“Leo McCarey's brand of comedy is one built on spontaneity and improvisation; the very disdain for superficial polish and strait-jacketed technique in his style is what makes his films so remarkably undated today.... If Ruggles of Red Gap is McCarey's most unified comedy, it is because of the the fortuitous conjunction between the director's anarchic style and Charles Laughton's brilliantly disciplined ramrod performance.... The story concerns a British manservant who finds himself transported to the Wild West when his master loses him in a card game. There he employs his professional talents in opening a restaurant and, in a quite moving passage, rediscovers the meaning of liberty for his fellow townspeople. Among the best of McCarey's off-the-cuff inspirations are Laughton's rendition of the Gettysburg Address, a drum lesson by Roland Young, and a hilarious drunken spree by Charlie Ruggles at a Parisian sidewalk cafe where he puts into practice some peculiar ideas on how to speak instant French.” --“Treasures from the UCLA Film Archives,” PFA Publication