Ruggles of Red Gap |
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| Name of Work | Ruggles of Red Gap | ||||||
| Production Date | 1935 | ||||||
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| Media Types | film | ||||||
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Description
Comedy (that also has elements of a Drama) about a personal valet, who in arriving in America in the late 19th century, comes slowly to realize that he can think of himself as a person, and not a servant. Laughton plays the valet, whose family have been servants of a family of the aristocracy for generations. He is "lost" in a poker game by his bumbling British lord, to a wealthy West Coast American family. The Americans are still uncouth, except for the social-climbing wife of the butler's 'winner'. The clash between the genteel ways of British society and the rough and tumble ways of the Americans are plumbed for comedic effect; but the movie also shows the fundamental differences between the character of people who have grown and prospered through their own efforts, and the effete ways of a landed aristocracy.
Theme
Personal declaration of independence from servitude
Emotional Sum or Sense-of-life
Happiness and fulfillment is in yourself.
Context Information
Tags
butler, Declaration of Independence, freedom, independent living, poker
