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The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

"Fancy Pants" is a reworking of the story from "Ruggles of Red Gap", though I strongly advise you to try to find this film (particularly the version starring Charles Laughton) instead. In no way is this film the equal to "Ruggles".When the film begins, Bob Hope is an American actor who specialized in playing Butlers in British plays. Well, some Americans from the west convince him to return with them to Wyoming and be their classy Gentleman's Gentleman. Not wanting to disappoint the nouveaux rich (after all, they do have money), the follows. However, later the locals think that he's an Earl and suddenly he's no longer the hired help but the special house guest of this family. Soon, the President himself is traveling their way...and he, too, would love to meet the Earl.The film is just okay...and in every way the earlier films are better. Instead of being sweet, this Hope film is kooky and a bit silly...but nothing more.By the way, this film represents the biggest waste of Eric Blore in film history. See the picture...you'll see what I mean.

The good news is that this is the type of role that Bob Hope usually excelled in playing. It's not exactly his "coward" role, with which he could run away with a picture. But it's close -- in this case a British actor portraying a British servant, playing a British earl...this time a somewhat cowardly braggart. There's nothing wrong with Hope's performance here.And then there's Lucy, playing an American Western woman looking for a husband. As with Hope, it's a good performance.And, Bob and Lucy always were good together...and were here.So what's the problem? Well, many stories need a set up to get going. But the set up for this story lasts about 40 minutes, and that set up is only moderately entertaining. Once the Westerners mistake Hope's character for an earl, things pick up and the film gets relatively entertaining.It's also a rather lush production with high production values.The supporting cast here does okay...with the emphasis on "okay". Bruce Cabot wants to be Lucy's love interest, but of course Hope is in the way; Cabot was, in my view, a marginal supporting actor, although he often looked right for his parts. Jack Kirkwood plays Lucy's father; again, he does "okay". Lea Penman does fairly well as Lucy's overbearing mother. Clearly the studio wanted to save money here -- the supporting actors are largely unknown to the American audience.What I find interesting here is the wide division between reviews here. People either love this film or hate it. I'm more in the middle.BTW, this is somewhat of a musical. The songs sorta work, but it's pretty clear that Lucy is lip-syncing (to Annette Warren singing).Chase scenes can be funny...but 3 chase scenes in a row is a bit much.I'll give this film a weak "7"

By the time this film came out, Bob Hope's name would have been a household word, which along with the plot device, might have been the reason he was introduced in the opening credits as Mr. Robert Hope (formerly Bob). Lucy's household name status was still a few years off even though she had a considerable resume by this time with over eighty movie appearances, though many of them bit parts and uncredited. The only time I ever saw them work together would have been on one of the old Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts, so catching them in this sixty five year old film was something of a treat. They actually had a decent chemistry here amid the myriad of jokes and pratfalls.Based on the earlier "Ruggles of Red Gap" series of films, it's pretty safe to say that Hope is no Charles Laughton, who lent an air of wit and sophistication to his version of the character in the 1935 movie. In this picture, Hope's character is an actor named Arthur Tyler, transplanted to the New Mexico territory of 1905 by a would be socialite in order to impress her neighbors. Effie Floud's (Lea Penman) daughter is Aggie, portrayed by Lucille Ball, in a characterization that comes fairly close to her zany Lucy Ricardo of 'I Love Lucy' fame.The picture routinely uses the names from the Laughton movie, the Flouds are still the Flouds, but variations like Brinstead replace Burnstead, and of course there was no Humphrey in the earlier picture, the first name we come to associate with Hope in the picture. Here he has a nemesis in the way of Cart Belknap (Bruce Cabot), Aggie's fiancé and a major thorn in Humphrey/Tyler's side. During an era when political correctness was all but unheard of, the appearance of characters like Wampum the kitchen hand and Wong the cook often tend to embarrass, but more so for their acting then their actual roles.Fans of Hope and Ms. Ball will certainly want to catch their camaraderie here. It's an entertaining picture with a fair share of laughs, and if nothing else, you'll wonder how they ever came up with that bird cage hair-do for Lucy, I mean Aggie.

A rich American woman hires a British butler and brings him to New Mexico unaware that he's an American actor. A disappointing remake of "Ruggles of Red Gap," given the potentially potent teaming of Hope and Ball. The first segment of the film that takes place in Britain is so lame that it doesn't even elicit a chuckle. Once the action moves to New Mexico, there are a few laughs but the comedy is still labored. The funniest bit has to do with dogs chasing Hope instead of the fox during a fox hunt. Hope and Ball seem to be trying but the script is a dud. Alexander, who imagined he was Teddy Roosevelt in "Arsenic and Old Lace," plays the president here.