Free and Easy

An absolute little comic gem of a film running at only 55 minutes. It's essentially a B movie or support feature but has a wonderful cast of Robert Cummings, Ruth Hussey, Judith Anderson, C Aubrey Smith, Nigel Bruce & Reginald Owen (Anderson, Bruce and Smith had all been in the classic Rebecca the year before) . Bruce is billed fifth as Florian Clemington but is very central to the action as a wonderfully roguish but charming father to Cummings.

Shiftless father and son (Nigel Bruce, Robert Cummings) are looking for rich women to marry. The son falls in love with a woman (Ruth Hussey) but she's as broke as he is. What in the world will happen next? Predictable but easygoing comedy. Short runtime and good cast helps. Bob Cummings is fun. Ruth Hussey is lovely and charming. Change of pace roles for Nigel Bruce and Judith Anderson. Both are great. It's especially nice seeing Judith Anderson playing a light-hearted character. I'm used to seeing her play characters more like the one she played in Rebecca. There's nothing here you haven't seen before and better but it's a pleasant enough way to kill an hour.

Free And Easy which starred Robert Cummings and Ruth Hussey had its origins from an Ivor Novello play The Truth Game which after a run in London made its American debut on Broadway and ran for 107 performances in the middle Depression years of 1930-31. Novello was like Noel Coward both as a performer and creator and he starred in the original Broadway and London run.

The film does have a Noel Coward like quality to it and with a bit of his wit, the proceedings might have been livened up. Robert Cummings is also a bit to American and that stands out in this cast that was mostly of the British Hollywood colony.

Cummings and Nigel Bruce play a father and son team of free wheeling bounders looking to marry wealthy. Cummings sets his sites on American widow Ruth Hussey who looks like money and to Europeans all Americans do. But she turns out to be looking for a second and wealthy marriage herself. Cummings then moves on to the plain Jane daughter of Sir C. Aubrey Smith played by Judith Anderson who gives a very touching performance, so far removed from some of the Gothic horror roles she's mostly known for. Still Cummings can't get Hussey out of his mind nor she him.

Next to Anderson the best performance in the film is that of Reginald Owen as the wealthy blustering oaf Hussey does have her cap set for. Owen steals the film whenever he's on screen.

There was an earlier screen version of The Truth Game called But The Flesh Is Weak that MGM did back in 1932 with Robert Montgomery. Not having seen it I can well believe that Montgomery who is as American as Cummings would have been far better cast in the lead. Free And Easy is an all right screen comedy, but could have used a much wittier script for the kind of film it is.

Many big names in this early shortie from MGM... Robert Cummings would go on to be a pretty big star. Aubrey Smith was always the uncle, the father, the judge, the priest in SO many black & white films. Nigel Bruce played Doctor Watson SO many times. Tom Conway was "the Falcon" in the many chapters of the detective films. and of course, Donald Meek in an uncredited role. R. Cummings is Max, son of Florian (N. Bruce). They are both on the prowl for rich society women, and make no secret of it. What's annoying is how easily Max flits from woman to woman, even going back to the same women, for various reasons. and they put up with it. Max makes no secret of what he's doing (at least some of the time...) and why he's doing it, but it doesn't seem to bother the women. He's like a bee, sniffing around every flower, and when he goes back to the previous flowers for whatever reason, they seem to accept it. Nigel Bruce is just in here for the comedy. Max happens to share a room with his father, but the plot would have been the same if Max lived by himself. they kind of justify having the father live with Max, but the story would have been exactly the same without dad in the storyline. dad cracks some pretty funny jokes here and there. I also thought Cummings has a stilted manner of speech; clearly he is very well educated, but seems to work extra hard to sound like the common man. he spoke like that in so many films. just a little odd. the film is pretty solid if you buy into the storyline. I guess it's a reverse on how so many women of the day were gold-diggers, it was un-usual to see that the men could also be treasure-hunters. probably a rarity back in the day. ony 150 votes on imdb so far. I LOVE Judith Anderson... was Oscar nominated for Rebecca, just the year before! Directed by George Sidney.. had worked with Judy Garland on numerous films. and Elvis.

Max Clemington and his father are both looking to marry rich. Neither has money. Max is taken with Martha Gray. She rejects his proposal since she isn't rich either. She is pursued by Sir George Kelvin.

As a rom-com, this couple needs a meet cute. The male lead has a sly demeanor. The female lead is functional. The coupling is a bit flat. He does have a meet cute with Lady Joan. Her monocle is a winner. That would have been an interesting pairing. It's an early full length movie for director George Sidney who would go on to do better things. This is not one of them and it's not even over an hour long.