Das Todeshaus am Fluß (1950)

Das Todeshaus am Fluß: Directed by Fritz Lang. With Louis Hayward, Lee Bowman, Jane Wyatt, Dorothy Patrick. A deranged writer murders a maid after she resists his advances. The writer engages his brother’s help in hiding the body, causing unexpected problems for both of them.

“House by the River is something of an anomaly; itu0026#39;s more of an old-dark-house Gothic than the grittier dramas, from Fury to Beyond A Reasonable Doubt, which Fritz Lang made in his American period. (The location of this house is a worrisome and amateurism anomaly, too; the conventions, milieu and some of the accents suggests that itu0026#39;s an English country estate, but much else argues that the film takes place in the U.S.) Would-be writer Louis Hayward, getting flirtatious with the maid in the absence of his wife (Jane Wyatt), accidently strangles her when she resists his advances. His brother (Lee Bowman) reluctantly agrees to cover up for him and help sink the body in the sinister, ever-present river that runs by the edge of the property; the resulting scandal of the disappeared servant bolsters the writeru0026#39;s flagging career. When suspicion begans to gather around his innocent brother, Hayward, by now seriously demented, couldnu0026#39;t be more pleased. But then Wyatt comes across a hidden manuscript; Hayward (you see), flushed by his phoney success, resolves to write u0026quot;what he knows….u0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eEdward Cronjageru0026#39;s heavily shaded cinematography and Georges Anthielu0026#39;s brooding score help fill out Langu0026#39;s dark, clammy vision, making the river — forever disgorging its flotsam and jetsam — a principal character in the action. House by the River is a good old-fashioned thriller, particularly in its Gothic closing scenes, but itu0026#39;s not in a class with Langu0026#39;s films at the top of his American form, like Scarlet Street, The Big Heat or Human Desire.”