In 1928 Buster Keaton was convinced to sign a contract with MGM in which they would produce his films. As the first film under this contract was THE CAMERAMAN, which is a good Keaton film, it seemed to be a good idea. But Keaton's key man at M-G-M was Joseph Schenck, his brother-in-law. Schenck died. The head of M-G-M, Louis B. Mayer, never liked comedians, whom he felt were there to just be funny with whatever material they were given. As Keaton had family problems (his wife would take away his children in a messy divorce) and a growing drinking problem did not endear Mayer to him at all.
Keaton had specific ideas about the use of sound in movies - he felt that most films were too talky (he was right), and talking should be used sparingly. Sound effects were a better idea. But by 1929 all the leading stars in Hollywood (exceptions included Keaton, Lloyd, Chaplin, Garbo, and Lon Chaney Sr.) had started to turn towards talking films. Some with disastrous results - one, by the way, in this film. Keaton had no problem with his voice (a kind of flat baritone), but it was not something that really added to his planned zaniness.
Mayer could hardly care for Keaton's feelings. He gave him the script for FREE AND EASY as his entry into sound movies. Typically for Mayer he gave Keaton a lousy comedy, with an oddly sad ending.
Throughout his M-G-M films in the early 1930s, Keaton was saddled with characters with the same first name: Elmer. Here he was Elmer Butts, from Gopher City, Kansas. He is sent by that town's chamber of commerce to be the agent for the winner of a beauty contest, Anita Page (as Elvira Plunkett). This leads poor Buster into repeated collisions with Page's battle ax of a mother (Ma Plunkett - played by Trixie Friganza),who liked other overly ambitious star-making mothers ("Mama Rose" in GYPSY comes to mind) can't understand why Elmer is there at all.
On the train to California Elvira meets Larry Mitchell (Robert Montgomery), one of the leading stars at M-G-M. He is quite interested in the young woman, though honorably or not is up in the air (at this time Montgomery played mostly fashionable cads or weaklings in his films). He invites the trio to see the shooting of his current film at M-G-M. It is a costume musical set in a "Ruritanian" setting.
I won't go into all the details of the improbable script here. Keaton does have a few opportunities to show his put-upon situations (looking for a parking spot while he misses a Hollywood premiere he's been invited to); demolishing several film sets and shootings under directors Fred Niblo and Lionel Barrymore, as well as involving him with such figures as actor John Miljan and comedian Karl Dane*. He also tries to influence a less than interested Cecil B. De Mille in his protégée. And such luminaries as Jackie Coogan, William Haines, and William Collier Sr. pop up at the premiere.
(*When I mentioned "disastrous results" due to the coming of sound, I had poor Dane in mind - he eventually shot himself when his once high career as a film comic went under due to his thick Danish accent.)
He's wasted - positively wasted as a seasoning for the wretched plot about whether Montgomery really loves Page beyond a pretty evening of sex. In the end the audience knows Keaton does love Page (despite her mother), but is too shy to fully come out and say it. Instead, in the final moments of a film that is comic, Keaton's heart is left broken (with a degree of irony as he is dressed up like a clown). It is the oddest ending of any film he ever appeared in.
He does sing (two songs - one being the title song which is also a dance). So does Montgomery, whose singing is adequate and no more (it also weakens the film - why waste a star in singing in some ridiculous musical?).
I give the film a total of "6" because I am a fan of Buster Keaton and of Robert Montgomery, and it gives one a rare opportunity to see all those other film figures like Niblo, Barrymore, DeMille, Coogan, Miljan, Haines, Dane,and Collier. I also feel the rest of the film cast is trying (note too the dependable Ed Brophy, as Niblo's assistant who is fed up with Keaton). But except these "plusses" FREE AND EASY is a real waste of talent and time.
Keaton had specific ideas about the use of sound in movies - he felt that most films were too talky (he was right), and talking should be used sparingly. Sound effects were a better idea. But by 1929 all the leading stars in Hollywood (exceptions included Keaton, Lloyd, Chaplin, Garbo, and Lon Chaney Sr.) had started to turn towards talking films. Some with disastrous results - one, by the way, in this film. Keaton had no problem with his voice (a kind of flat baritone), but it was not something that really added to his planned zaniness.
Mayer could hardly care for Keaton's feelings. He gave him the script for FREE AND EASY as his entry into sound movies. Typically for Mayer he gave Keaton a lousy comedy, with an oddly sad ending.
Throughout his M-G-M films in the early 1930s, Keaton was saddled with characters with the same first name: Elmer. Here he was Elmer Butts, from Gopher City, Kansas. He is sent by that town's chamber of commerce to be the agent for the winner of a beauty contest, Anita Page (as Elvira Plunkett). This leads poor Buster into repeated collisions with Page's battle ax of a mother (Ma Plunkett - played by Trixie Friganza),who liked other overly ambitious star-making mothers ("Mama Rose" in GYPSY comes to mind) can't understand why Elmer is there at all.
On the train to California Elvira meets Larry Mitchell (Robert Montgomery), one of the leading stars at M-G-M. He is quite interested in the young woman, though honorably or not is up in the air (at this time Montgomery played mostly fashionable cads or weaklings in his films). He invites the trio to see the shooting of his current film at M-G-M. It is a costume musical set in a "Ruritanian" setting.
I won't go into all the details of the improbable script here. Keaton does have a few opportunities to show his put-upon situations (looking for a parking spot while he misses a Hollywood premiere he's been invited to); demolishing several film sets and shootings under directors Fred Niblo and Lionel Barrymore, as well as involving him with such figures as actor John Miljan and comedian Karl Dane*. He also tries to influence a less than interested Cecil B. De Mille in his protégée. And such luminaries as Jackie Coogan, William Haines, and William Collier Sr. pop up at the premiere.
(*When I mentioned "disastrous results" due to the coming of sound, I had poor Dane in mind - he eventually shot himself when his once high career as a film comic went under due to his thick Danish accent.)
He's wasted - positively wasted as a seasoning for the wretched plot about whether Montgomery really loves Page beyond a pretty evening of sex. In the end the audience knows Keaton does love Page (despite her mother), but is too shy to fully come out and say it. Instead, in the final moments of a film that is comic, Keaton's heart is left broken (with a degree of irony as he is dressed up like a clown). It is the oddest ending of any film he ever appeared in.
He does sing (two songs - one being the title song which is also a dance). So does Montgomery, whose singing is adequate and no more (it also weakens the film - why waste a star in singing in some ridiculous musical?).
I give the film a total of "6" because I am a fan of Buster Keaton and of Robert Montgomery, and it gives one a rare opportunity to see all those other film figures like Niblo, Barrymore, DeMille, Coogan, Miljan, Haines, Dane,and Collier. I also feel the rest of the film cast is trying (note too the dependable Ed Brophy, as Niblo's assistant who is fed up with Keaton). But except these "plusses" FREE AND EASY is a real waste of talent and time.