Dear Ruth (Blu-ray Review)
- Review Date: Sep 18, 2025
- Format: Blu-ray Disc
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Director
William D. RussellRelease Date(s)
1947 (September 9, 2025)Studio(s)
Paramount Pictures (Kino Lorber Studio Classics)- Film/Program Grade: A
- Video Grade: B+
- Audio Grade: A
- Extras Grade: B-
Review
Dear Ruth, based on a play by Norman Krasna, harks back to the era of screwball comedy though its characters are not as wildly scatterbrained. Set in a New York suburb during World War II, its plot hinges on the machinations of the overly idealistic teenage daughter of a middle-class family.
Sixteen-year-old Miriam Wilkins (Mona Freeman) champions all sorts of causes that will better the world and is president of numerous socially progressive committees at school. Her father, Judge Harry Wilkins (Edward Arnold), mother Edie (Mary Phillips), and elder sister Ruth (Joan Caulfield), regard her activism as a passing phase. It’s 1944, and Miriam is especially concerned with promoting the welfare and morale of our fighting men overseas, while her family seem oddly complacent in their comfortable cocoon.
Though Miriam’s intentions are well meaning, she sometimes involves other family members in her “projects” without letting them know. To help in the war effort, she registers her parents to donate blood, sends a telegram to the Secretary of War under her father’s name, and writes to servicemen under her sister’s name.
Ruth works at a bank and expects to become engaged to fellow bank employee Albert (Billy de Wolfe), a somewhat older man and not the most scintillating personality but one who’s steadily employed and loves Ruth. One day, when both daughters are away from home, Judge and Mrs. Wilkins receive an unexpected visit from Lt. William “Bill” Seacroft (William Holden). Bill explains that he and Ruth have been corresponding for a long time while he was fighting on the front as a bombardier. He’s on a two-day leave and expects to marry Ruth before he returns to Europe. The Wilkins invite Bill in and try their best to cover their confusion.
When Ruth gets home she announces her engagement. Her parents initially assume she means to Bill but then realize their error. It turns out that Miriam is the cause of this misunderstanding. She exchanged 60 letters with Bill under her sister’s name and photograph as a way to bring a bit of joy and hope to a soldier. When Bill and Ruth finally meet, she finds it difficult to tell him the truth and wants to wait for the right moment. But Bill wants to make the most of the limited time he has. When Albert learns that Miriam created this mess, he must swallow his temper as he watches this stranger court his fiancee.
Holden looks great in his spiffy uniform and plays Bill with charm and enthusiasm. For most of the film, Bill has no idea that he has been misled. The letters have made him feels like he knows Ruth intimately and becomes demonstrative pretty quickly, while Ruth tries to keep him at bay and Albert tries to thwart him. Holden projects a boy-next-door sweetness as well as masculine charm.
Caulfield is beautiful and radiant but lacks spark and on-screen chemistry with Holden. She walks through most of her scenes and isn’t very convincing about Ruth’s consternation at having to manage one deceived and one seething suitor at the same time. She has opportunities to play some scenes with a bit of zaniness, but sort of blends into the scenery instead.
Billy de Wolfe, playing a version of his prissy fussbudget as Ruth’s impotently resentful boyfriend, is very funny and not as downright clownish as in other films. His comic timing is perfect, and his befuddled reactions to the convoluted developments contribute to the picture’s laughs.
Freeman, as the precocious Miriam, is the catalyst for all the mayhem that ensues. With dialogue few teenagers could muster, her Miriam is self-assured, unafraid to speak her mind, and judgmental when others don’t support her causes. Freeman brings youthful zest to her performance and a deadpan delivery that consciously avoids being “cutesy.”
Arnold, as the family patriarch, has the best comic lines, delivers them with impeccable timing, and never burlesques his performance into a caricature of the clueless dad. Judge Wilkins blusters and fumes at times but we never doubt his intelligence and completely comprehend his confusion.
