A Rage To Live is a monochrome filmed drama from the mid-1960s- it follows Grace (Suzanne Pleshette) a young woman whose sexual compulsion is impacting her family. The film is well-acted, classily scoped, if decidedly tame (considering its theme) melodrama which focuses on obsession & trust. Here from Australia’s Imprint Films is a recent blu ray release of the film- featuring a new clean ‘n’ crisp scan, and a few extras.

A Rage To Live (aka John O'Hara's A Rage to Live) is a US production from the year 1965. As its alternative title suggests it was based on the 1949 novel of the same name that was written by John Henry O'Hara- who is credited as one of the American authors that helped make the short story form successful. It was directed by Milwaukee-born Walter Grauman- who is largely known for his US TV work, having nearing ninety credits between the 50s and 90s. Though he did have a few feature-length credits- taking in the likes of voodoo cult horror film The Disembodied (1957), RAF wartime drama 633 Squadron (1964), and wartime action film The Last Escape (1970).  A Rage To Live features some nicely scoped & set-up shots, though at points it does come off a little TV soap-like- which I’m guessing comes from the director's primal focus.

The film's lead character is dark-haired newspaper heiress Grace Caldwell. When we first meet her she is in the last years of high school- living with her 50-something widowed mother Emily (Carman Mathews) in a large townhouse. It becomes clear from the off that young Grace is very promiscuous- sleeping with multiple men, and we see her getting caught just about to get it on with a fellow male student- with his parent's discovery the two in the dark, then the fiery Grace snapping back at the boy's mother. Emily has heart issues, and of course, Grace's behaviour is not helping things- and one day she collapses and is told to take things easy. The mother & daughter go on a relaxing tropical holiday, with Grace swearing she changed her ways, but when her mother is asleep she sneaks outside to get it on with a hotel waiter.

As time moves on, and Grace leaves her school she catches the eye of rich family friend Sidney (Bradford Dillman)- who is a true gent standing up for her honour, and in time the pair fall in love. She tells Sidney about her past promiscuity and ensures him that all is changed now. The pair wed, have a child, and move into a farm/ small holding. Her life seems to be finally back on an even keel, with her setting nicely to the local middle to up class society. But brashly masculine local contractor Roger Bannon (Ben Gazzara) has his eye on Grace.

The film's opening credits play in a rather oddly twee manner, with shifting shots of waterways, forests, and quaint houses- all topped with lushly flamboyant piano soundtracking, which rather brought to mind the likes of Liberace.  Not sure why these credits were chosen, as none of the locations seem to relate to the story, and the music feels very out place with the story’s themes. With one really expecting something like Peyton Place- and yes, there is some soap-ness present in the film's make-up, but thankful these never run too deep- with the film being a largely compelling drama.

Acting wise Pleshette is effective as lead Grace- who really does seem to be trying to change her ways. Dillman works well as the charming gent farmer, with him later on getting a chance to show more emotional fire with his performance.  But I’d say the most memorable performance here comes from Gazzara, who begins as charming & helpful, shifting to a man obsessed and pushed to the edge. The film runs at just over the one hour & forty-minute mark- and I’d say it would probably have played better if around fifteen minutes were removed from the runtime- as there did feel like a few overlong scenes/overdone points made. On the whole, A Rage To Live felt mostly like it was from the 50s, and not the 60’s- the flesh & sexual content is very reserved, and the general tone/ look of the film feels of the decade before it was filmed.

This new Blu-Ray features a 4K scan of the film, and the black & white stock is wonderfully crisp, clean & very well defined. On the extras side we two new things- Author Neil Sinyard on the career of  Suzanne Pleshette(21.49) which finds the always excellent Mr Sinyard giving an in-depth & thoughtful look at Ms Pleshette's career, talking about notable supporting parts in various films such as The Birds. We find out A Rage To Live was her one and only lead role in film, though she went on the larger more celebrated roles for example she played Bob Newhart’s wife in The Bob Newhart show. A Well worth a play featurette.  Next, we have Paralyzed Segments: Suzanne Pleshette Tangled Up In Code (16.58) this is a video essay from historian/ filmmaker Daniel Kremer, he starts off by discussing why there is a fake film poster featuring Ms Pleshette in Quentin Tarantino’s Once A Time In Hollywood, moving onto discuss the actress career in general.

A Rage To Live is well acted and skilfully filmed drama- sure the soapier touches may put off some, but Grace’s story is compelling enough, and things do resolve in a relatively clever/unexpected twist. The presentation from Imprint Films is nicely done- with blu ray coming in a glossy slip, a nice clean ‘n’ crisp picture, and worthy extras.