The Ruling Class

The Ruling Class is a 1972 British black comedy film. It is an adaptation of Peter Barnes' satirical 1968 stage play The Ruling Class, which tells the story of a paranoid schizophrenic British nobleman (played by Peter O'Toole) who inherits a peerage. The film co-stars Alastair Sim, William Mervyn, Coral Browne, Harry Andrews, Carolyn Seymour, James Villiers and Arthur Lowe. It was produced by Jules Buck and directed by Peter Medak. The film has been described as a "commercial failure ... has since become a cult classic"; Peter O'Toole described it as "a comedy with tragic relief".