Free and Easy (1930)
73 mins | Musical comedy | 22 March 1930
Director:
Edward SedgwickWriters:
Richard Schayer, Paul DickeyCinematographer:
Leonard SmithEditors:
William Le Vanway, George ToddProduction Designer:
Cedric GibbonsProduction Company:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.Free and Easy marked Buster Keaton's first talking picture. The film also was shot in a Spanish-language version, Estrellados (See Entry), which also starred Keaton. For Le Metteur en scene, a version of Free and Easy released in France in Jan 1931, the English-language film was altered by removing the dialogue and replacing it with intertitles in French and English. According to the Var review for the Paris opening, two English-language songs were included in the French release. ...
Free and Easy marked Buster Keaton's first talking picture. The film also was shot in a Spanish-language version, Estrellados (See Entry), which also starred Keaton. For Le Metteur en scene, a version of Free and Easy released in France in Jan 1931, the English-language film was altered by removing the dialogue and replacing it with intertitles in French and English. According to the Var review for the Paris opening, two English-language songs were included in the French release.
Le Metteur en Scène
Elmer Butts, the befuddled manager of Elvira, a Kansas beauty contest winner, is obliged to take her to Hollywood and get her a break in the movies. At a typical Grauman's Chinese premiere, they are confronted with screen celebrities. Later, Elmer crashes the studio gate, allowing a comic chase through sound stages where various players are working, including Lionel Barrymore, Karl Dane, and Dorothy Sebastian. Ultimately, he gets a job as an extra, causing various amusing complications. Elvira falls in love with Larry, a screen hero, while Elmer is awarded a studio contract and appears in the musical comedy finale, "Free and ...
Elmer Butts, the befuddled manager of Elvira, a Kansas beauty contest winner, is obliged to take her to Hollywood and get her a break in the movies. At a typical Grauman's Chinese premiere, they are confronted with screen celebrities. Later, Elmer crashes the studio gate, allowing a comic chase through sound stages where various players are working, including Lionel Barrymore, Karl Dane, and Dorothy Sebastian. Ultimately, he gets a job as an extra, causing various amusing complications. Elvira falls in love with Larry, a screen hero, while Elmer is awarded a studio contract and appears in the musical comedy finale, "Free and Easy."
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