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

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (April 2024): As #15 of their 'Forbidden Fruit: The Golden Age of the Exploitation' series, Kino have transferred both Norton S. Parker's 1928 Silent version, as well as Dorothy Davenport (as Mrs. Wallace Reid) + Melville Shyer's 1934 pre-Code version, of The Road to Ruin to Blu-ray. Both star Helen Foster as the lead character. It is cited as being from "Newly restored from archival 35mm elements, The Road to Ruin is presented in cooperation with Something Weird, the estate of Dan Sonney, and the UCLA Film & Television Archive." The 1928 version was shot using a hand-cranked camera typical of the era and the 1080P has vertical scratches and is mostly sepia with a tint or two. It's not in great shape but you can certainly follow the film without undue distraction. It is remarkable how the technology advanced in only a few years; the 1934 version is remarkable for its strong image quality - looking quite appealing with pleasing contrast, detail and is generally quite clean. Both transfers have max'ed out bitrates.

NOTE: We have added 54 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master dual-mono track (24-bit) in the original English language (or English intertitles for the 1928 version.) The Road to Ruin silent version has a piano score composed and performed by Andrew Earle Simpson. It is effectively melancholy in the last 1/3rd of the film. The film was so popular that a sound version (with no audible dialogue) was released in 1928 that originally featured a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc (using a phonograph) and sound-on-film process (the sound accompanying a picture is actually recorded on photographic film but usually not on the same strip carrying the picture.) The 1934 film has no credited score and only diegetic music from a radio, phonograph or nightclub act (Jimmy Tolson singing Campus Crawl) being used. Dialogue can be somewhat hollow and weak in the higher end but audible. It is all quite mostly clean (minor crackles) in the lossless transfer. Kino offer optional English subtitles for the 1934 version on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers new commentaries; by film historian Anthony Slide (author of Hollywood Unknowns: A History of Extras, Bit Players, and Stand-Ins) for the silent 1928 version and by Eric Schaefer, author of Bold! Daring! Shocking! True!: A History of Exploitation Films for the 1934 version. Anthony is always good and talks about the serious subject matter of the film; teenage drinking, sex, pregnancy and abortion. He discusses the juvenile actors in the 1928 version, their careers, The Vitagraph Company, absentee parenting and much more. Eric Schaefer talks about the 1934 version as the film runs. He discusses the production of exploitation movies, the film being a 'remake' - often done as a cost saving measure with the same script etc. and also being done to capitalize on the transition to sound films. Both commentaries are informative getting down to the granularity of the core element of these sex-hygiene films without the graphic scenes. Kino also include trailers for other exploitation genre films; The Cocaine Fiends, The Devil's Sleep, Marihuana, Narcotic and Test Tube Babies.

It is remarkable how both versions of  The Road to Ruin, made six years apart, star the same actress, Helen Foster, both written and produced by Willis Kent, and follow the script so similarly from meeting at the High School in a jalopy to perusing adult-themed novels, boating, drinking, strip poker-like parlor games, and... abortion. As society evolves, becoming more permissive, it is always fascinating to see what was considered taboo, exploitive and Pre-Code back in the day. One of the amusing aspects of the 1934 version is the raiding by the police ("23 skidoo") taking the gals to the dreaded 'Girls Division of the Juvenile Department' where they determine our protagonist, Ann, is a "Sex Delinquent!" The term does not seem to have the same meaning today. So, moral questions abound from smoking, drinking alcohol, promiscuity leading to abortion and the parent's role in their corrupted daughter's 'road to ruin'. Fascinating stuff indeed. The Kino Blu-ray follows their Forbidden Fruit series with two, remarkably, similar versions of this Pre-Code exploitation film in 1080P and an informative commentary for each. Recommended to fans of the rest of this unusual and historically relevant genre like, a favorite, She Should Have Said No.

Gary Tooze