Top 100: The Ruling Class (Peter Medak, 1972)
"I stand outside myself, watching myself, watching myself, and I smile, I smile, I smile"
Writer Peter Barnes' searing satire (adapting his own play), ruthlessly savages the English class system, with specific focus on the white aristocratic ruling upper classes.
Ralph Gurney, the13th Earl of Gurney, accidentally kills himself whilst enjoying a rather odd dose of asphyxiation. The heir to the Gurney estate is Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney (Peter O'Toole, in one of his most intense roles), who is suffering from an identity crisis: He believes he is Jesus Christ.
In order to claim the estate and his seat in the house of Lords, Jack must be pronounced sane, meaning all christ-like machinations must cease. The rest of the Gurney family however, want him proclaired insane, so they can get their greedy mitts on the estate.
This toing and froing culminates in a scene where Jack is confrinted by McKay "the electric christ", who believes himself to be "God: The one". After this experiment ("experiment 15", which is a good name for a band), Jack appears to be sane again... but did the experiment actually work?
The electric messiah was played by Nigel Green, whose voice was dubbed by fellow actor Graham Crowden. Sadly, Green committed suicide soon after production finished.
Barnes' play and indeed screenplay focuses on the upper classes views on England. The great, traditional England, where foriegners are not welcome, the lower classes are lazy and should work harder, and capital punishment should be brought back, to "bring the fear back" into society.
Medak's direction is textbook. He basically sits the camera down and simply films the ensuing chaos. And oh what beautiful chaos! And what an incredible cast! O'Toole is my all time favourite of all time, and this is one of his best performances... filmed as his drinking was in full flow. He is magnificent in this. William Mervyn is also magnificent as the kniving, bigoted Sir Charles Gurney, and Coral Browne is spot-on as his randy wife Lady Claire. James Villiers is, well, James Villiers, as the posh, frightfully dim Dinsdale Gurney. Arthur Lowe is on top form as Tucker the butler who, after inheriting a large amount of money, drinks his way through the film. Screen legend Alastair Sim is almost too perfect as the local bishop... the scene where he marries Jack & Grace Shelley (played by the delicious Carolyn Seymour) is one of the funniest scenes I've ever witnessed!
The Ruling Class was partly shot on location utilising interiors & exterior shots of Harlaxton Manor in Lincolnshire, a very beautiful 1837 manor house..
A sprawling work of immense beauty, The Ruling Class is pretty much a perfect work of art. They certainly don't make them like this anymore. Oh, do try to avoid the abysmal 124minute version which appears around Europe. Criterion's North American DVD release is the full uncut 154m version. Those with slightly eccentric tastes will adore The Ruling Class... the biting savagery of Barnes' play still bites today.
