter
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Skivor:	1
Region:	1