.jeri.

Ryan chose Ruggles of Red Gap as his pick for movie night a month ago. As the story unfolded, I realized I had seen a very loose adaptation of this story several times when I was a kid. It was called Fancy Pants, starring Bob Hope and Lucille Ball. That version takes the entire situation to the extreme, while this one stays subtle and grounded.

It stars Charles Laughton as Ruggles, a British valet whose boss (Roland Young) loses him in a poker game to an uncouth American who takes Ruggles back to his hometown of Red Gap in Washington, 1908. There, Ruggles' new boss introduces him jokingly as Colonel Ruggles, and the townspeople mistake him for an important person rather than a valet. Ruggles struggles (yes!) to let go of protocol, but as he gets a taste of being treated like an individual instead of a tool, his funny personality starts to emerge.

Laughton as Ruggles, Young as his former employer, and Charles Ruggles as his new employer are a trio worth watching. Laughton relies on quiet facial expressions and random surprise moments of emotional/physical comedy. Young's mumbling is classic as always, and his presence always makes a movie better. The star of the show (especially for Ric) was Charles Ruggles as Egbert Floud, the hick who refuses to conform to what his wife would like him to be. She buys him new suits and he has them destroyed. She gets him a valet, he treats him like a pal. His antics are very funny throughout the entire movie.

As the movie moves towards its end, one can see that the story is more than just a comedy - it's about the American dream of freedom, which is what Ruggles seeks. There's a great (although a little abrupt) scene in which he recites Lincoln's Gettysburg address, and later he tries to open his own business. I liked this extra layer to the movie, which would have been a good movie even without trying to make a point.

It's an instant classic in my book, and one I'm surprised I never saw as a kid. Great choice, Ryan!