THE RULING CLASS

Magill's Survey of Cinema, 15 Jun 1995.
(c) 1995 Magill's Survey of Cinema

Abstract:
In this highly controversial satire, Peter O'Toole plays Jack, 14th Earl of Gurney, who is released from a lunatic asylum when he inherits the family estate. Initially believing himself to be Jesus Christ, Jack later becomes convinced he is Jack the Ripper. His perplexed relatives and an unruffled butler (Arthur Lowe) stand by. Described by its star as "a comedy with tragic relief," the film is directed in a flamboyant, playful style by Peter Medak.

Summary:
One of the most outrageous, offensive, and magnificent film satires was unleashed upon the public in 1972, in THE RULING CLASS. The British feature merrily exposed the depravity of the English aristocracy, the hypocrisy of organized religion, and that heinous animal that is man. Flamboyantly directed by Peter Medak and starring Peter O'Toole, it became one of the most controversial films of the 1970's and one of the most wicked satires in cinema history.

The film opens to expose the favorite nocturnal perversity of the 13th Earl of Gurney (Harry Andrews). Relaxing after thundering a law-and-order speech in London, he returns to the bedroom of his magnificent estate; dons long underwear, a ballet tu-tu, and a three-cornered hat; puts his head in a silk noose; and swings about his bedroom. On this night, however, he tips over the ladder on which he usually alights and hangs himself. There is shock when Bishop Lampton (Alastair Sim) reads the will. To the Earl's brother Sir Charles (William Mervyn), Charles' spouse Lady Claire (Coral Browne), and their feebleminded son Dinsdale (James Villiers), he leaves nothing. Aside from thirty thousand pounds for the butler Tucker (Arthur Lowe) -- who promptly begins drinking and insulting the family -- the title and estate will pass entirely to the Earl's son Jack (Peter O'Toole), who has spent the past eight years in a lunatic asylum.

Jack arrives at the estate sporting a beard, flowing blonde hair, monk's robes, and tennis shoes. He is convinced that he is Jesus Christ. To the family's horror, Jack soon places a huge wooden cross in the living room upon which he habitually hangs. He also preaches love, rides a tricycle, claims he is wed to the Lady of the Camellias, and plans to give away the Gurney fortune.

Sir Charles takes action. Hoping to institutionalize Jack again after he has fathered a new heir, he schemes to wed Jack to his own mistress, socially ambitious Grace Shelley (Carolyn Seymour). When she first meets her proposed bridegroom, she is dressed as Camille and singing a selection from LA TRAVIATA. Grace soon falls in love with Jack, however, and informs him of Sir Charles' plot. Jack forgives her, rides his tricycle into her marriage boudoir, and impregnates her. On the night their son is born, psychiatrist Dr. Herder (Michael Bryant) brings to the estate McKyle (Nigel Green), a raving lunatic who believes he is the "Electric Christ." Claiming that the true God is a God of wrath for "strong stomachs," the "High Voltage Messiah" chews glass bottles, horrifies Jack with a terrible repertoire of electronic shocks, and traumatizes the heir until he no longer believes he is Jesus Christ.

Instead, Jack now believes he is Jack the Ripper. As the Ripper, he knifes Lady Claire and blames the murder on Tucker; drives Sir Charles, Dr. Herder, and Bishop Lampton to an asylum; takes a seat at the House of Lords, where he delivers a speech in praise of bigotry and vengeance that wins a standing ovation from his peers; and returns to the estate, where he promptly kills his loving wife Grace. The baby, obviously inheriting the family curse, cries out "I AM JACK!" as the film ends.

THE RULING CLASS was Britain's official entry at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival. United Artists secured rights for release in the United States, but when that corporation announced plans to edit extensively the 154-minute feature, the producers balked, and Avco Embassy obtained the rights. In the fall of 1972, THE RULING CLASS had its premiere in the United States (trimmed of only six minutes and rated "R") and created enormous controversy. NEWSWEEK condemned the film as "sledgehammer satire" and "odious," while VARIETY lauded it as "brilliantly caustic"; NEW YORK praised it as "fantastic fun," and the LOS ANGELES TIMES derided it as "... snail-slow, slag-heavy, shrill and gesticulating."

Indeed, THE RULING CLASS is more than satire; it is a celluloid nightmare, absurd, horrible, fascinating, and disturbing. Director Peter Medak crams the picture with riveting nonsense: a gorilla crashes through a window to tip his hat; O'Toole bursts into a duet of "My Blue Heaven" with Seymour or leads fox hunters in an evangelistic rendition of "Dem Bones." The film rampages from silly humor to repellant spectacle to true horror. Yet the film is saved from total distaste by the artistry of the cast: the beautifully "bitchy" Browne, who caustically portrays Lady Claire; Lowe as the ever unruffled Tucker; and Mervyn as the glowering Sir Charles. Sir Charles delivers the film's most outrageous line: finding the corpse of his slain wife on the floor, he looks into the camera and intones, "Very well. Who is the impudent clown responsible for this?" with the controlled wrath of a schoolmaster.

The most outstanding performance is O'Toole's. As "Jesus Christ," outfitted with a girlishly curly blonde wig, he is both divinely mad and poignantly heartbreaking; as Jack the Ripper, shorn of his locks and icily austere, he is a bloodthirsty, terrifying obscenity. TIME praised O'Toole's 14th Earl of Gurney as "a performance of such intensity that it may trouble sleep as surely as it will haunt memory -- funny, disturbing, finally devastating." For his incredible performance that was miraculously free of blasphemy and awesomely filled with bravado, O'Toole received his fifth Academy Best Actor nomination, but the 1972 Oscar went to Marlon Brando for his performance in THE GODFATHER.

THE RULING CLASS did not prove to be an exceptional box-office success. It employs a type of satire not to all moviegoers' liking. At times it demands audience attention in the manner that a snake enraptures a doomed bird, and its statement that a Jack the Ripper would be more assured of success in the contemporary world than would Jesus Christ is by no means a comfortable one. Yet for its excesses, the picture has more than its share of creativity, imagination, and flair. THE RULING CLASS remains an unforgettably chilling cinema lampoon, perhaps best described by O'Toole as "a comedy with tragic relief."


Release Date: 1972

Production Line:
Jules Buck and Jack Hawkins for Avco Embassy

Director: Peter Medak

Cinematographer: Ken Hodges

File Editor: Ray Lovejoy

MPAA Rating: PG

Run Time: 154 minutes

Cast:
Jack, 14th Earl of Gurney - Peter O'Toole
Bishop Lampton - Alastair Sim
Tucker - Arthur Lowe
13th Earl of Gurney - Harry Andrews
Lady Claire Gurney - Coral Browne
Dr. Herder - Michael Bryant
McKyle - Nigel Green
Sir Charles Gurney - William Mervyn
Grace Shelley - Carolyn Seymour
Dinsdale - James Villiers
Matthew Peake - Hugh Burden
Truscott - Graham Crowden
Mrs. Piggot-Jones - Kay Walsh
Mrs. Treadwell - Patsy Byrne

Review Sources:
New York Times: September 14, 1972, p. 56
Newsweek: September 25, 1972, p. 115
Time: September 18, 1972, p. 72
Variety: April 19, 1972, p. 18

Named persons in Production Credits:
Jules Buck
Jack Hawkins

Studios named in Production Credits:
Avco Embassy

Screenplay (Author):
Peter Barnes

Color



Video Available.
Genre:
Comedy

Award Citations:
Academy Awards - Nomination - Best Actor - Peter O'Toole