House By the River Blu-ray

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka 'Floodtide')

USA 1950

Exiled to Republic Pictures, Fritz Lang (Metropolis, Scarlet Street) created House by the River, a shocking and mordant low-budget thriller. Like fellow cinema giants Orson Welles and John Ford, Lang enjoyed a freedom at Republic that allowed him to make a truly unique and personal film. Regarding House by the River, Cahiers du Cinéma 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, And Then There Were None) assaults and accidentally murders his wife’s virginal housekeeper. With the reluctant assistance of loyal brother John (Lee Bowman, Bataan), Stephen remorselessly consigns the girl’s corpse to the river. But as John’s affection for Stephen’s wife Marjorie (Jane Wyatt, Pitfall), 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. Boasting an ingenious script by The Spiral Staircase scribe Mel Dinelli and evocative photography by seven-time Oscar® nominee Edward Cronjager (Heaven Can Wait), House by the River is a criminally underrated American film, both a work of art and a moral nightmare.

***

This film has been neglected, partly because prints are hard to come by, and those existing accentuate the gloominess of the period events and the atmospheric photography. More significantly the second-rung cast respond to the spirit but not the tone of the story about a writer (Hayward) who murders his servant and then implicates his brother (Bowman) in the crime. Adapted by Dinelli - a master of small-scale terror - from a novel, it stays in the house and on the weed-clogged river where the body is disposed of. It tumbles into melodrama after its opening nightmare, but that's not unusual in Lang's films.

Excerpt from Channel 4 located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: March 25th, 1950

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

Comparison:

Kino - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Wild Side Video (2-disc) - Region 2 - PAL vs. Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Box Cover			Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Kino - Region 1 - NTSC	Wild Side Video - Region 2 - PAL	Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:24:39	1:24:39 (4% PAL speedup)	1:28:29.012
Video	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.21 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.33:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.89 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	1.37:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 29,502,101,208 bytes Feature: 27,722,004,480 bytes Video Bitrate: 37.91 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate Kino:
Bitrate:
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0)	English (Dolby Digital 2.0)	DTS-HD Master Audio English 1554 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1554 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit) Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles	None	French, none	English, none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Kino Video Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Interview with Pierre Rissient (7:39) • Photo Gallery DVD Release Date: November 22nd, 2005 Keep Case Chapters: 15	Release Information: Studio: Wild Side Video Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Conversation with Fritz Lang and William Friedkin (47:32 in English) • Interview with Pierre Rissient (26:08 in French - no subtitles) • Interview with Patrick Brion (25:38 in French - no subtitles) • Photo Gallery DVD Release Date: May 22nd, 2007 Custom Digipak (see image below) Chapters: 15	Release Information: Studio: Kino 1.37:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 29,502,101,208 bytes Feature: 27,722,004,480 bytes Video Bitrate: 37.91 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Alexandra Heller-Nicholas • Interview with Celebrated Producer and Historian Pierre Rissient (7:41) Blu-ray Release Date: January 14th, 2020 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters 9

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (January 2020): Kino have transferred Fritz Lang's House by the River to Blu-ray. It is from a new 2K restoration and loses the green of the 2005 DVD and show much more information, on all 4 sides, than both DVDs. It does show slightly rounded corners. The higher resolution rendering has over 7X the bitrate of the first DVD and 5X that of the Wild Side. It is also a more film-like image in-motion carrying a thickness and superior layered contrast. There is some 'clunky' grain texture in some background near the conclusion and I can only assume it is the source.

NOTE: We have added 44 more large resolution Blu-ray captures for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel mono track (16-bit) in the original English language. It is another advancement in the film's audio (consistent and clear dialogue) plus the wonderful score by George Antheil (The Pride and the Passion, In a Lonely Place, Make Way for Tomorrow (1937), Sirocco (1951), Not As a Stranger, Tokyo Joe (1949), Knock on Any Door etc.) sounding deeper with more inmpact on the film experience. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

Kino include a new audio commentary by Film Historian Alexandra Heller-Nicholas (author of Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study) and her focus in the beginning centers around gender politics and gendered violence, how the 'failed seduction' is really 'sexual assault' and more of that - later she is quite informative mentioning the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee), effectiveness of costume design in House By the River, a lot on Fritz Lang as well as reading quotes from other reviewers about the film. Kino include the same 8-minute interview with historian Pierre Rissient - a longtime admirer of Fritz Lang's work, filmmaker and cineaste Rissient helped rescue House by the River from obscurity. There are also trailers for other, related, films.

House by the River has been out of the conversation and unjustly so. The French have embraced this 'dark cinema' as a hidden classic and it is! Kino add the valuable commentary and give the film a 2K-restoration Blu-ray transfer plus lossless audio. This is a must-own, imo.

Gary Tooze

ON THE DVDs: Wild Side Region 2 - PAL - June 07': Well it wouldn't be hard to better the 3.51 Gig single-layered Kino... and the new Wild Side have done just that. The pronounced green tint of the Kino transfer is exemplified when sitting next to the Wild Side and its superior contrast. The Kino 'combing' (from interlaced source and/or unconverted PAL) is rife. I can't be positive that the Wild Side is not a culprit of standard conversion as there is a bit combing evident as well (alchemist transfer?) but overall it is vastly superior with less visible damage but it's is also single-layered (4.73 Gig). The Wild Side is in English with OPTIONAL French subtitles. Framing tends to have the French DVD show a shade more information - mostly on the left edge.

I loved the, almost 50 minute, Fritz Lang - William Friedkin discussion on disc 2 of the Wild Side. In English with optional French subtitles. Fabulous stuff - worth the disc price alone. There are two other interviews but they are in French only (no subtitles).

Classic Lang - the definitive SD transfer of the film and a great supplement interview. SOLD!

NOTE: Claude tells us in email "I bought the Wild side release of Lang's 'House by the River''. The one I received from an aftermarket seller is not the custom digipack release as shown on dvd beaver but it comes in a plastic standard keepcase (also 2 discs collector's edition). Pictures on top side of DVDs are different. This is an original Wild Side that I believe was released later. The menu on the discs is exactly the same as pictured on your screen captures. The problem is that I can not remove the French subtitles contrary to what you mentioned and I just hate that. Could it be my player? Usually this Oppo is good at removing them using the remote control. I wrote to Wild Side exposing this issue and asked if it there could be a difference between the 2 releases, but frankly as I know the French, I'm pretty sure they won't answer me."

***

On the Kino DVD (2005): I'm getting a little tired of Kino Video - Shoddy transfers, no subtitle options, prints with prevalent damage showing and available at higher-than-average prices. You can see various degrees of combing in captures # 4 and 8, proving this again to be non-progressive - in fact - its not even dual layered - it takes up only 3.51 Gig of disc space. This looks to possibly be from a PAL source and there are scratches and damage marks showing throughout. This is definitely overpriced and I am sick of lining Kino's pockets with my money. No thanks.