You don't have much time to even put your hand into your popcorn when all of a sudden, murder pops up. It's all sudden, out of nowhere, an obvious accident, yet cruelly hidden. Louis Hayward strangles the maid he's anxious to bed while simply trying to keep her quiet so a nosy neighbor passing by won't hear her screams. Then, when he realizes what he's done, he's using his crippled brother (Lee Bowman) to help him get rid of the corpse simply by flinging the poor maiden into the river which is conveniently located outside Hayward's back door. But no bad deed goes unpunished, the girl's absence does not go unnoticed, and as you had already seen in those low-budget Tod Slaughter British horror movies of the late 30's and early 40's, the corpse comes home. Will the suspicious wife (Jane Wyatt) be the next to pay or will a little ghostly visit by the deceased make the piper be paid?

Like the house in "Rebecca", the moors in "Wuthering Heights" and the land in "Gone With the Wind", the river acts like a character, one without dialog, but definitely living and breathing, watching the evil occurring with baited breath and waiting for the right time to strike. The funny thing is that all along, you really begin to think that the villain actually might get away with it, and it is brilliant fun to watch everything fall into place. Fritz Lang, another "master of suspense", keeps every moment gripping, and after misfiring with his "Secret Beyond the Door", scores with his "House By the River".

The supporting cast has some great moments, particularly Anne Shoemaker as the pesky next door neighbor who shows up at the most inauspicious times to annoy Hayward, and Jody Gilbert (in probably her biggest part) as the maid. I began to notice this portly character actress only recently in so many films I've seen many times before, and unlike other character actors of the time, she seems like people you may have known in your neighborhood as a child or encountered at work. (Other character actors usually seem so much larger than life or have a look that is far too unique to be common.) In fact, the day I watched this movie, Ms. Gilbert popped up in another film I had just seen ("Are You With It?"),not surprising in the fact that she appeared in over 100 films and TV shows. Dorothy Patrick, as the poor maid dispatched by Hayward, reminded me of Angela Lansbury in "The Picture of Dorian Gray" with her pathetic creature one of those frail maidens you can tell from the very beginning who was destined to be exploited, used, and tossed aside. This is the type of film to watch in total darkness for the full effect.

The main idea behind this film and so many of its story elements are truly unusual and brilliant--so much so that my interest was peaked shortly into the movie. The idea of a very manipulative and sociopathic brother kills someone and then convincing his gullible brother to assist him in getting rid of the body was interesting. And then a little later, when the killer uses the disappearance of the woman as a way to boost his career and he seems genuinely happy, the accomplice brother realizes that his brother wasn't the innocent man he thought he was!

However, despite this wonderful beginning, the film falls flat again and again. At times, the acting seems way "over-the-top" and melodramatic. This isn't helped by the occasionally annoying musical score that sometimes actually drowns out the actors' lines! At one point, the nice brother is about to say something--at which point a loud "DUM, DUM, DUM" blares out--and the guy seems to literally pause to wait for the music to subside!!! Considering that this film was directed by the great Austrian director, Fritz Lang, it's amazing how sloppy it looked. It was as if either he had no control over the final edit or he just didn't care. Considering how late in his career the film was made, it DOES make you wonder.

The most interesting aspect of House By The River is the fact that it was produced at Republic Pictures, the home of Roy Rogers and several other B movie cowboys and the values those pictures put forth. Hardly the place for a moody and atmospheric thriller that examines a man's moral degeneracy directed by Fritz Lang who always likes to explore the dark. One thing that does mark this as a Republic film is the usual Herbert J. Yates economy.

But for a director like Lang who was used to exploring shadowy worlds, economy on the set isn't a hindrance, though back in Germany this man directed the opulent Metropolis. House By The River delivers the most for its meager budget.

Louis Hayward who was a poor man's Tyrone Power and like Power could play straight heroes and hero/heels gets his Nightmare Alley type role as the rich and idle writer who just can't move the writer's block. He takes a real fancy to maid Dorothy Patrick and when she repulses his advances, Hayward kills her. He gets older and club footed brother Lee Bowman to dump the body in the river. But as dead bodies will do, they bloat and have a nasty habit of floating to the top.

Lang and Hayward create a really frightening picture of moral degeneracy that would have resonated well with post World War II audiences who had just defeated a nation gripped in the philosophy that it was a race of super people. Jane Wyatt gets her innings in playing Hayward's wife who Bowman also loved and who starts thinking that maybe she married the wrong brother.

I have to single out Jody Gilbert from the cast who plays Bowman's housekeeper and who Bowman takes his frustrations out on after he's helped Hayward. She's not the sharpest knife in the drawer and misreads all of Bowman's signals and later does him damage at a coroner's inquest.

I'm not sure how much money House By The River brought in to Republic Pictures, but it is a minor masterpiece for this studio.