The Wrong Rut/Birthright

"Two ""birth of a baby"" exploitation pictures (though neither started out that way) are paired up on yet another double-feature DVD release from Something Weird Video. The Wrong Rut is a reissue title tacked onto Not Wanted (aka Streets of Sin), a sensitive and well-crafted drama (directed in part by an uncredited Ida Lupino), while Birthright was originally an educational film designed to encourage public health screening in the rural South. Both had childbirth footage added to them after the fact and played on the exploitation circuit for years following, and those are the versions included on this disc. Both movies have been transferred to disc in the full-frame aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and while neither print is anywhere near pristine, given their age and the amount of mileage the prints likely have on them, they look quite respectable, and the transfers themselves look sharp and strong. Both features are in English, and the monophonic audio has been mastered in Dolby Digital Stereo across two tracks; no subtitles or multiple language options have been included. Bonus materials on this disc include trailers for five ""sex hygiene"" features (including The Wrong Rut), two short subjects (Life Begins and Life and Its Secrecies), a pitch reel for the book The Art of Love (a paperback sex manual typical of the type sold at screenings of ""educational"" exploitation features), a gallery of art from similar books accompanied by an audio-only pitch used for play at drive-in engagements, and a radio interview with ""Mister E.J. Shaefer"" (a ""hygiene commentator"" promoting the film Slightly Damaged) accompanied by another slide show of exploitation graphics. Anyone interested in this little-explored side street of exploitation cinema will enjoy this typically overstuffed release from Something Weird, and both features are a cut above the usual standards for this genre."