L'extravagant Mr Ruggles

"Ruggles of Red Gap" is the kind of comedy film that is rarely made by Hollywood anymore: a film with the emphasis on characterization without the cheap and obvious jokes of today's films. The plot is a good one. The services of a third-generation English Butler (Charles Laughton) are won in a poker game to an American couple (a very funny Charlie Ruggles and Mary Boland) who reside in Red Gap, Washington. Ruggles' former employer, Lord Burnstead (a fine Roland Young) reluctantly gives him up to the couple but assures him that he will come back for him as soon as possible. Once in America, however, Ruggles gets a newfound sense of freedom and after being inadvertantly fired by the uncouth American couple, decides to open up his own restaurant with the help of a widow (Zasu Pitts) who he has much affection for. The movie was nominated for Best Picture and the performances are outstanding, particularly Charles Laughton as the butler/servant who sees freedoms and opportunities in America that he never would have had if he remained in England. The standout scene in the movie is when Laughton is in a local Red Gap bar and someone mentions Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. When no one in the bar can seem to remember what Lincoln said, Laughton (the Englishman)recites the speech in its entirety with enough emotion and dramatic flair to bring tears to one's eyes. The underlying theme of the movie is basically about Anglo American relations and the common ground and friendship between both nations. This is a "must see" for anyone still interested in how great Hollywood was in its heyday, and particularly how wonderful and original the comedies were in that early and Golden Age of film-making.

Ruggles of Red Gap is the warm and tender story of Charles Laughton, gentlemen's gentlemen to Lord Roland Young who loses his services in a poker game to American western tourist Charlie Ruggles and his wife Mary Boland. Ruggles has some ideas about class distinction and one's proper place in society and he's in for quite a culture shock when he's brought back to the western town of Red Gap in Washington State.

In a way Ruggles of Red Gap is the polar opposite of The Earl of Chicago where an American gangster Robert Montgomery inherits an English title and experiences a reverse culture shock. In that film Montgomery has an English valet in Edmund Gwenn who indoctrinates him in reverse of what Laughton experiences. Of course things turn out a whole lot better for Marmaduke Ruggles than for the Earl of Kinmont.

In a way Ruggles of Red Gap may have been Charles Laughton's most personal film. In his life he became an American citizen because he preferred the American view of no titles of nobility and that one had better opportunities here than in Europe. It caused a certain amount of friction between Laughton and some other British players.

Laughton up to then had played a whole lot of bigger than life parts like Nero, Henry VIII, Captain Bligh, Edward Moulton Barrett, parts that called for a lot of swagger. Marmaduke Ruggles is a different kind of man. Self contained, shy, and unsure of himself in new surroundings. But Laughton pulls it off beautifully. It's almost Quasimodo without the grotesque make up. Also very much like the school teacher in This Land is Mine.

Charlie Ruggles and Mary Boland never fail to entertain, they worked beautifully together in a number of films in the early Thirties. They always were a married couple, Boland a very haughty woman with some exaggerated ideas of her own importance and her ever patient and somewhat henpecked husband Charlie. In Ruggles of Red Gap, Charlie Ruggles is a little less henpecked.

My guess is that Zasu Pitts played the role she did because Elsa Lanchester might have been busy elsewhere. I believe she was making the Bride of Frankenstein around this time. Pitts's scenes with Laughton resonate the same way as some of Charles Laughton's best work with his wife.

The highlight of Ruggles of Red Gap has always been Laughton's recital of The Gettysburg Address. In a scene in a saloon where none of the American born people can remember anything of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, Laughton the immigrant recited it from memory. It was a harbinger of some of Laughton's later recitals which I remember as a kid on the Ed Sullivan show. The scene is a tribute to all the immigrants who come here because of the ideals this country is supposed to represent. Sometimes our immigrants have taken it more seriously than those who were born here. Immigrants like Charles Laughton.

It's my favorite movie. I love it beyond all reason. I have it on VHS (need DVD NOW!) as well as a still reproduction of Charles Laughton in the title role. I named one of my cats Ruggles. In other words, my recommendation is high! That said, I don't want to oversell it. While it contains some admirable themes about throwing off tradition and becoming your own person, it's above all a charming character comedy distinguished by Leo McCarey's signature style of improvisatory naturalism (particularly in comparison to the usual run of mainstream fare). Jean Renoir's famous quote about McCarey being one of the few directors who understood human beings (or words to that effect) is made clear here.

While there's plenty of broad humor, my favorite scenes involve smaller, character-centered moments, such as the sly little courtship scene in which a piano-playing Leila Hyams coaches a smitten Roland Young as he attempts to accompany her on drums.

It's full of colorful characters, priceless dialogue and emotionally involving story arcs. Seek it out -- if you like it one-tenth as much as I do, you'll consider your time well spent.

Marmaduke Ruggles travels to Red Gap, Washington (circa 1908) after the Floud family wins him in a poker game. Ruggles, afraid he will not adjust to wild western life, has his fears come true. When he arrives in town, the citizens think he is a retired British Army officer, and Ruggles has to go on pretending to be something he is not. Originally believing that all he can ever be is a valet, he gets the idea of opening the town's first restaurant with the help of the widow Judson. However, the return of Ruggles' former employer (the Earl of Burnstead) may make Ruggles think of going back into servitude, making think of what Lincoln said is true about all men being equal. While what I wrote seems to play like a drama, don't be fooled it is quite a witty comedy with Laughton giving one of his most best (and surprisingly) best performances actually doing much of it with facial expressions & body language. Everyone else in the cast gives great stereotypical acting jobs, and the script gives plenty of chances for everyone, especially thanks to McCarey's lively direction. Best scene is obviously Ruggles reciting the Gettysburg address in the saloon, another driving point in the film's theme of all men being created equal. Rating, 9.

Charles Laughton was an incomparable actor (did anyone else ever go over the top as much as he did, yet still give brilliant performances?), and he's at the peak of his form in this classic. Laughton is just right as the staid butler who is won in a poker game by a couple from the Old West, circa 1908. Everyone is excellent--Mary Boland and Charlie Ruggles were one of the more popular screen couples of the day, and you'll see why--but it is Laughton who steals the film. His recitation of the Gettysburg Address is a demonstration of his mastery. It should fall flat, but it plays beautifully. See it.