Life for Ruth to Blu-ray - Michael Craig / Patrick McGoohan / Janet Munro

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

(aka "Walk in the Shadow" or "Condemned to Life")

Directed by Basil Dearden
USA 1962

Michael Craig and Patrick McGoohan give memorably fiery performances as ideological opposites fighting to save the life of a gravely injured young girl in Life for Ruth. Co-starring Janet Munro in a BAFTA-nominated performance, this tense, emotionally-charged drama from director Basil Dearden is featured here as a brand-new High Definition remaster from original film elements in its original theatrical aspect ratio.

Badly injured in a boating accident, John and Pat Harris's daughter Ruth is rushed to hospital. They are told that an urgent blood transfusion is needed, but John refuses his consent on religious grounds – even though that would mean his daughter's certain death.

***

John Harris finds himself ostracized and placed on trial for allowing his daughter Ruth to die. His religious beliefs forbade him to give consent for a blood transfusion that would have saved her life. Doctor Brown is determined to seek justice for what he sees as the needless death of a young girl.

Posters

Theatrical Release: August 30th, 1962

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Review: Network - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

Box Cover		CLICK to order from: Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Network - Region 'B' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:31:25.458
Video	1.66:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 32,460,941,833 bytes Feature: 19,220,422,656 bytes Video Bitrate: 24.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	LPCM Audio English 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit
Subtitles	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Network 1.66:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 32,460,941,833 bytes Feature: 19,220,422,656 bytes Video Bitrate: 24.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • Brand-new interviews with actor Michael Craig and 1st assistant director Anthony Waye (10:21) • Archive career-retrospective interview with Michael Craig (55:58) • Theatrical Trailer (2:39) • Image gallery (2:32) • Limited edition booklet written by Neil Sinyard Blu-ray Release Date: September 12th, 2022 Transparent Blu-ray Case Chapters 13

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Network Blu-ray (October 2022): Network have transferred Basil Dearden's Life for Ruth to Blu-ray. It is cited as being a "remaster from original film elements in its original theatrical aspect ratio". It is on a dual-layered disc and has a supportive bitrate. There are speckles, light scratches and little grain to the 1080P image but is has pleasing contrast and frequent depth. The visuals are reasonably tight with no gloss. Bottom line - it provides an acceptable HD presentation - an effective notch above SD.

NOTE: We have added 56 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Network use a linear PCM dual-mono track (16-bit) in the original English language. Outside of the storm and boat capsizing Life for Ruth has no aggressive moments. It is strong dialogue-driven concluding with a courtroom drama in the second half. The score was by William Alwyn (So Evil My Love, The Running Man, Green For Danger, So Evil My Love, Burn, Witch Burn, Odd Man Out, On Approval, A Night to Remember and The Fallen Idol) sounding clean with consistent dialogue in the uncompressed transfer. Network offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'B' Blu-ray.

The Network Blu-ray offers brand-new interviews with actor Michael Craig and 1st assistant director Anthony Waye reflecting on the film production, hurdles overcome etc.. Plus there is an hour-long archival career-retrospective interview with Michael Craig, a theatrical trailer, image gallery and the package has a limited edition booklet written by Neil Sinyard.

Janet Green and John McCormick (husband and wife) wrote Basil Dearden's "Life for Ruth" in 1961 under alternate titles "God the Father" and "A Matter of Conscience". They had also had written "Sapphire" (with Michael Craig) and "Victim" for Dearden. Although the NY Times' A.H. Weiler stated about Life for Ruth (released in the US as "Walk in the Shadow") - "in avoiding blatant bias, mawkish sentimentality and theatrical flamboyance, it makes a statement that is dramatic, powerful and provocative" the film was still a failure at the box office, contributing to the collapse of Allied Film Makers. It deals with religious freedom and conviction eventually seeking a legal and moral judgment. It is a fascinating film, brilliantly realized impressively by the consistently strong director Dearden (The Mind Benders, They Came to a City, The Blue Lamp, The League of Gentlemen, Woman of Straw, Pool of London, The Captive Heart, The Man Who Haunted Himself, The Square Ring etc.). I was very impacted and, actually, kind of blown away by the story. I'm grateful that Network chose to release this on Blu-ray - a film very much worth seeing and owning, imo.