Plot
Ann Dixon and Eve Monroe are high school friends. Eve is more "experienced" and shows Ann some things that are new to Ann, like smoking and drinking alcohol. Eve laughs when Ann asks her, "Do you let boys kiss you?" One weekend, Ann and Eve go to the lake with fellow high schoolers, Tommy and Ed. After what must have been Ann's first sexual experience, she cries pitifully and Tommy asks her whether she hates him. But, Ann continues to see Tommy and they go to restaurants where they drink alcohol and kiss passionately.
One night while out drinking, Ralph notices Ann and likes what he sees. Noticing that her date, Tommy, has had too much to drink, he moves in on Ann. Since Tommy is out of it, Ann joins Ralph for a drink. When Tommy tries to fight Ralph, he and Ed are kicked out of the place. Ann drops Tommy, and he warns her that Ralph is "bad news for a girl like you." One night, at Ralph's home he gives Ann a "special brew" and they end up (apparently) having intercourse, since Ann has no resistance.
Ann continues to see Ralph and lies to her parents about where she has been. Ann and Ralph attend a party at Brad's where most of the guests are drinking to excess. The party guests begin a game akin to strip poker, played with dice. Only the girls seem to lose their clothing, and eventually lots of the guests noisily end up in the swimming pool, lacking much of their clothes. Disgruntled neighbors are outraged and call the police. Ralph sees the cops arrive, and leaves, abandoning Ann to be arrested with Eve. Ann and Eve end up with Mrs. Merrill, the head of the Girls Division of the Juvenile Department of the police. The girls are required to be "examined" by a doctor before they can be released. The examination reveals Ann has been labelled as a "Sex Delinquent" and has been tested positive for the Wassermann test (one of the earliest test for syphilis). Mrs. Merrill tells Mrs. Dixon that today's youth needs the armor of knowledge and sex instruction.
Then, we find out through innuendo that Ann is going to have a baby. She tells Ralph and finds out that he is married. He also (apparently) suggests she get an abortion. The abortion, "a clumsy, unsanitary operation" leaves Ann gravely ill. On Ann's deathbed, her mother asks Ann for forgiveness for utterly failing her; Ann quietly slips away.
Production
The Road to Ruin is a sound re-make of a 1928 silent film of the same name, written and produced by Willis Kent and also starring Helen Foster. [1] Foster, reprising her role as a high school girl, was 27 years old at the time, and six years older than her on-screen boyfriend, Glen Boles.
The titles and composers of the three songs performed in the film are not recorded. [1]
To promote the film, the producers advertised that it was not to be shown to anyone under eighteen, implying that it contained salacious material. Film censors in Virginia required a "record number" of cuts in the film before clearing it for release, according to Film Daily, while in Detroit, the film was boycotted by the Catholic Church, but was cleared by the local censors after some cuts. [1]
A novelization of the film was put out by the producers, apparently intended for use by school and civic groups as an aid to discussion of the social problems presented in the film: teenage drinking, promiscuity, pregnancy and abortion. [1]
The Thin Man Goes Home is a 1944 American comedy mystery film directed by Richard Thorpe. It is the fifth of the six Thin Man films starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Dashiell Hammett's dapper ex-private detective Nick Charles and his wife Nora. The supporting cast includes Lucile Watson, Gloria DeHaven and Helen Vinson. This entry in The Thin Man series was the first not directed by W.S. Van Dyke, who had died in 1943.
The Three Faces of Eve is a 1957 American film noir mystery drama film presented in CinemaScope, based on the book of the same name about the life of Chris Costner Sizemore, which was written by psychiatrists Corbett H. Thigpen and Hervey M. Cleckley, who also helped write the screenplay. Sizemore, referred to by Thigpen and Cleckley as Eve White, was a woman they suggested might have dissociative identity disorder. Sizemore's identity was concealed in interviews about this film and was not revealed to the public until 1977. The film was directed by Nunnally Johnson.
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Ziegfeld Girl is a 1941 American musical film directed by Robert Z. Leonard and starring James Stewart, Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr, Lana Turner, Tony Martin, Jackie Cooper, Eve Arden, and Philip Dorn. The film, which features musical numbers by Busby Berkeley, was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
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Ann Carver's Profession is an American pre-Code 1933 film directed by Edward Buzzell. It focuses on the relationship of a female lawyer and her husband, and on the strain that her financial success places on their marriage. The film stars actress Fay Wray and this film was made during the year she cemented her fame in King Kong. Although the writing credits differ, the film bears a striking resemblance in plot to Columbia's 1938 production The Lady Objects starring Lanny Ross and Gloria Stuart.
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She Had To Say Yes is a 1933 American pre-Code film directed by George Amy and Busby Berkeley. It was Berkley's directorial debut. Loretta Young stars as a secretary who receives unwanted sexual advances when she is sent out on dates with her employer's clients. The film was promoted with the teaser "We apologize to the men for the many frank revelations made by this picture, but we just had to show it as it was filmed. The true story of the working girl."
Broken Laws is a 1924 American silent drama film directed by Roy William Neill, remarkable for the appearance of Dorothy Davenport, who is billed as "Mrs. Wallace Reid".
There Goes the Groom is a 1937 screwball comedy film directed by Joseph Santley and starring Ann Sothern and Burgess Meredith. It was Burgess Meredith's second film and his first screen comedy; his first film, Winterset (1936), was a serious romantic drama.
Killer McCoy is a 1947 American sports drama film about a boxer starring Mickey Rooney. It is a remake of The Crowd Roars (1938). The picture was directed by Roy Rowland with a supporting cast featuring Brian Donlevy, Ann Blyth, James Dunn, Tom Tully, and Sam Levene.
Thieves is a 1977 American comedy film directed by John Berry, written by Herb Gardner, and starring Marlo Thomas, Charles Grodin and Irwin Corey. It was released on February 11, 1977, by Paramount Pictures. The film was based on Gardner's Broadway play, and has almost the same cast, with the main exception being that Charles Grodin is playing Martin rather than Richard Mulligan, though Grodin directed and produced the play.
Little Iodine is a 1946 American comedy film directed by Reginald Le Borg and written by Richard H. Landau. The film is based on the comic strip Little Iodine by Jimmy Hatlo. The film stars Jo Ann Marlowe, Marc Cramer, Eve Whitney, Irene Ryan, and Hobart Cavanaugh. The film was released on October 20, 1946, by United Artists. All prints of the film were believed to be destroyed after 10 years, effectively making it a lost film.
