Bert Rigby, You’re a Fool

Bert Rigby, a miner in a dying northern town, begins telling his life story from a bar, setting the frame for a flashback. The narrative promises a rise from local obscurity to the bright lights of show business, anchored by his stubborn ambition.

He lives with his mother in Langmore and is close to his sweetheart Laurel Pennington, who lives above the pub. Their secret meetings take place in a bomb shelter straddling their backyards, a fragile refuge as he dreams of stardom.

With a strike gripping the town, Bert decides to try show business and signs up for an amateur show. His first on-stage appearance goes wrong when a football injury causes his nose to bleed, yet the audience still cheers him for his effort.

Bert becomes a comedian in a traveling amateur show, earning £50 a night as he tours the country with his manager Sid Trample and Sid's wife Tess. He repeats the act from his first appearance, then adds a Buster Keaton imitation to keep the crowd engaged.

During the tour, the troupe encounters a crew filming a contraceptives commercial, exposing Bert to the wider world of professional production. The moment hints at the broader opportunities and potential fame that lie beyond the theatre.

Bert receives an offer from a Hollywood ad director and flies to the United States with Sid, leaving behind his pregnant wife Laurel. He is aware of the personal sacrifice as he chases a potential great career.

In Hollywood, a commercial is filmed with him playing a Keaton-like role under director Kyle DeForest. The ad is dropped after a demographic survey shows many viewers have not heard of Keaton.

Bert phones Laurel to apologize, but a slip on a wet bathroom floor fuels another misunderstanding. Meanwhile, Sid abandons him, leaving him stranded in America and casting doubt on his partnership.

Left with few options, Bert works as a pizza delivery man and then as a nightclub comic. A grateful Hispanic client hires him to work as a tree pruner, turning his fortunes toward a new circle of people.

Bert is hired by Meredith, the hot-to-trot wife of movie mogul I. I. Perlestein, to serve as a servant in their house and as a technical advisor to Jim Shirley, a film star playing a Briton. In this glamorous milieu he navigates advances and forms a bond with Shirley's son.

During a phone call to Laurel, Bert experiences a dream sequence in which he sings 'Dream a Little Dream of Me' to her. The dream blends his longing with the cynicism of life in Hollywood.

A Perlestein dinner party turns chaotic when a curtain hiding a priceless painting is set on fire. The disaster punctuates Bert's long flashback as the spectacle underscores the absurdities of the Hollywood life he has pursued.

The flashback ends, and Bert returns to the present in the bar, where a surrounding patron does not speak English. He dances in the bar, catching the attention of an ad producer who sees star potential in him.

Bert returns to England in triumph, with a showing of his White Gold beer commercial in the town theatre. The night culminates with a rendition of 'Puttin' on the Ritz,' sealing his comeback on home soil.