SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to of the 1%

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

SusanJL This movie is such a hoot!!! It was very entertaining, and some scenes were LOL funny. Well worth watching!!

evanston_dad In a premise that sounds like it could have been used for the sitcom within a sitcom that Jerry and George develop for NBC in "Seinfeld," Charles Laughton plays a butler who journeys back to America with a touring couple when his master, played with a hilarious mumble by Roland Young, loses him in a game of poker. In America, Laughton gets a taste of what it's like when all men are created equal and nobody recognizes the difference between a servant and those whom he serves. It all breezes by in a quick and funny 90 minutes.Of course a modern-day audience realizes that the America as depicted in this film is a myth. People in America aren't treated equally and never have been, and we have our own version of a class system even if we don't call it that. But the film does nail the gregariousness and friendliness of Americans as compared to the reserve of Europe, and it feels right that most of the the Americans in the film couldn't care less that Laughton is a butler as long as he's willing to them for a good time.Laughton gets to showcase his range as an actor, even his abilities at screwball comedy. But he's outshone by the ing cast around him, notably Charlie Ruggles and Maude Eburne in addition to the already mentioned Young. The funniest scene in the movie, in fact, belongs not to Laughton, but to Young when he's trying to learn how to play the drums."Ruggles of Red Gap" was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar in 1935 when the Academy allowed a whopping 12 films to compete for the top prize.Grade: A

vincentlynch-moonoi I'm probably petty, but I find it difficult to enjoy films that star actors or actresses I really think I would intensely dislike. A good example of this is Charles Laughton. He's creepy. BUT...every once in a while a film of his will play on TCM and I will be transfixed by his performances -- "This Land Is Mine" and "The Paradine Case" being two examples. Now I must add another -- "Ruggles Of Red Gap". What a gem of a film, and what a gem of a performance by Laughton.This is a particularly good film for 3 reasons. First, a top-notch story. Second, a top-notch cast. Third, because it has as its underlying purpose a kudo to American democracy and individual freedom.In regard to the story, it's more than it might appear at first glance. First there's two very different characters -- a British manservant and an American cowboy-type, who each have to adjust to each other. You might say Bob Hope did that in one of his films. Yes, but there it was one man adjusting. Here, both very different men are adjusting to each other and to different worlds. And then it settles down into will a Brit be accepted in the American West? In regard to the cast, as already mentioned, Charles Laughton is magnificent here, and a semi-comedy is so much different for him. This is also an excellent part for Charles Ruggles; we often see him as sort of a mix between an uncouth cowboy and a man of some standing...not the sort of natty character he often portrayed. Mary Boland as his uppity wife did well, although her character is annoying. It was a pleasure to see the offbeat ZaSu Pitts in a bigger role than unusual, and as a love interest! Roland Young as a Brit...well, I never understood the attraction to him as an actor...and I still don't.In regard to the patriotic aspect of this story, there was a time when unbridled patriotism was something to be proud of it. And here a "foreigner" finds acceptance simply because he is what he is, not because of who he is. He is fascinated with Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, and spellbinds the patrons of a saloon by reciting it. And after all is said and done, the Brit becomes a jolly good fellow to the semi-cowboys of the town.It's difficult to find much to criticize here. But a lot to like. Highly recommended.

Neil Doyle CHARLES LAUGHTON plays a staid British butler who is brought to western U.S.A. (which he imagines is still highly uncivilized), to act as a valet for the incorrigible hick CHARLIE RUGGLES. Indeed, Laughton is so subdued for most of his role that it's Ruggles who manages to steal their scenes together with his "Yahoos" and broadly comic playing.MARY BOLAND, as Charlie Ruggles' pretentious wife, matches him for broad comedy style while the other ing performances are a bit more realistic. But Laughton's butler commands the spotlight in a quiet, more restrained way than usual. His expressions have endless variety and there's a gleam in his eyes when he's amused. Director Leo McCarey allows for one highly sentimental moment--which seems to be a staple of any Leo McCarey film. This time, it's Laughton reciting The Gettysburg Address in a saloon, where he captures the intense concentration of all the noisy patrons the moment he begins to recite Lincoln's address.Actually, it's a highly implausible moment but McCarey prepares the viewer for it by making it clear that everyone else in the saloon has forgotten whatever it was that Lincoln said. Still, it seems too stylized and dramatic a moment to mesh with the rest of the story, but it's meant to establish that Laughton gets what the great statesmen meant about all men being created equal.ZASU PITTS is charming and fluttery as a servant who attracts Laughton's attention and to whom he lends some culinary advice.The script lags here and there while telling a rather rambling tale about the exploits of these people, but the performances are all first rate and command the attention throughout.