Buster Keaton In "Free And Easy" + Marriage Weather

Tonight at CSUN we saw Buster Keaton in "Free And Easy" (1930), his very first "talkie" and the third picture he made under contract to MGM. I probably mentioned earlier that when Keaton signed with the studio, he lost his creative independence. He was no longer allowed to direct or write his own films, as a result of the box office failure of some of his now highly regarded Silent films like "The General". In hindsight, Buster said that signing with MGM was the biggest mistake of his life (which hurt a little bit, because I worked there, lol) and it's true that, by taking away his free rein on the movie set and having him conform to a Big Studio, regimented way of filmmaking, that Louis B. Mayer and Thalberg stifled most of the spontaneous and inspired physical comedy that Buster displayed in his earlier films, in favor of having him talk (sound films were brand new) and recite "witticisms" from the script.

That wasn't Buster's style of comedy - telling jokes - and forcing him into it deprives the film - and probably the ones that came after, as well - of the impromptu physical zaniness and truly over-the-top special effect set pieces that have made his early silent pictures the classic works of art that they are now considered to be : films that have stood the test of time for a century.

Here comes the "However".......

(ahem) However - told you it was coming - despite the fact that MGM de-Busterized the films he made while with the studio, they were actually his biggest money makers, and that is because MGM knew how to put on a show. And because of that, "Free And Easy", while mostly devoid of Keaton Kraziness, is still a lot of fun. It's a "movie movie", meaning a movie about making movies. The film opens at a train station in Kansas. A young woman with Hollywood aspirations has won a local talent contest and is headed out to Tinseltown with her large and overbearing stage mother in tow. Keaton is her hapless manager. There are several different plot lines; a main one involves the ladies' chance meeting on the train with the tall and handsome early star Robert Montgomery (whose daughter Elizabeth starred in "Bewitched" on TV). He is immediately enamored of the Kansas beauty, who Buster is secretly in love with (of course), and the Hijinx flow from there.

There is actually a lot going on in this film. A big part of the fun, especially for me, was seeing Keaton run rampant on the MGM lot, antagonising the legendary Cecil B. DeMille among others. I worked there fifty years later, when all the old and most famous stars were long gone, but their ghosts lingered on the lot, and when you took a lunch break and walked around the streets between the sound stages, you could just feel the history. I was a kid, and I did not love the job of working in the film lab, and I was only at MGM for three years, but the place made a huge and everlasting impression on me, and now I know how lucky I was to work there, and I am grateful. And so it was really fun, and awesome, to see the old buildings again, and especially to watch Buster enter at the gate we lab workers would enter at, and sorry to end the sentence with a preposition.

The point is, that it's not just the movies that are great, and important. It's also the History Of Movies, and that's where Hollywood is most important. Without Hollywood, there is no History Of Movies. It all started here and eventually developed into The Major Art Form Of The 20th Century.

You know I could have added a pun in there, and said "Art Form Of The 20th Century Fox".......

But I didn't.........and it's a good thing......so we'll just let it go.  :)

In any event (and I may have to start adding a warning for that introduction as well), I can recommend "Free And Easy" as a film for fans of Buster Keaton to see, with a solid Thumbs Up. Not to see without proper background, though. You'd need to see at least a few of his early Silent classics first, and if you did you'd follow the progression to "Free And Easy" and enjoy it very much I think. :)

Elizabeth, if you are reading, I liked your photo this morning, and I have always liked silhouettes myself. I have a few from my photo class that I should dig out one day. Silhouettes are like "silent pictures" in their own way, don't you think?

I see that you photo was taken in Tampa, Florida, so maybe you were just there?

If so, I hope you had a great trip!  :)

I also saw your post about your friends who got married 20 years ago......during a once in a lifetime snowstorm in October. Now, I know what you're thinking : "touche", maybe.  :):)

Or maybe just a perfect opposition to the October weather I've written about these past couple of days - and lo and behold we had another 100 degree day today!

I write about California weather; you write about Wisconsin weather. Shared wit.  :):)

But your post was also about marriage, and that is a good thing no matter the weather. Right?  :):)

See you in the morning......    :):)