Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer
Director Edgar G. Ulmer's complex psycho-melodrama Ruthless is undoubtedly worthy of rediscovery. A flashback-structured tale of a sociopath's remorseless drive for station and wealth, Ruthless (often referred to as Ulmer's Citizen Kane) employs a relentless undercurrent of emotional violence. As relayed in an interview with Peter Bogdanovich, Ulmer envisioned his feature as "a Jesuitic morality play… a very bad indictment against 100 percent Americanism—as Upton Sinclair saw it." The film's chilling, malevolent tone is personified in a starkly muted performance by lead—and frequent screen cad—Zachary Scott.
Eagle-Lion Films. Based on a novel by Dayton Stoddart. Producer: Arthur S. Lions. Screenwriter: Alvah Bessie, S.K. Lauren, Gordon Kahn. Cinematographer: Werner Janssen. Editor: Francis D. Lyon. Cast: Zachary Scott, Louis Hayward, Diana Lynn, Sydney Greenstreet, Lucille Bremer.
35mm, 104 min.
