Delitto di coscienza

In 2017, Emma Thompson and Stanley Tucci starred in a courtroom drama based on the same late 1930s legislation that is used for the manslaughter case in this Relph and Dearden message movies collaboration. The later film was based on a novel by popular writer Ian McEwan.

The theme is similar: the refusal of a blood transfusion based on a religious dogma. A difference is that in Life With Ruth, the onus for the decision fell on the father, whose eight year old girl was not yet of age to really understand the faith he had taught her and to make a decision for herself. Whereas in the later story the decision is made by a teenage boy on his own, though he is not yet an adult according to the law so is covered as a child.

In both films there is a subplot about a crumbling marriage though in the Emma Thompson film it is the lawyer's marriage that is affected.

The original Dearden film is an impressive piece of craftsmanship with black and white lensing by veteran Otto Heller, good supporting performances and well cast leads. My sympathies were on the side of the outraged doctor but the script is balanced enough to allow us to understand why the jury would acquit the father.

Though some of his best films (The Captive Heart, The Smallest Show On Earth, The League of Gentlemen, Khartoum) fall outside the rubric of the socially conscious message format, Dearden's work in that format far surpasses the comparable Hollywood contribution of someone like Stanley Kramer and can be better compared to the achievement of the French director Andre Cayatte.

Filmed in Durham, 'Life for Ruth' is a surprisingly effective story about a man who puts his daughters life in the hands of God and ignores the advice of surgeons. Ruth dies and a court case ensues in which the tension of the situation is brought to a head. Well acted by Michael Craig and especially Patrick MacGoohan as a journalist who comes to see both sides of the argument. This is one of those typically British films with dignity that makes use of unusual locations.

A father's religious beliefs are put to the test when he refuses a blood transfusion for his daughter on religious grounds, and the child dies as a result. The doctor who tried to save the girl's life charges the father with manslaughter.

This is a thought-provoking film that does not take the easy way out. It would be easy to make a scapegoat out of the father's religion, or absolve him of responsibility by taking a fatalistic view. To this film's credit, it does neither, but strives to present all points of view with fairness.

As topical, relevant, and fresh today as when it was made. Highly recommended.

The fact that this modestly budgeted film leads to the possible conclusion that the film should have leaned to one position or the other.

After all there is the old saying of San Goldwyn, "if you want to send a message use Western Union".

I have little sympathy wi th Michael Craig's character. He bears great responsibility for allowing his daughter to play on a beach in the middle of winter without an adult in attendance.

Bearing in mind that snow is on the ground,in real life,giving into the sea is likely to have killed him.

The cinematography is excellent as are an impressive cast of experienced actors.

Sadly the failure of this film caused the bankruptcy of the production com.

Michael Craig and his daughter are having an afternoon at the beach, where she is injured. He takes her to the hospital, where Doctor Patrick McGoohan tells him that only a blood transfusion will save her life. Craig is a non-conformist who believes tht blood transfusions are a sin, so he refuses. The girl dies. The inquest calls it an accident, but McGoohan has him arrested for manslaughter.

As someone without faith I find these stories problematic. So, apparently, are the people who made this movie, because by the end of it they have thoroughly stacked the deck against Craig. It's a pity, because I find the issues this movie raises important and puzzling; what, if any, are the limits of religious tolerance? As an American, with a firm reliance on the Bill of Rights, I side with Craig. As someone who believes this life is all we get, I side with McGoohan.

There are some fine performances by the two men, Janet Munro as Craig's wife, and Malcolm Keen, in his last big-screen role as Craig's father.