Movie Description
House by the River is a 1950 American crime melodrama directed by Fritz Lang and starring Louis Hayward, Lee Bowman and Jane Wyatt. It is based on the 1921 novel of the same title by A. P. Herbert.
Director Fritz Lang wanted to make the character of the murdered maid an African American woman, but the Hays Office was against it as sexual desire between blacks and whites was seen as problematic.
More recently, film critic Tom Vick praised the film, writing, "Lang beautifully evokes the Victorian era with his customary attention to detail. Cinematographer Edward J. Cronjager's low-key lighting fills the Byrnes mansion with appropriately gloomy shadows, and the moonlit river scenes make it seem as if nature itself is offended by the crime. Avant-garde composer George Antheil's haunting score is the perfect accompaniment to this chilling and unconventional exercise in suspense."
