This is the second John H. Collins film I’ve watched, and as before, he did not disappoint. He and William S. Hart are without a doubt the biggest discoveries I’ve made so far in this podcast. I’d never heard of him when I started this podcast, but since watching Children of Eve I’ve been looking forward to the next time one of his pictures came up in the rotation. I wrote more about Collins when I wrote about Children of Eve, but the most notable fact, sadly, is that he died young, at age 28, in the 1918 flu pandemic, and what would almost certainly have been an outstanding body of cinematic work was cut woefully short.
Much smaller scale than Children of Eve, The Innocence of Ruth is nonetheless a fine film. It again stars Viola Davis, wife of the director, this time as a Ruth, a young girl whose father dies shortly after being cleaned out in the stock market by the villainous Mortimer Reynolds. With his dying wish, Ruth’s father beseeches his friend, a millionaire investor named Jimmy Carter, to take on his daughter as his ward.
Wards must have been a big thing in the early 1900s, as they pop up constantly in these early films. Apparently, when young girls lost her parents back then there was always a friendly millionaire nearby to take them in and see that they received a proper upbringing. Despite being something of a party animal— when we first meet Jimmy he’s waking up mid-afternoon after a night of debauching— he brings Ruth home with him, vowing to take good care of her. Ruth has different plans. She immediately wants to pretend she and Jimmy are married, and even steals a kiss from him. He’s mortified, and heads off for a night of drunken debauchery. Yet, whilst out with his friends, and with a proto-flapper sitting in his lap, Jimmy finds his thoughts drifting back home to Ruth.
While this is happening, Reynolds decides that driving Ruth’s father into bankruptcy and early grave wasn’t enough, and that he now wants to steal Ruth’s innocence. He plots with his live-in… what is she? It’s unclear, but Edna, an older woman, lives with Reynolds as a sort of gold-digger. He’s openly funding her lavish lifestyle, but seems to take no romantic, or sexual, interest in her whatsoever, even going so far as to dismiss her advances towards him. Whatever she is to him, together they connive to get Ruth under his influence, and the first step is to drive a wedge between her and Jimmy. They do so through Edna telling Ruth that she’s nothing but a gold-digger like herself, and that she’s leeching of of Jimmy. Ruth gravitates towards Edna and Mortimer for solace, not realizing what they have planned for her.
The story moves on to show that Reynolds, who has ruined so many in the market, has been ruined himself. In a last-ditch effort to regain financial solvency, he forges Jimmy’s signature on some documents, and uses them to secure a $10,000 bank loan. The bank finds out about the fraud, however, and sends policemen out to find Reynolds.
Reynolds is unaware that he’s been discovered, and goes home to find Edna and Ruth together. With a sinister smile, he joins Edna, who has already been encouraging Ruth to drink, and together they get her drunk. Edna starts having second thoughts, so Reynolds send her aware, then traps Ruth in his bedroom. Just when Reynolds is about to rape poor Ruth, Jimmy storms in and rescues her. Reynolds knocks Jimmy out and flees to his office, where he is confronted by the police. He shoots and kills one officer before the other kills him.
Meanwhile, both Ruth and Jimmy have recovered, and in an incredibly sweet final scene, they make up and fall in love. The film ends with Ruth climbing onto a chair and beckoning Jimmy to come closer. She opens her arms to give him a big hug, and then Collins does something I’d not yet seen in a film: he freezes the frame. Our final image is Viola Davis, arms wide, smiling and waiting for Edward Earle to come her way.
I’m a sucker for a great ending, and when a really good movie closes with a perfect scene, I’m sold. I can’t wait for the next time Collins shows up in the queue, which won’t be too long. He released another movie in 1916, The Cossack Whip, so we don’t have too long to wait.
Next I’m watching He Did and He Didn’t [1916], directed by Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle.
The Innocence of Ruth (Jan. 26, 1916)