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Rating:  -
The Ruling Class achieves something that is almost completely unheard of in film comedy. It hits the ground running with an unforgettable cameo by the great Harry Andrews and almost never loses its kinetic pace for 2 1/2 hours. Peter O'Toole is best remembered as Lawrence Of Arabia and by later generations as the eccentric dandy in My Favorite Year & Creator. But in this gem of a "Only in the 70's" satirical comedy O'Toole gives what will probably rank as his best film performance. It is certainly the best script he has ever had to work with in his brilliant, if erratic, film career.
A star turn in every sense of the word, O'Toole is beatific, haughty, a song and dance man, warm, wise, petulant, frightened and VERY terrifying in his incarnation as Jack The Ripper. He is positively electric in the same way that the 1950-1954 era Brando was. Except that what is so marvelous about O'Toole here is his focus and articulate nature. When he's on top of his game, O'Toole comes across as the most intelligent and the most gloriously insane actor ever caught on film. Whether delivering a long speech or tossing off a one-liner, O'Toole makes Barnes' great words beautiful to hear.
And what a supporting cast! Alastair Sim was at the end of a magnificent career and this gave the actor a truly great send off as a bumbling, didactic Bishop. The scene where he feebly attempts to preside over O'Toole's nuptials is perhaps the most hilarious moment ever captured on film. Coral Browne and a host of great British character actors round out the flawless ensemble. And steering the ship with a steady hand is the underrated Peter Medak. Much like how Spike Jonze brought a dark, melancholy reality to Being John Malkovich, Medak deserves credit for maintaining a consistent reality to ground us in the world of these insane characters and circumstances.
The Ruling Class is almost peerless among screen comedies. Only the best of Buster Keaton, the Marx Bros. WC Fields, Bringing Up Baby, The Philadelphia Story and top-flight Preston Sturges can stand toe-to-toe with it. It was once noted that all great comedies are either very intelligent or incredibly low brow. The Ruling Class, along with those other giants of screen comedy, succeed in achieving both and make it look effortless.
Rating: -
Only the Brits seem to be able to spoof their classist divisions with such style and irony. Peter O'Toole is the manic depressive son of an Earl whose untimely death promotes Jack (O'Toole) to center stage. The family, concerned with appearances and control, are at wits end, and so devise a plan to dupe Jack - who thinks he's God, BTW, into marrying his uncle's mistress so an heir can be produced who is suitably malleable to the family's machinations. The family is divided, and a race to get Jack "well" before the heir is born results in Jack's metamorphosis to Jack the Ripper...which in true ironic flair - is far more acceptable in their high society than Jack the loving God. Many layers of humor, a thinking person's comedy.
Rating: -
At long last the outrageous 1972 British farce, "The Ruling Class" has arrived on DVD in all its demented glory - and I do mean ALL as it includes an additional 13 minutes of footage to the "uncut" version released in 1983, making this a true "director's cut" running the complete 154 minutes. Director Peter Medak even supervised this restoration, and the entire Criterion Collection package provides enough extras (including Medak's 16mm "home movies" shot during the filming) for hours of viewing enjoyment. Play the brief trailer first (for comparison's sake) and you will see just how impressive this remastering is with strikingly deep color saturation and crisply upgraded monaural sound.
But even this glorious widescreen presentation can hardly contain the quirky antics and surreal goings-on that parade before your eyes and ears. Medak has directed this potentially unwieldy material by aiming to get the biggest laughs out of even the most trifling bits of humor, be they visual or verbal, front-stage or in the background. And he keeps the pace so frenetic you won't be bored for a minute.
Brooding more deeply than he did in "Lawrence of Arabia", shouting louder than he did in "The Lion in Winter", Peter O'Toole plays the 14th Earl of Gurney, a royal heir considered "bonkers" by his relatives, who is right at home as Jesus Christ sprawled over a giant cross, or as Jack the Ripper brandishing a switchblade. At one point, as the latter, he leads the cast in a rambunctious vaudeville version of "Dem Bones", one of several bizarre and hilarious musical interludes (including a striptease!) that crop up thoughout the film. The supporting cast includes such high profile names as Alistair Sim, Nigel Green, Coral Browne and Harry Andrews; but, as with most British films, even the smallest role is cast to perfection.
This is one DVD that will definitely not collect dust on your shelf. You'll be pulling it down to show friends, or just to watch your favorite scenes when you need a good belly laugh.
