Review of Ruthless (1948) by Brett W — 16 Jun 2012

Ruthless (A.K.A The b-grade Citizen Kane) tells the melodramatic tale of a sweet little boy who grows up to become a heartless caricature of a businessman. Why? Because both his parents were also caricatures. His mother a cold-hearted hose beast and his father a gambling/womanizing fiend. What's the source of Horace's cutthroat attitude toward everyone in his life? Well, um, apparently he's possessed by the patron devil of capitalism, or something. Instead of constructing a slow and tragic descent into self-absorption, the way that Charles Foster Kane was portrayed, Ruthless takes the lazy route and simply wants us believe that Horace was a bad apple from the start. That as a child he made some kind of secret pact with the devil to destroy and leave behind all he holds dear as he climbs his way up the corporate ladder.

Since Horace Vendig is essentially a wholly unsympathetic human being, who's story are we meant to relate to? Those he left behind? Martha, the love of his life? Nope, she's merely a side note in one of his many flashbacks. Vic? Mmm, nope. His character isn't developed enough for him to function as anything but a moral roadblock to Horace's ruthlessness.

At the beginning of the film we're shown that Horace is throwing a soiree to announce his creation of a "peace foundation" in which he hopes to make right the many injustices he has perpetrated. To compensate in some small way for his life of greed, but this never develops. We never see a point of remorse, and we never get any indication that maybe this is yet another veiled play at humanity for his own personal success' sake. It's just an excuse to get everyone he screwed over into one room.

No remorse, no moral, no redemption. Nothing. He gets strangled and drowns after he attempts to (yet again) steal Vic's girlfriend.

There's a line in the film that says as much, but one gets the sense that Horace isn't so much a character as he is a disaster, a force of nature, a "way of life". This is a survival film in which the supporting cast attempts to outrun the soul-sucking black hole that is Horace "Woody" Vendig.