''Free and Easy'' is a 1930 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

starring

Buster Keaton Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression ...

. It was Keaton's first leading role in a talking motion picture.

Plot

When small-town girl Elvira Plunkett (

Anita Page Anita Page (born Anita Evelyn Pomares; August 4, 1910 – September 6, 2008) was an American film actress who reached stardom in the final years of the silent film era. She was referred to as "a blond, blue-eyed Latin" and "the girl with the mos ...

) wins a contest that sends her to

Hollywood, Los Angeles Hollywood is a neighborhood in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a metonymy, shorthand reference for the Cinema of the United States, U.S. film industry and the people associated with i ...

for a screen test at

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

(MGM), she is accompanied by her overbearing mother (

Trixie Friganza Trixie Friganza (born Delia O'Callaghan; November 29, 1870February 27, 1955) was an American actress. She began her career as an operetta soubrette, working her way from the chorus to starring in musical comedies to having her own feature act o ...

) and Elmer J. Butts (

), a gas-station attendant who goes along as Elvira's manager. Elmer is secretly in love with Elvira, but on the train they meet MGM contract actor Larry Mitchell ( Robert Montgomery), who falls for her as well, and has the connections to make her a star. In Hollywood, Elmer manages to bungle his way through numerous films being shot on the MGM lot, disrupting production. When given a screen test, he can't manage to say his one line correctly. Despite this, both he and Elvira's mother are given film contracts, and appear in a comic opera together. Elmer wants to tell Elvira that he loves her, but hints at it in such a way that she mistakes it for advice on how to tell Larry that she loves him.

Cast

as Elmer *

as Elvira *

as Ma Plunkett * Robert Montgomery as Larry Mitchell *

Fred Niblo Fred Niblo (born Frederick Liedtke; January 6, 1874 – November 11, 1948) was an American pioneer film actor, director and producer. Biography He was born Frederick Liedtke (several sources give "Frederico Nobile", apparently erroneously) in Yo ...

as himself *

Lionel Barrymore Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blythe; April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''A Free Soul'' (1931) ...

as director * David Burton as himself *

William Haines Charles William Haines (January 2, 1900 – December 26, 1973) was an American actor and interior designer. Haines was discovered by a talent scout and signed with Goldwyn Pictures in 1922. His career gained momentum when he received favo ...

as himself *

Marion Shilling Marion Helen Schilling (December 3, 1910 – November 6, 2004) was an American stage and film actress. She was one of the most famous " B" leading ladies of the 1930s. Biography Marion Helen Schilling was born in Denver, Colorado in 1910. He ...

(uncredited) *

Cecil B. DeMille Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American film director, producer and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cine ...

as Director Cecil B. DeMille (uncredited)

Production

''Free and Easy'', whose working title was ''On the Set'', was Buster Keaton's first starring role in a film shot for sound – he had appeared in MGM's talking ''The Hollywood Revue of 1929'', but did not speak.Cady, Brian
"Free and Easy (1930)" (article)
on the

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...

website As with his previous film for MGM, ''

Spite Marriage ''Spite Marriage'' is a 1929 American silent comedy film co-directed by Buster Keaton and Edward Sedgwick and starring Keaton and Dorothy Sebastian. It is the second film Keaton made for MGM and his last silent film, although he had wanted it ...

'', production on ''Free and Easy'' was largely out of Keaton's hands. The film was used as a way to showcase MGM's stars and filmmakers, several of whom make cameos, including

and

.Erickson, Hal
"Synopsis"
on the AllMovie website The film was shot in French, German, and Spanish language versions. For the Spanish edition, titled ''

Estrellados ''Estrellados'' is a 1930 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Salvador de Alberich and Edward Sedgwick, and written by Salvador de Alberich, Paul Dickey and Richard Schayer. The film stars Buster Keaton, Raquel Torres, Don Alvarado, Ma ...

'', Keaton spoke his dialogue phonetically, but the 1931 release in France had French-language intertitles replacing the English dialogue."Notes"
on the

website MGM spent almost $500,000 on the production of ''Free and Easy''.

Reception

Contemporary reviews were mixed, with ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' reviewer

Mordaunt Hall Mordaunt Hall (1 November 1878 – 2 July 1973) was the first regularly assigned motion picture critic for ''The New York Times'', working from October 1924 to September 1934.Robert E. Sherwood Robert Emmet Sherwood (April 4, 1896 – November 14, 1955) was an American playwright and screenwriter. He is the author of '' Waterloo Bridge, Idiot's Delight, Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Rebecca, There Shall Be No Night, The Best Years of Our ...

in ''

The Film Daily ''The Film Daily'' was a daily publication that existed from 1918 to 1970 in the United States. It was the first daily newspaper published solely for the film industry. It covered the latest trade news, film reviews, financial updates, informatio ...

'' wrote that, "Buster Keaton, trying to imitate a standard musical comedy clown, is no longer Buster Keaton and no longer funny." Nonetheless, ''Free and Easy'' was a bigger hit than the majority of Keaton's silent films. Modern reviews are less enthusiastic, with critic John J. Puccio stating that the film "contains far too much talk and far too few visual gags."DVD Review
Movie Metropolis on the Turner Classic Movie website (2004)

Re-makes

''Free and Easy'' was re-made twice, first in 1937 as '' Pick a Star'', and later as ''

Abbott and Costello in Hollywood ''Abbott and Costello in Hollywood'' is a 1945 American black-and-white comedy film directed by S. Sylvan Simon and starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello alongside Frances Rafferty. Made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, it was produced by Martin ...

'' in 1945.

References

Notes

External links

* * *
''Free and Easy''
at the

International Buster Keaton Society The International Buster Keaton Society Inc.— a.k.a. "The Damfinos"—is the official educational organization dedicated to comedy film producer-director-writer-actor-stuntman Buster Keaton. Mission According to the Damfinos, their mission is "t ...

{{Edward Sedgwick 1930 films 1930 comedy films American black-and-white films 1930s English-language films Films about actors Films about Hollywood, Los Angeles Films directed by Edward Sedgwick Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films American multilingual films American comedy films 1930 multilingual films 1930s American films Films with screenplays by Richard Schayer