Director William D. Russell has given Dear Ruth a brisk pace. He hasn’t done much to open up the film from its stage play origins, but this doesn’t really hurt the film since the screenplay by Krasna and Arthur Sheekman is witty, visual variety is maintained, and the performances are excellent. Dear Ruth is the type of mild comedy that flourished after the war when audiences just wanted to laugh and have a good time at the movies. There are no heavy-handed messages, no villains, no complexities that aren’t straightened out by the time “The End” appears on screen.
Dear Ruth was shot by director of photography Ernest Laszlo on 35mm black & white film with spherical lenses, finished photochemically, and presented in the Academy aspect ratio of 1.37:1. Clarity on the Blu-ray is generally very good, though there are places where the image looks washed out. Occasional small dirt specks in the print aren’t enough to disturb viewing. Grayscale is rendered well and blacks are deep and rich. Only a few scenes open up the film from the main location of the Watkins house. Rear screen projection is used when Ruth and Bill ride on a double-decker bus along Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Production design, especially the home’s outdoor patio (filmed in the studio), is impressive.
The soundtrack is English 2.0 mono DTS-HD Master Audio. English SDH subtitles are an available option. Dialogue is critical in this film that relies on witty repartee, and it’s clear and distinct. Billy de Wolfe speaks in the distinctive, stuffy manner he perfected that makes even straight lines funny. William Holden speaks very fast, suggesting his character’s eagerness to make the most of his brief leave from the air force. He has to accomplish a lot in two days. Mona Freeman, as Miriam, is appealing as a spunky adolescent who often speaks and acts like an adult but gets carried away by idealism. The score by Robert Emmett Dolan is light and upbeat. Background music and ambient crowd noise are heard when Ruth and Bill dance in a nightclub.
The bonus materials on the Region A Blu-ray release from Kino Lorber Studio Classics include the following:
- Audio Commentary by Farran Smith Nehme
- Union Station Trailer(2:09)
- Sabrina Trailer (2:11)
- The Turning Point Trailer(2:01)
- The Country Girl Trailer(2:41)
- The Horse Soldiers Trailer(2:39)
Audio Commentary – According to film historian Farran Smith Nehme, Dear Ruth was a hit movie based on a hit play. Mona Freeman, 21 at the time, plays a 16-year-old. Mary Phillips was a New York stage actress and the first wife of Humphrey Bogart. Edward Arnold, an “omnipresent character actor,” had a flair for comedy even though he typically played straight dramatic roles. Dear Ruth was one of Joan Caulfield’s more prominent roles. She started as a model and eventually got into movies. She starred a year earlier with Bing Crosby in Blue Skies. William Holden started his acting career before the war, making a name for himself in Golden Boy. Dear Ruth was the first film he made after serving during World War II. Although the film is a comedy, the character of Bill has depth. Miriam’s charity is based on Bundles for Britain, one of the favorite charities of Hollywood’s British community. The organization sent goods and cash to England to boost morale and help the British in their war effort. Director William D. Russell wasn’t an auteur, but a contract director who went on to direct many TV shows. Director of cinematography Ernest Laszlo doesn’t overlight scenes in Dear Ruth, as was commonly done in television. Co-screenwriter Norman Krasna worked on books with Groucho Marx. Reviews of the film, overall, were very good. The commentator reads excerpts from The New York Times review. Famous comedians, such as Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Eddie Cantor, and George Burns, provided endorsements that were used in advertising. The film shows parents and children reasoning with each other and teens being respectful of parents. This trend would “end with a thud” in the 1950s with such films as High School Confidential, Blackboard Jungle and, most famously, Rebel Without a Cause. William Holden had a thriving career in movies but his co-star, Joan Caulfield, never enjoyed his level of success.
Dear Ruth opened on Broadway in December, 1944 starring John Dall and Virginia Gilmore in the roles played by Holden and Caulfield in the film. It was released after the play’s run of 680 performances came to an end. Dear Ruth was so popular that two sequels were made: Dear Wife (with the same cast members) and Dear Brat (without William Holden). With its topical wartime humor, mild misunderstandings, and lighthearted laughs, Dear Ruth is a breezy comedy with a clever script and a first-rate ensemble cast. Even after nearly eighty years, the film continues to impress with its wit and colorful characters.
- Dennis Seuling