based his story on the Oscar-winning film Eskimo (1933), directed by W.S. van Dyke. Director Nicholas Ray wrote the screenplay for the movie of Ruesch's novel, Top of the World. It debuted in Europe under the name, Ombre bianche. In 1961, it was released in the United States as The Savage Innocents. Anthony Quinn starred as Inuk, an Inuit (formerly Eskimo), who has had little contact with white men. At a trading post, Inuk accidentally kills a missionary, who insulted him by refusing the traditional Inuit (sexual) hospitality of wife-sharing. Inuk is pursued by a Javert-like police trooper, Peter O'Toole, in his first movie role. Mr. O'Toole refused to be credited with this movie, because his voice was dubbed. This movie was nominated for the Golden Palm award at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival. Drawing on his experiences in European auto racing, Ruesch wrote the novel The Racer. It was released as the film The Racers (1955). Kirk Douglas starred as Gino Borgesa, a reckless Formula One driver, ensnared by speed, adrenaline, and a Hollywood 1950s romance. The movie was shot at several classic circuits, including Monaco, the Nürburgring, the Mille Miglia, and Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, with the climactic race at Reims-Gueux. Activism career Ruesch was internationally known as an outspoken advocate against vivisection and other forms of animal testing. An animal lover since his childhood, he became an activist against animal testing, while living in Rome. Ruesch did not believe that medical research could benefit by using such methods. Instead, Ruesch insisted that medicine was led dangerously astray by what he saw as pseudo-science, and a fatally false methodology. He argued that rabbits, mice, rats and other animals are not anatomically and physiologically similar to humans and drew upon numerous statements from doctors and researchers in support of his stance (see his work, 1,000 Doctors and More Against Vivisection). Therefore, such animal testing cannot reliably predict physiological reactions in humans. In 1974, he founded the Center for Scientific Information on Vivisection (CIVIS) and devoted the rest of his life to the abolition of vivisection. In the 1970s, Ruesch started writing exposés of the animal testing and research industry. He wrote the Slaughter of the Innocent (Bantam, 1978) and the Naked Empress, or The Great Medical Fraud, as well as publishing "The International Foundation Report Dedicated to the Abolition of Vivisection." Slaughter of the Innocent (Civitas Publications, 1983) is credited