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 supporting 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.
MARY BOLAND, as Charlie Ruggles' pretentious wife, matches him for broad comedy style while the other supporting 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.