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
as of 2010 not available in dvd format, only earlier formats of VHS and Laserdisc.
Tags
butler, Declaration of Independence, freedom, independent living, poker
