Interesting study in the way of life of living only for worldly success and money. Zachary Scott makes the tycoon who from a humble start builds an empire but at the cost of everything human on the way. He simply refuses to take any no or objection to his ambitions seriously but grabs everything he fancies for his own and gets it - until there is Sydney Greenstreet, who turns the film into a very interesting drama, the finale towering into a frantic settlement with the inhumanity of ruthlessness.Among the others Lucille Bremer as Christa makes an intelligent impression, and Louis Hayward as the friend who sees Zachary through and tries to follow but fails to save him, makes a credible enough figure of a real best friend who fails for no fault of his, while Diana Lynn as Martha and Mallory becomes something of an enigma - it's actually she who brings Vendig's ruin but unintentionally, as her only power over him is that she resembles his first love, whom he deserted - it's not her fault.It's a very interesting story of opportunism, but like in so many of Ulmer's always most interesting films, the characters never really come alive. The acting is too stiff, and they act more like dummies than like live people, like statues in a grown up puppet play. Nevertheless, the film is still very much worth seeing for its message and lesson, as a morality of considerable weight, as people of this kind dominate and rule the world still today and make a mess of it.

Via flashbacks, this uneven drama tells the rags to riches story of a philanthropist. Scott is OK if somewhat one-dimensional as the ruthless social climber willing to do whatever it takes to get to the top. This is one of the better films of the legendary Ulmer, who has been championed by the likes of Peter Bogdanovich. The B-movie maestro is particularly good here in recreating the small town atmosphere of Scott's youth. Unfortunately, the script is meandering and gets too bogged down in financial dealings as Scott tries to grow his business. Wholesome Lynn and promiscuous Bremer are among the women Scott becomes romantically entangled with.

This may be Edgar G. Ulmer's masterpiece. RUTHLESS is a terrific noir/melodrama - sharply written (by the to-be-blacklisted Alvah Bessie and Gordon Kahn), consistently beautifully photographed (by the underrated Bert Glennon), and truly adventurous in its editing and flash forward-flash backward construction.Zachary Scott is the "ruthless" title character, but the title is more a cheap shot than anything else; Scott's Vendig is more an emotionally bankrupt, pathological character than a villain per se. The narrative takes pains to reveal - gradually - the series of events from childhood through adulthood which affected his perverse makeup, making for a fascinating character study. Subtle revelations and plot twists come about every fifteen minutes, but they're deliberately ambiguous when they hit the screen, forcing the viewer to pay close attention as the truth of the situation is revealed. This technique alone puts RUTHLESS way ahead of any other Poverty Row melodrama of the period and cements Ulmer's reputation as a thoughtful stylist.Louis Hayward plays a sort of Greek chorus, an often acquiescent voice of conscience/best friend/nemesis who keeps the episodic story moving along. Diana Lynn (in two roles), Martha Vickers and Lucille Bremer each give terrific performances as the various women who appear, disappear, and reappear in the lives of both men. All are sharply drawn, a testament to the determination of Bessie, Kahn and other blacklisted writers to put strong female characters on screen in defiance of the Production Code, which seemed to encourage either submissive or predatory roles for women.And as if all that isn't enough, Sidney Greenstreet drops in and sets the screen on fire in every sequence he appears in. A classic coiled spring, his portrayal of a similarly greedy corporate boss is perfectly slimy, and provides a genuine shock when he suddenly grabs Lucille Bremer by the hair and jerks her backwards for a kiss. Likewise, a later sequence where Bremer drags him in front of the mirror so she can brutally compare him to her new, younger lover is unforgettably painful.RUTHLESS sits comfortably alongside DETOUR, THE MAN FROM PLANET X and THE STRANGE WOMAN, other Ulmer gems of note. A great movie.

Excellent drama about a poor boy who is adopted by a rich family after saving their daughter from drowning. Given all the benefits of wealth and society, he uses the people who care about him and give him his breaks, especially the women he meets. Zachery Scott is chilling in his mentally perverse portrayal of a tycoon that is more in league with Norman Bates than William Randall Hurst. Diana Lynn (the Sandra Bullock of her day) is wonderful as the woman he had saved as a girl and who's heart he would break in his rise to success. There is a twist in the plot mid-way that will be a treat to Lynn fans, though I would have liked to seen more of her in the second half. The entire cast is compelling and the soundtrack is appropriately eerie. Very rare to find this on VHS or TV, so if you find it anywhere, get it, rent it, buy it, tape it, watch it.