mike48128 A "fish out of water" 1930's comedy with Charles Laughton as an English Butler "won" in a poker game and brought to America against his will. A great supporting cast with the personas of Zazu Pits, Charles Ruggles and many others. It is set in 1908 in a "rural town" just coming out of the "frontier". No decent restaurant with "grub" at the saloon, so the displaced butler starts one. ( I am surprised that a local hotel or boarding house doesn't serve decent food?) "The Gettysburg Address" is recited as well! It reminds me of the Brit sit-com "Keeping Up Appearances" as a most "common" lady tries to put-on social "airs". Well-directed by the man who brought us "Going My Way" and other more classical tales. Most engaging with only a little "slapstick" at the very end. Made 4 times on film and the basic concept "recycled" numerous times in other movies and TV shows. Quite enjoyable, but I don't feel the need to own it.

classicsoncall Charles Laughton is priceless as the title character, Ruggles of Red Gap, a transplanted manservant who's 'won' in a card game and brought to America by Egbert Floud (Charles Ruggles) and his ineffectively overbearing wife Effie (Mary Boland). Laughton has the perfectly stunned look of a person out of his element in the first half of the film, though he gradually comes around to embrace the American spirit of individuality and equality, a theme regularly reinforced throughout the story. That theme reaches it's climax when Marmaduke Ruggles recites Lincoln's Gettysburg Address to a saloon crowd that's held in awe by this British import who they all mistakenly take for an elite former member of the Coldstream Guard.Punctuated by witty dialog and a cast of colorful characters, the movie is simply a delight, a somewhat unusual treat deriving from the early days of talky movies. Personally, I would have appreciated a bit more screen time by the likes of Ma Pettingill (Maude Eburne) and the very attractive Leila Hyams as singer Nell Kenner, who's eventually won over by the Earl of Burnstead (Roland Young), the bumbling aristocrat who 'lost' Ruggles in the first place.Though it's mostly Laughton's picture, the energy that drives it forward comes primarily from actor Charles Ruggles, who defies all the stuffy convention of his society aspiring wife. The back story of their getting hooked up to begin with would have made an interesting tale, as opposites attracting seems a far cry for this couple to have invented. Egbert's raucous approach to having a good time in the company of friends and fellow travelers proves the perfect counterpoint to Marmaduke Ruggles' original stilted view of his station in life, one which he eventually comes to terms with by answering the question - "Am I someone or am I not?"

kurosawakira Leo McCarey's "Ruggles of Red Gap" (1935) is a fantastic comedy that has an expertly conceived, slowly unfolding narrative built above all things on the strength of the whole cast.The film largely revolves around the notion of opposites: overstated in gesture, understated in gesture; extrovert, introvert; brotherly intimacy, respectful distance. Laughton and Young abide always in the latter, Charles Ruggles (playing Egbert) and the rest of the Americans inhabit the former. All of these traits of characterization are then blown out of proportion, and both the comedy and underlying humanity is activated when these two extremes are first juxtaposed and then merged into one another: Ruggles' (not Charles but Laughton's character) drunkenness, the Earl's fascination with playing drums, and then the seminal moment toward the end where he quotes Lincoln. While it is Ruggles who's whipsawed by this cultural counterpoint the most, my favourite moments still go to the Earl, beautifully understated, and to Egbert, who is kindness and well-intentioned independence embodied.But this is so much more than just stereotype-floundered, exploitative farce. There's great humanity all around, and this balance is able to produce strong emotional responsiveness and identification either way – be it Egbert meeting his friend on the street in Europe, or Ruggles or the Earl refusing to open their social space. The characters are revealed as human and humane. Perhaps the payoff in the end rubs it a bit too much on my nose, but on the other and it's completely justified in the context of the film.

kidboots Harry Leon Wilson's 1915 novel about a British "gentleman's gentleman" adjusting to life in America's Wild West proved a popular subject for films. Edward Everett Horton played him in 1923 but, once again, Charles Laughton made the role his own in the definitive 1935 version. Laughton was ideally cast as Marmaduke Ruggles, the valet of scatterbrained Britisher George Vane Bassingwell (Roland Young), who is won in a poker game by George's nouveau-riche American cousin Egbert Fround (Charles Ruggles). This is just the most hilarious movie, Laughton's calm and very human characterization is in sharp contrast to his usual sinister and exotic roles.Fround and his wife, Effie (Mary Boland) are doing the "Grand Tour" and Effie hopes that Ruggles will use his influence to give Fround a touch of class (Fround wears check suits, plaid suits, refuses to have his "handle bar" moustache trimmed and prefers to frequent cafes and beer halls rather than museums and art galleries). But Fround starts to introduce Marmaduke as the Colonel and by the time they reach Red Gap - he is a celebrity!!! Before they leave Paris there is a brilliant scene where Fround and his friend proceed to get Ruggles drunk - Laughton is a scream, he instantly loses his stiff upper lip, screams "Yahoo", gets falling down drunk and even flirts with Effie!!! Once in Red Gap he meets the villain of the piece (Lucien Littlefield - you instantly know he's the villain as he quickly orders Ruggles to deal with the luggage)!!! But he also meets friends who don't care whether he's plain Ruggles or the Colonel but like him for who he is, especially Zasu Pitts as the widow Mrs. Judson, who helps him achieve his dream of opening an Anglo American restaurant. Ruggles has the distinction of introducing "scones" to the Wild West. There is such a fine roster of character actors - apart from all those mentioned there is the wonderful Maude Eburne as Egbert's mother, a cross between Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane ("don't call me Madam around here")!! But it is Laughton's very low key yet very laugh out loud portrayal of Ruggle's gradual emancipation from formal servant to master of his own destiny that dominates this absolutely brilliant film. It is also nice to see Leila Hyams in the small but telling role of the beautiful Nell Kenner, whose parties are where all the gentlemen of the town want to be!!!