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House by the River (Special Edition) (Blu-ray)

Directed by : Fritz Lang
Crew : Edward Cronjager
Available Date : 01/14/2020
Release Year : 1950
Running Time : 85
UPC : 738329242596
Country : U.S.
Language: English
Subject : Film and Media Studies - Classic Cinema
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$17.97 (Blu-ray)
MSRP: $29.95
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Exiled to poverty-row Republic Pictures in 1949, Fritz Lang (M, Metropolis), the self-proclaimed "master of the unusual," created House by the River, a shocking and mordant low-budget thriller. Like fellow cinema giants Orson Welles (Macbeth) and John Ford (The Quiet Man), Lang enjoyed a freedom at Republic that allowed him to make a unique and truly personal film. In House by the River, Cahiers du Cinema declared, "Lang's main erotic obsession is displayed more clearly than in any of his other films."

Victorian ne'er-do-well Stephen Byrne (Louis Hayward) assaults and murders his wife's virginal housekeeper. With the reluctant assistance of loyal brother John (Lee Bowman), Stephen remorselessly consigns the girl's corpse to the river. But as John's affection for Stephen's wife Marjorie (Jane Wyatt), police suspicion about the girl's disappearance, and the depths of Stephen's depravity all escalate, the river itself provokes a horrifying reunion between victim and murderer. By House by the River's climax, "melodrama is transformed into a work of art [and] a moral nightmare" (Lang biographer Lotte Eisner).

Boasting an ingenious script by Spiral Staircase scribe Mel Dinelli and evocative photography by Edward Cronjager (I Wake Up Screaming), House by the River is a criminally underrated American Grand Guignol that belies its modest origins.

Product Extras :

2K Restoration

NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

Interview with Celebrated Producer and Historian Pierre Rissient

Optional English Subtitles

Dual-Layered BD50 Disc

Trailers

Publish Date : 2019-12-17
UV Canada Link : https://unobstructedview.com/house-by-the-river-spec-edition-blu-ray-kin24259-web.html
  • Fritz Lang - Director
  • Mel Dinelli - Writer
  • Louis Hayward - Actor
  • Jane Wyatt - Actor
  • Lee Bowman - Actor
  • Dorothy Patrick - Actor
  • Ann Shoemaker - Actor
  • Jody Gilbert - Actor
  • Edward Cronjager - Cinematographer

Reviews

"[Scarlet Street and House by the River] Both are indispensable for admirers of the great German filmmaker." - Dave Kehr, The New York Times

"...plot details hardly matter in the face of Lang's enveloping visual style, in which shadow corridors and billowing curtains transform what looks like a standing hotel set from a Republic western into an expressionist nightmare." - Dave Kehr, The New York Times

For press and publicity inquiries, please email [email protected]. A selection of press materials for this title may be available for download here.

Videos

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