This obscure Fritz Lang movie came just before his "secret beyond the door" ,a great movie dealing with psychoanalysis ,and his undistinguished "American guerrilla in the Philippines".This is a movie that deserves to be known.THe stars are the house and the river,hence the title. The house is dark and mysterious ,and the first sequences are almost silent as the writer spies the maid who has a bath then puts on one of his wife's dresses.It looks as if Lang is returning for a short while to the silent era of expressionism. The river has a strange presence ; it is an enemy itself:the scenes which show the hero trying to catch the dead body are impressive.There's a strange transfer of culpability from the murderer to his brother.
Basically a detective movie,"house by the river" is close to the fantastic genre too.The murderer seems to be obsessed with the feeling that his victims may not be dead and he "sees them rise from the dead" (his wife whom he mistakes for the dead servant,his brother who returns from the river).His death is supernatural,eerie.
Lang's minor works are better than a lot of directors' best ones.
Basically a detective movie,"house by the river" is close to the fantastic genre too.The murderer seems to be obsessed with the feeling that his victims may not be dead and he "sees them rise from the dead" (his wife whom he mistakes for the dead servant,his brother who returns from the river).His death is supernatural,eerie.
Lang's minor works are better than a lot of directors' best ones.