Independent Films, Film Profiles

House by the River
by Fritz Lang

House by the River is a 1950 film directed by Fritz Lang. The Gothic crime story is considered film noir. The film was released by Republic Pictures.A rich novelist (Stephen Byrne) who lives and works by a river kills his attractive maid after she begins screaming following a drunken pass. The writer, with the help of his limping brother, loads the body into an old sack and the pair throws the body into the river. Unfortunately, the body comes back up and floats by the house days later. Despite desperate attempts by the brothers to get the body, the police end up recovering it. The writer, who uses the woman's disappearance and killing for publicity for his books, realizes that his brother is the one who is going to be accused of the crime. Meanwhile, he begins writing a book about the crime in another attempt to cash in on the scandal. His wife and brother begin to fall in love, despite the fact that he has become the prime suspect.