Free and Easy (1930)

Director:

Edward Sedgwick

Writers:

Al Boasberg (dialogue)
Paul Dickey (adaptation)

Release Date:

22 March 1930 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical

Plot:

Gopher City Kansas hosts a beauty contest. The winner, Elvira Plunkett, and her mother go to Hollywood...

Plot Keywords:

Train | Fall Down Stairs | Unrequited Love | Studio Cop | Explosion

Cast

Buster Keaton	...	Elmer Butts
Anita Page	...	Elvira Plunkett
Trixie Friganza	...	Ma Plunkett
Robert Montgomery	...	Larry Mitchell
Fred Niblo	...	Himself
Edgar Dearing	...	Studio Gate Security Officer
Gwen Lee	...	Herself
John Miljan	...	Himself
Lionel Barrymore	...	Himself
William Haines	...	Himself
William Collier Jr.	...	Himself
Dorothy Sebastian	...	Herself
Karl Dane	...	Himself
David Burton	...	Himself

Also Known As:

Easy Go (USA) (TV title)

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The three main characters of the film - Elmer Butts, and Elvira and Ma Plunkett - come to Hollywood from Gopher City, Kansas. Trixie Friganza, who plays Ma Plunkett, was in fact from Kansas.

Goofs:

Continuity: At approx. 1h 25min in, after the clown is pulled up, the circle of girls waits for him to come back; they turn to run off stage; cut to new film, they are still waiting for clown to return, then they turn to run off stage again.

Quotes:

Elmer Butts: Oh woe is me, the sqween has quooned.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Party (1968)

Soundtrack:

It Must Be You

Keaton's Starring Talkie Debut

Not really that bad but very bizarre. Buster Keaton in his starring talkie debut had talent and charm to spare, but the film is so weird. MGM had taken control of Keaton as had the Talmadge family, but he's game here as a hayseed manager accompanying Miss Gopher City (Anita Page) to Hollywood along with her stage door mother (Trixie Friganza). Some really funny stuff among the not-so-funny. MGM tosses in some guests stars like William Haines, Robert Montgomery, Lionel Barrymore, Dorothy Sebastian, Karl Dane, Gwen Lee, John Miljan, William Collier, and directors like Fred Niblo and Cecl B. DeMille, who chats up yes men about his future leading lady: Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Marion Davies, or Bebe Daniels. Lots of MGM name dropping and studio in jokes. Keaton is actually very good in his transition to sound, but the film meanders away and around the bend. He's surprisingly good in a dance number with an excellent young woman (is she Marion Shilling?) to "Free and Easy," which I like more every time I see it. Keaton could DANCE! And Ann Dvorak is in the chorus. Friganza steals several scenes. Page is beautiful. Montgomery gets his voice dubbed in a singing number. Niblo is hilarious as himself, but Buster Keaton, the great and wonderful silent comic, is the reason to watch Free and Easy. He's funny and light and tragic all at once. Was there anyone EVER like Buster Keaton? Around the time of filming he was being screwed by ex-wife Natalie Talmadge and her family as well as by MGM--the same studio that screwed William Haines, John Gilbert, Lillian Gish, Bessie Love, Anita Page and scores of others. See this film. Give it a chance and just watch BUSTER KEATON.