Let Ruth sleep.

Each Child Is Different 1954 15 minutes by McGRAW HILL TEXT FILMS

This film was made for teachers as a reminder that learning disabilities and less-than-ideal home environments can affect students' performance and behavior. While this film was supposed to foster compassion for these children, some scenarios are so troubling and over dramatic that they could invoke a teacher's pity, thus allowing troubled students to pass onto the next grade without learning anything.

Ruth's childhood world is horrible. Neighborhood children smile and play in the sunshine as her grief and pain poison her psyche. She is the captive monster and the children's smiles are the flaming torches that torment.
They will pay... as soon as she breaks her chains and escapes the dungeon that is her life.

They will pay.

While the last post contained nothing but mind numbing fodder for baby boomers, this post is here for a specific reason. There is a sequence in this film that is so powerful that it rivals anything in contemporary cinema. The sequence where Ruth sees her peers playing. It is so cruel if taken seriously as it is meant to be and yet... so painful... my only reaction was to laugh her pain away.

Witness childhood pain in glorious black and white here mp4

or streaming