Taglines: Did he have the right to judge them?
Life for Ruth movie storyline. First problem that confronts an honest working man (Michael Craig) occurs when his eight-year-old daughter and her next door playmate are involved in a boating accident. His daughter is clinging to the boat and is not in such immediate danger as the drowning boy. Which should he try first to save?
He rescues both, but by then his daughter is gravely ill. Only a blood transfusion can save her. Because of his strict religious principles (he is a member of the Jehovah’s witness sect, though it is not stated in the film) he adamantly refuses, and the child dies. That was his second distressing problem.
The doctor who urged the transfusion is so irate that he gets the father tried for manslaughter. This is good telling stuff for drama and it brings up isues about religion, the law, conscience, marital relationship all posed with intelligence and conviction.
Thesping is crisp all around, with Craig surmounting a gloomy type of role as the dogged religionist, and Janet Munro as his baffled dismayed young wife. Patrick McGoohan is excellent in a tricky role [the doctor] which is not so clearly defined as the other top jobs.
Life for Ruth is a 1962 British drama film produced by Michael Relph directed by Basil Dearden and starring Michael Craig, Patrick McGoohan and Janet Munro. It was released in the US as Walk in the Shadow. Otto Heller’s bleak photography of the North of England setting and William Alwyn’s unobtrusive musical score all lend aid to Dearden’s adroit direction.
Life for Ruth (1962)
Directed by: Basil Dearden
Starring: Michael Craig, Patrick McGoohan, Janet Munro, Paul Rogers, Malcolm Keen, Megs Jenkins, Michael Bryant, Leslie Sands, Norman Wooland, John Barrie, Michael Aldridge
Screenplay by: Janet Green, James McCormick
Cinematography by: Otto Heller
Film Editing by: John D. Guthridge
Set Decoration by: Arthur Taksen
Art Direction by: Alex Vetchinsky
Makeup Department: Harry Frampton
Music by: William Alwyn
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Rank (UK)
Release Date: August 30, 1962
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