The Wrong Rut (1962) / Birthright (1951)

Starring: Sally Forrest & Boyce Brown Director: Elmer Clifton; Ida Lupino & Bill Clifford

DVD Features:

Audio:

• Dolby Digital - English

Additional Release Material:

• Bonus Features - 1. short, LIFE BEGINS
                           2. short, LIFE AND IT'S SECRECIES
• Bonus Footage - 1. THE ART OF LOVE Pitch
                          2. GALLERY OF ROADSHOW Pitch
• Trailers - 1. THE WRONG RUT
               2. THE NAKED TRUTH
               3. THE STORY OF BOB AND SALLY
               4. TWISTED LIVES
               5. THE WONDROUS STORY OF BIRTH

Description by OLDIES.com:

You May Faint...But You'll Never Forget!

The Wrong Rut (1949-1962, 93 mins.): Ditzy 20-year-old Sally Kelton is infatuated with obnoxious piano player Steve Ryan (Sean's dad, Leo Penn). But after they make love in a park and Steve gives her the boot, Sally learns she's pregnant, checks into a home for unwed mothers, and is forced to give up the child. Distraught and wandering the streets in a daze, Sally sees someone else's baby in a carriage and decides to "adopt" it. Originally released in 1949 as Not Wanted, this marked actress Ida Lupino's (uncredited) directorial debut when she took over from ailing Elmer Clifton (Assassin Of Youth). Though eschewing the trappings of exploitation for a more sensitive approach, the film was nevertheless revamped by roadshow promoter Jack Lake who changed the title to The Wrong Rut, spliced in some color birth-of-a-baby footage, and had Miss Lupino's surgically altered feature playing drive-ins from 1962 through 1972!!!

Birthright (1951, 50 mins.): Chicken farmer John Lloyd learns the importance of blood tests when he gives his pregnant wife a dose of the clap after a one-night fling with a lonely waitress. Shot in Harmony, Georgia, with a cast of non-professionals and produced in association with the Georgia Department of Health, Birthright originally began as a serious educational film but took a detour into degradation when it was theatrically released with the insertion of a crude nude scene and, yup, more birth-of-a-baby footage!

Product Description:

Two vintage, bizarre 1950s cult movies are collected here. THE WRONG RUT, Ida Lupino's uncredited directorial debut, follows a naïve young woman who becomes pregnant, is abandoned by the father, gives the child up for adoption, and then, grief-stricken, steals another woman's baby. Though originally serious and empathetic, the film was sexed up in editing to make it more commercial; the result is somewhat jarring, but certainly entertaining. Similarly, BIRTHRIGHT--the tale of a farmer who gives his wife an STD after a one-night affair--began life as an educational movie about the dangers of STDs, but the distributor couldn't resist adding nudity (and then-risqué footage of a baby being born) to interest the drive-in crowd.

Plot Keywords:

Cult Film

Cast and Crew: