JOHN CAMERON – “THE RULING CLASS” soundtrack (1972)
Plot outline: Peter O’Toole is Jack, a man who is cured of his belief that he is God, only to turn into Jack the Ripper. The movie, an indictment of Britain’s class system, peers behind the closed doors of English aristocracy and deals with everything from sadistic sarcasm to insanity to black comedy… as well as a touch of the Hollywood musical.
This lengthy and willfully incoherent slab of weirdness features O’Toole doing a handful of vaudeville-type numbers, the highlight of which is “The Varsity Dragâ€. At times both whimsical and terrfying, due to what is a spot-on representation of the depravity of aristocracy, these songs are effective punctuation throughout the film. This vinyl rip of the LP, unfortunately, is not track-listed; it is only two tracks, a Side A and B. Glenn Erickson of DVD Talk sez:
“The Ruling Class” sneaked onto the scene as one of those off-the-wall things that hipsters said you had to see, even if they couldn’t explain it. (My two friends and I at a Westwood screening seemed to be the only people in the audience not smoking dope.) A combination of sophomoric sub-Monty Python jokes and bizarre Lewis Carroll-like speeches, this is basically a drawing-room comedy on acid.
It’s a black comedy, where people you don’t understand kill themselves and each other, where all the characters seem to be broad caricatures to be lampooned. It does its best to be offensive, with all manner of slights to the Church (not necessarily Christianity). The only thing like it is the more successful (and far less classifiable) ‘O Lucky Man’ from the same year. ‘The Ruling Class’ almost plays as an upscale Lindsay Anderson wanna-be, an idea underscored by the use of several favorites from the Anderson club (Lowe, Graham Crowden). Mixing variety hall comedy, Hollywood songs and semi- choreographed dance numbers, what’s obviously desired is a double assault on the senses and the funny bone.
There are laughs. Peter O’Toole’s manic delivery sells his gibberish lines in much the desperate but effective manner of ‘What’s New Pussycat?’. He’s very likeable as the lost-lamb Jesus, and terrifying as the bloodless-faced Jack of the final reel.
I’m a HUGE fan of your blog. Congrats. It’s rad. Do you think you could find a video site to upload the films to your soundtracks? Some of them are very obscure and I’d love to watch them. Have you heard of this one: http://img5.allocine.fr/acmedia/medias/nmedia/18/64/90/35/18812585.jpg
The film is really worthwhile, rather bizarre and playful. They don’t make stuff like it anymore. Thanks!
One of my favourite movies of all time. Thank you.