Zachary Scott is ‘Ruthless’ to Stellar Co-Stars 1948

 

Louis Hayward & Diana Lynn look on in disbelief at Zachary Scott's
shameless selfishness in 1948's film noir by Edgar G. Ulmer, "Ruthless."

The rise and fall of a charming but scoundrel of a man was a movie staple even before Citizen Kane. But the movies that came after that iconic epic often had more than a hint of Kane-style storytelling. Such is the case with Edgar G. Ulmer’s B+ budget noir soap from 1948, Ruthless, starring Zachary Scott as the ambitious heel, naturally.

In Ruthless, you get a bit more of the anti-hero’s back story than the typical Zachary Scott villain. It’s a dark tale of a boy torn between his cold, bitter mother and charming, but unreliable father. Let down by both parents one fateful night, young Horace Vendig turns up at a family who have befriended him, with a daughter that Horace had saved from drowning, as well. From then on, Vendig seems determined to take any upwardly mobile opportunities that come his way, no matter who gets hurt. 

Robert Anderson, so endearing as young George Bailey in "It's a Wonderful Life,"
 grows up to be rotten Zachary Scott in 1948's "Ruthless."

What's interesting for movie fans is that young Horace is played by Robert Anderson, who was famed for portraying young George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life. He's so inherently earnest that it's hard to see him grow up into Zachary Scott, who often did everything but twirl his mustache in multiple movies, as the charming but cunning cad. What sets this apart from Scott's rogue's gallery of bad guys is that Vendig is aware of his fatal flaw but can't help himself. And Scott was a subtle enough actor who could convey this duality.

Here's Zachary Scott, giving his patented baleful stare to Louis Hayward,
who plays life-long friend Vic in 1948's "Ruthless."

Even though the family that takes him in and treats him like a son, going so far as to send him off to Harvard, even when he has the love of their sweetheart daughter, it's just not enough. Vendig goes through several dream opportunities, but tosses them away when he something better to exploit. Eventually, karma calls!

This movie packs a lot of story in the usual 1 hour and 45 minute running time, but cult director Edgar G. Ulmer gets the job done! Those Citizen Kane touches, with the great man’s humble beginnings, the characters introduced and then cast aside, great wealth conveyed on a budget, and Vendig’s goals become grandiose to the point that he’s bound to get his comeuppance.

I like Zachary Scott without his pencil mustache that he typically sported.
Scott as young Horace Zendig in 1948's "Ruthless."

What truly makes this movie a guilty treasure treat is not the soap opera story but the fantastic cast. Zachary Scott is good as usual in the lead, with Robert Anderson empathetic as his younger self. Raymond Burr appears as Vendig's gambler dad and is quite grand as the showboater. Diana Lynn is quite endearing and sparkling as Horace's first love, Martha, who any man would be happy with. She later appears as another more pragmatic woman, Mallory, who bewitches Vendig. Louis Hayward is solid is Vendig's life-long friend, Vic, and later his critic, much like Joseph  Cotten was to Orson Welles as Citizen Kane. The child actors who portray them are very good. Aside from Robert Anderson as young Horace, there’s Ann Carter as young Martha and Arthur Curtis who really looks like Hayward as a young Vic. Martha Vickers is beautiful and warm as good girl Susan, who also gets taken for a ride by Horace. Later on, Lucille Bremer, coming on like an early Bette Davis neurotic, plays his wife, Christa. Horace steals her from besotted Sydney Greenstreet, as Buck Mansfield, a business giant that Vendig takes down. This is one hell of a cast, with everyone is quite believable in their roles. The only scene that’s not believable is when massive Greenstreet and whippet-thin Scott struggle to the death on a dock!

Zachary Scott as Horace Vendig, about to explain his shady past,
in 1948's film noir, "Ruthless."

The storytelling is flashback, noir style, which I'm fine with. But I had to laugh when the first LONG flashback occurred when Scott's Vendig was about to light a cigarette. And when the flashback is over, Lynn extinguishes his match, some 40 minutes later! Zach must have relayed his backstory with the speed of a narrator citing the side effects of a drug in a TV commercial!

Diana Lynn in a dual role, here as Mallory, hilariously blows out Scott's match
40 minutes later after the flashback, in 1948's "Ruthless."

The story of Ruthless Vendig is very dramatic and soapy ala JR Ewing in Dallas! But the movie's style, acting, and a few twists make this a very enjoyable '40s noir melodrama. 

Diana Lynn is utterly winning as Zachary Scott's first love in 1948's "Ruthless."

Martha Vickers is quite lovely and appealing as Zachary Scott's next conquest,
in 1948's film noir, "Reckless."

Lucille Bremer first plays Sydney Greenstreet's trophy wife, then Zachary Scott's,
in 1948's film noir "Ruthless."

Here’s my take on the film that features Zachary Scott’s greatest villain, Monte Beragon, in the 1945 Joan Crawford  Oscar vehicle, Mildred Pierce: https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2020/03/how-joan-crawford-became-mildred-pierce.html

 

The poster for 1948's "Ruthless" looks like a score card for
each character's dominant personality trait!