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Free and Easy

FREE AND EASY

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CREDITS

1930, 75 minutes, B&W.
Producer, Edward Sedgwick; Director, Edward Sedgwick; Screenplay, Richard Schayer; Adaptation, Paul Dickey; Dialogue, Al Boasberg; Cinematography, Leonard Smith; Choreography; Sammy Lee.

CAST

Elmer Butts, Buster Keaton; Elvira Plunkett, Anita Page; Larry Mitchell, Robert Montgomery; Ma Plunkett, Trixie Friganza.
Appearing As Themselves:
Fred Niblo, Gwen Lee, John Miljan, Lionel Barrymore, William Collier Sr., Dorothy Sebastian, Karl Dane, Jackie Coogan, William Haines, Joseph Farnham, Arthur Lange and Cecil B. DeMille.

SONGS

Free and Easy; It Must Be You by Roy Turk and Fred Ahlert; Penitentiary Blues; Cubanita; You've Got Me That Way by William Kernell.

PLOT SYNOPSIS

"Keaton plays 'talent manager' Elmer Butts of Gopher City, Kansas, who takes beauty contest winner Elvira (Anita Page) and her stout and frightening mother to Hollywood. They manage to get onto the M-G-M lot, where they wreak havoc on set after set, encountering the real-life likes of Cecil B. DeMille, Jackie Coogan, Lionel Barrymore, et. al. - and while Elvira's being noticed by suave screen idol Larry (Robert Montgomery), Elmer's getting some unexpected notcies of his own."
- Liner Notes from Turner/MGM/UA Videotape

NOTES

"Funny in parts with some fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpses of MGM at work. . .Free and Easy was an uneven entertainment which gave no indication that its talented star's days were sadly numbered as a major box-office attraction."
- Clive Hirschhorn, The Hollywood Musical

"Primitive talkie showing a great silent comedian all at sea with the new techniques, and the MGM studio offering entertainment on the level of a bad school concert."
- Leslie Halliwell, Halliwell's Film Guide

This was Keaton's talking film debut.

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