As the 14th Earl asks early on, "Is everybody HAPPY?" Yes, indeed we are. And thank you again Criterion!
Rating:  -
this one also includes, "tutus", "step-stools" and a "noose". Well, it did take me a few years to figure out the hilarious opening sequence with Harry Andrews!
This blistering black satire of manners, expertly directed by Peter Medak has no peer. It rustles nary a kilt and wrinkles many a Bond Street creation. We just don't find these gems today, and more good fortune, this version on VHS is complete! Now a future DVD release would be sublime.
You'll relish every eccentric moment with the Great O'Toole, as tempted Christ with a twist. There's also the venom-voiced Coral Browne in one of her most memorable "brittle" performances and the ultra-eccentric Alastair Sim as the befuddled Bishop. Most of these actors are no longer with us, but their cultural contributions fortunately remain intact.
FOUR STAR entertainment for the novice, and inspiration for the actor - whether aspiring or established.
Anything by Terry Gilliam ["Brazil" etc.] provides apt companions.
Rating: -
While the reviews are accurate, I think more can be said about the subtleties in this film. Some have said O'Toole's great and others thought shabby. I agree with both, and I think the film is stronger for it. Many have said the beginning is dry, but some would say the same for the beginnings of the four gospels, or Kazantzakis' "Last Temptation Of Christ" (but this is a narrative device). I'm not going to quote from the review I've written for this film. But I will discuss one aspect of my argument for those who are interested in buying the film and for those who've seen it and didn't like it. The O'Toole (character) doesn't simply believe he's christ, but I would argue, he's really his double. Shortly after his arrival on the scene, he reveals the "new dispensation" which--while not opposed to christ--is beside christ and his "old dispensation": "the old dispensation according to mark... redeemed the soul," but satan found something new to exploit ("the love of self"), "the new dispensation gives it [that redemption] to the body as well..." This new christ, I wouldn't deny the O'Toole character as being anything other than a new christ is going through those very transformations of the old christ (temptation, skepticism, trial, crucifixion, resurrection, and according to some, marriage, sex, and so on). The repetition is the same but with a difference, for instance, the redemption of the body... is this not a postmodern theme (Foucault wrote "the order of things" in 1966 published in english in 1970 Peter Barns published "the ruling class" in 69, to give you a sense of the milieu)? This is why J.C. (designating the O'Toole character) keeps on saying, "have sex," and so on. But isn't he a paranoid schizophrenic (the doctor Herder's (sic) analysis)? And isn't he a bourgeois (Tucker's analysis)? And isn't he a lord (his uncles analysis?)? And isn't he artistic (his aunt's analysis)? Perhaps he is all or one of these. This depends on how you read films and where you draw the lines on the credulity of interpretations. For sure he exhibits the symptoms of schizophrenia (but isn't this part of the postmodern condition?). For sure he exhibits the position of the (modern, avant-garde: e.g. Breton) upper class. There's a certain level where he is all of these and none of these. His character is precisely the play of these different selves and revealing precisely the plasticity of the self. In our epoch we don't only have the multiplication of christ figures (Freud, Marx, Nietzsche, etc.) we also have the power to be or identify ourselves-without the aid of any "grade-A Galilee miracles"-with christ (hegel would have loved it). Or perhaps it's our epoch that we will no longer allow the possibility of another christ, either we turn them into madmen, murderers, geniuses, and so on. Those of you who have the movie and those of you who'll buy it, watch it a few times, or research the harangues (or preaches, or poems, which so ever you please) he gives and you'll realize that either he is a christ, a madman, a murderer, or a genius, a poet, a pilot, or a lord. All and none of these... Precisely, a god. (I find I cannot resign myself to choosing one). (I love the scene where he's in the attic taking off the masks and re-defines his identity to the god of the old testament as well as jack the ripper). For instance, at his third crucifixion (for every time he puts his glasses on I designate a crucifixion) he says something like "don't forget that I'm not only the father, the sun, and the holy spirit, but also LLB, DFC, and ADC..." now these could be the ravings of a lunatic (and they are on one level), but he could be (in an American dictionary) a bachelor of law, member of the Distinguished Flying Cross, and Air Defense Command or Aide-de-camp or Aid to Dependant Children, or again the rants of a lunatic, a murderer, a king, a poet, or a genius. I leave it up to you to decide or not.
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