This must be Charles Laughton\u2019s most unusual role.\u00a0 As the eponymous Marmaduke Ruggles, he is a gentleman\u2019s gentleman in the employ of the Earl of Burnstead, (played by Roland Young) until his lordship loses Ruggles in a poker game with American cowboy millionaire Egbert Floud played by Charlie Ruggles (there\u2019s that name again).\u00a0 Egbert\u2019s wife Effie (played by Mary Boland) is attempting to give Egbert and by extension, Red Gap, \u201ctone.\u201d\u00a0 And her ace in the hole is Ruggles by whose knowledge of etiquette and propriety she hopes to reform Egbert and instill snobbish manners in the Old West town.\u00a0 And with Effie\u2019s annoying brother-in-law Charles Belknap-Jackson (played by Lucien Littlefield) as the villain and ZaSu Pitts as Ruggles\u2019 love interest the movie is an absurd farce.<\/p>\n
The plot of the movie, such as it is, revolves around Ruggles becoming an American.\u00a0 The movie gets endless mileage out of the contrast between Ruggles\u2019 proper English manners and the rough and ready ways of the residents of Red Gap.\u00a0 But the movie is really a panegyric to normal good-hearted people regardless of their stripe or fortune.<\/p>\n
I realize this sounds like a whole lot of nothing.\u00a0 But the movie has great good humor and human warmth.\u00a0 And any movie that has Lucien Littlefield getting kicked in the pants can\u2019t be all bad.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m guessing that opinions on this movie will vary greatly.\u00a0 All I can say is that it\u2019s one of my favorite comedies.\u00a0 Others will have to take their chances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This must be Charles Laughton\u2019s most unusual role.\u00a0 As the eponymous Marmaduke Ruggles, he is a gentleman\u2019s gentleman in the employ of the Earl of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[239,238,237],"tags":[756,3452,3454,3453,43,38,1355,718],"class_list":["post-16960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","category-classic-movie-reviews","category-reviews","tag-charles-laughton","tag-charlie-ruggles","tag-lucien-littlefield","tag-mary-boland","tag-movie-review","tag-review","tag-reviews","tag-roland-young"],"yoast_head":"\n