House by the River: Fritz Lang

[Spoilers Ahead]

Fritz Lang's House by the River is a Gothic noir gem haunted by ghosts both real and imaginary. There is no small dose of the Southern Gothic aesthetic as established by Faulkner and O'Connor. Edward J. Cronjager's camera creates universes of shadow worthy of Lang's early years in German Expressionism. And finally, Lang's trademark cynicism chokes the film with enough venomous bile to make it as powerful as any he made while in America. After accidentally murdering his beautiful maid after attempting to rape her in a drunken stupor (proceeded by a magnificent moment where Lang's summarizes his lust for her with nothing but the sound of bath water running down a pipe), novelist Stephen Byrne throws her body into the river next to his house after pathetically pleading for help from his crippled brother John. But when the body eventually washes back ashore, the murder investigation makes John the primary suspect...much to the delight of Stephen who wastes no time in exploiting the tragedy (and the community's suspicion towards John) to sell books. So John must team up with Stephen's estranged wife to clear his name before it's too late. I wasn't exaggerating when I called House by the River cynical. It contains some of the most cynical moments of Lang's American career: the town immediately accuses the murdered maid of being a hussy who deserved it, John's vindictive maid takes a perverse pleasure in making John look guilty of the maid's murder when she is called as a witness at the trial, and Stephen seems smugly joyful of the fact that he might get away with murder...even if it means sacrificing his brother. One of the cruelest moments of the film takes place during a courtroom scene where the public first begins to turn on John. As John proclaims his innocence, the sound of the courtroom audience laughing becomes louder and louder and louder until it is unbearable. Lang was always a master of using sound to progress a narrative (see: the whistling scenes in M). And his work in House by the River is no exception. But perhaps most fascinating is how Stephen almost gets away with pinning the murder on his brother. Only the ghostly interference of the dead maid keeps him from reigning victorious. Some may see that as a narrative cop-out. But I see it as Lang insisting that in such a world only something fantastical can truly prevent evil from winning. How cynical, indeed...

8/10