5/5 A forgotten gem!
  by Jery Tillotson (new york city)
"The Road to Ruin" is a surprisingly glossy movie with excellent production values, photography, background, etc. It stars the long-forgotten Helen Foster who plays her role of the doomed virgin with a strange, flat squinty-eyed expression. The poor thing is led down the path of destruction and ends up dying--but you're never sure the cause. In the big climax, there's a midnight swimming party where everyone wears bathing suits. Yet, they're all arrested for having a "nude" swim.

The performer who really steals this movie, though, is Helen Foster's girl friend, the radiant Nell O'Day. She's the one with the sparkle and charisma who should have been the star of this long forgotten effort.

What's interesting is that while this movie so terribly bland and never shows anything remotely forbidden, the big studios were also turning out some delightfully risque movies that showed a hell of a lot more. There was the Barbara Stanwyck scorcher, "Baby Face," Clara Bow in the outrageous "Call Her Savage," and all those other scorchers that starred Constance Bennett, Kay Francis and helen Twelvetrees.

Still this movie is a fascinating antique that promises all these naughty themes--yet, is so safe and sanitized that a child could watch this and probably fall fast asleep.