Free for All

One of my favorite British movies of the 1950s is "The Man in the White Suit" with Alec Guinness. However, two years earlier a similar sort of plot was explored in the American film "Free For All"...though it was made with far less subtlety and finesse.

The film begins with Christopher Parker (Bob Cummings) at the US Patent Office getting information about obtaining a patent for his latest invention...pills that turn water into gasoline! Naturally folks are skeptical but when the oil industry learns about the invention, they spring into action. They claim to be interested in Chris and his invention, but they will do just about anything to stop this invention from seeing the light of day.

The film handles this story with no subtlety at all and often goes for goofy laughs. This doesn't make it a bad film...but it does make it slight and silly whereas "The Man in the White Suit" was insightful and clever. Worth seeing.

Robert Cummings shows up at the Patent Office with a formula for turning water into 17 gallons of high-octane fuel with a pill that costs two cents to manufacture. Percy Kilbride takes him home where he collects inventors. No one believes him, but when he demonstrates it on the automobile of oil magnate Ray Collins, they change their minds.

It's one of those comedies that is played absolutely straight. I'm not sure how well that works, but it has its strengths as satire, and Cummings always lands on the line of straight and comic in much of his work. Ann Blyth plays the love interest, and director Charles Barton seems content to direct the picture in this manner. Cinematographer lights it like a Fox programmer.