- Actors: Peter O'Toole, Alastair Sim, Arthur Lowe, Harry Andrews, Coral Browne
- Directors: Peter Medak
- Writers: Peter Barnes
- Producers: David Korda, Jack Hawkins, Jules Buck
- Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Colour, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
- Language English
- Subtitles: English
- Region: Region 1 (US and Canada DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - 1.78:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: 18
- Studio: Criterion
- DVD Release Date: 30 Oct 2001
- Run Time: 154 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00005O3V8
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 72,774 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
67 of 69 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I agree with the previous reviewer, this DVD is a travesty of one of the funniest films ever made.
Most of the cuts are not critical to the plot development - they just cut some of the funniest scenes in the movie.
If my memory serves me well, the following scenes have been removed:
1. The marquee scene after the wedding
2. The scene in the mental asylum where Peter O'Toole is placed in a room with a bunch of violent psycopaths
3. The scene with the fox urinating after outwitting the hunt
4. William Mervyn's hillarious line after finding his murdered wife's body
And worst of all:
5. The duel between Michael Bryant and Peter O'Toole where the psychiatrist comes to realise that the man he thought he had cured is, in fact, a murderer. This makes the scene near the end of the film where Michael Bryant ends up in his own institution unintelligible.
This movie was all but destroyed on its release by distributors who objected to its length. With DVDs like this nobody is ever going to realise just how good it was. Pete O'Toole is quoted as saying it was the best film he ever made but nobody would ever know from this cut.
Most of the cuts are not critical to the plot development - they just cut some of the funniest scenes in the movie.
If my memory serves me well, the following scenes have been removed:
1. The marquee scene after the wedding
2. The scene in the mental asylum where Peter O'Toole is placed in a room with a bunch of violent psycopaths
3. The scene with the fox urinating after outwitting the hunt
4. William Mervyn's hillarious line after finding his murdered wife's body
And worst of all:
5. The duel between Michael Bryant and Peter O'Toole where the psychiatrist comes to realise that the man he thought he had cured is, in fact, a murderer. This makes the scene near the end of the film where Michael Bryant ends up in his own institution unintelligible.
This movie was all but destroyed on its release by distributors who objected to its length. With DVDs like this nobody is ever going to realise just how good it was. Pete O'Toole is quoted as saying it was the best film he ever made but nobody would ever know from this cut.
102 of 106 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Beware this edition of The Ruling Class, the classic crazy 1972 film. For starters the cover doesn't even have the correct title - it just says "Ruling Class". On watching, you'll find it's not widescreen, which it should be. And worst of all there are 25 minutes of footage missing from the film, making a complete mockery of it. I'm now off to try and exchange this for a proper edition.
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I absolutely agree with the previous 2 reviews. The running time of this movie should be 154 minutes, not the heavily edited 123 minute version we have here. The picture quality is poor and "noisy" and no attempt has been made to restore it. The audio quality is appalling!!! As stated previously this is pan & scan not widescreen - WHY? Also, the cover gives the running time as 154 minutes, which leads potential buyers into thinking this is the full movie. Thats just downright dishonest. Buy the Region 1 Criterion version. OK it's expensive, but it is the definitive version of this great movie. All in all, a shameful exploitation and a complete travesty. Peter O'Toole's performance deserves much better. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Three versions on offer...
Timeless masterpiece? Well no, it's clearly "of its time" and often looks and sounds rather dated nowadays. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mersul
Rule Britannia!
Stunningly funny, excellent cast, frightfully serious and sometimes 'too' close to reality..
Ex-centric in the very sense of the meaning of the word. Read more
Ex-centric in the very sense of the meaning of the word. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Dr. Peter Philipp Andrassy-Földeaky
Frustratingly poor version of an important play
This 1972 film is based on Peter Barnes's first play, a baroque satire using a heightened rhetorical language and non-naturalistic approach. Read more
Published on 10 Jan 2010 by Peter Scott-presland
A classic black comedy
I loved this movie. It has the pace of an early 70's piece with an amazing performance by Peter O'Toole. A very hard hitting look at the idiocies of the English power structure.
Published on 30 Jan 2009 by A. C. Phipps
BAD REVIEWS DON'T RELATE TO THIS RELEASE
The bad reviews on this page relate to the Momentum release and NOT the Criterion Release (Black cover with close-up of O'Toole). Read more
Published on 9 Jan 2009 by B. Nicholson
Great British gem - much under-rated
Come on guys - don't knock this film so much. Yes, its dated, poor sound quality, a bit overlong but also totally eccentric and in many ways a classic. Read more
Published on 18 Sep 2007 by Mike
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