Free and Easy (1930)

Director:

Edward Sedgwick

Writers:

Al Boasberg (dialogue)
Paul Dickey (adaptation)
(more)

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
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jack Baxley	...	Train Conductor (uncredited)
Edward Brophy	...	Benny, The Stage Manager (uncredited)
Richard Carle	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Louise Carver	...	Big German Woman (uncredited)
Emile Chautard	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Jackie Coogan	...	Himself (uncredited)
Cecil B. DeMille	...	Himself (uncredited)
Drew Demorest	...	Larry's Valet (uncredited)
Ann Dvorak	...	Chorine, Free and Easy Number (uncredited)
Joseph Farnham	...	Himself (uncredited)
Pat Harmon	...	Doorman at Premiere (uncredited)
Lottice Howell	...	Vocalist, 'It Must Be You' (uncredited)
Arthur Lange	...	Himself (uncredited)
Theodore Lorch	...	Dynamite scene director (uncredited)
Billy May	...	Himself (uncredited)
Marion Shilling	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)

Directed by
Edward Sedgwick

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Al Boasberg		dialogue
Paul Dickey		adaptation
Richard Schayer		writer

Produced by
Edward Sedgwick	....	producer

Cinematography by
Leonard Smith

Film Editing by
William LeVanway
George Todd		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Cedric Gibbons

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording director
Jack Jordan	....	sound assistant (uncredited)
Douglas Shearer	....	sound recording engineer (uncredited)
Karl Zint	....	sound recording engineer (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
George Hurrell Sr.	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
David Cox	....	wardrobe

Other crew
Sammy Lee	....	dance staged by

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1930) (USA) (theatrical)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1990?) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)

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:

Boom mic visible: When Larry orders his car, a visible mike descends from the upper right hand corner of the frame while he says his line, then rises out of sight again.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Party (1968)

Soundtrack:

The 'Free And Easy'

A treasure trove of footage featuring Hollywood & MGM in '30

Buster Keaton's talents sadly are not put to very good use here. He appears to be sufficiently alert, however the producer and writers have given him nothing to work with and there is clearly no opportunity for his trademark expertise at improvisation. Sad-eyed Buster's excessively shrill nemesis is a stage mother from Hell who steals all of their scenes together through sheer brute force by overacting, rendering Mr. Keaton's character pathetic and perpetually downtrodden. Then again, the viewer is also subjected to Robert Montgomery crooning so there really is plenty of blame to go around here from a production standpoint. Nevertheless, this is an important movie that features unique and valuable insights into Hollywood soon after the industry's changeover to sound. Billy Haines appears in a cameo as himself and he says a few words before wending his way down to the reserved seating section far forward in the Grauman's Chinese Theater--and the camera follows him! The POV includes panoramic scenes of the interior, as well as a close-up look at the Red Carpet outside of the theater as the glamorous stars of the day drove up, alighted from their magnificent cars and had a few words to say into the microphone before heading inside, framed by shots of the crowd that has gathered outside to witness the spectacle. Jackie Coogan is featured here as himself, and the story soon shifts to the MGM Studio where we are afforded further behind-the-scenes eyefuls of a sound stage with all the trappings, outbuildings, gated entrances and eavesdropping on the likes of Fred Niblo and Cecil B. DeMille as they candidly discuss Garbo, Crawford and Shearer! I have always prized MGM's The Jean Harlow Story, starring Jean Harlow--er, make that BOMBSHELL for the unique and rare glimpses that it provides of the Metro-Golden-Mayer studio circa 1933, but this movie was made three years earlier and the storyline is set at the studio. It is therefore particularly instructive for anyone who is similarly intrigued by sustained peeks at real, undesigning people and authentic settings of historical significance in Hollywood from some of the earliest days of its glorious Golden Age. There is some vintage lightning in a bottle here in this Keaton clunker, for anyone who cares to a take a look.