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.

A FREE AND EASY father and son are dependent upon the largess of rich ladies to continue living comfortable lives.

Running less than an hour, this bit of inconsequential fluff is dignified by its fine cast. Nigel Bruce and Robert Cummings (using a British accent) are the father and son constantly on the prowl for wealthy women. Cummings provides an honest, appealing performance, as was his wont, while Bruce's usual cuddly persona is not tarnished a bit by his somewhat rakish behavior.

Lovely Ruth Hussey is the penniless girl upon which Cummings sets his affections; fusty, fuming Reginald Owen is her lover who wants no rivals. Marvelous old Sir C. Aubrey Smith appears as a horse-loving Duke who can't keep a secret.

Best of all, Dame Judith Anderson plays Sir Aubrey's daughter, a plain-faced woman with an immense amount of money who dotes on Cummings. Portraying a female experiencing unexpected joy and terrible disappointment, Dame Judith gives the kind of beautiful performance one doesn't expect to find in a rather negligible comedy. Having displayed her formidable talent the year before in Hitchcock's REBECCA, and even though possessed of one of the Century's most remarkable speaking voices, it became quickly obvious that Hollywood really wasn't big enough to showcase her properly. Her greatest triumphs would be on the stage.

This is a remake of MGM's BUT THE FLESH IS WEAK (1932), which also starred Sir C. Aubrey Smith, along with Robert Montgomery, as the father/son duo. MGM had previously used the title FREE AND EASY in 1930 for a comedy starring Montgomery and Buster Keaton.

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.

Robert Cummings and Nigel Bruce play a pair of son and father social climbers who prey on gracious but rather plain English lady Judith Anderson in this second feature from MGM in 1941. Of course, Cummings falls in love with another socialite, the prettier Ruth Hussey. This leads to a series of romantic complications when Anderson actually falls for Cummings.

This was just a year before Anderson and Cummings worked together in the Warner Brothers classic "King's Row". Anderson, who had made a splash the year earlier as the villianous Mrs. Danvers in "Rebecca" (receiving an Oscar Nomination), played against type in this and another MGM comedy, "Forty Little Mothers" with Eddie Cantor. In "Free and Easy", Anderson gets to wear some glamorous outfits, although her rather dowdy suit at the ballet where she meets Cummings downplays her characterization as one of the world's wealthiest women, especially with a stodgy monacle attached. She is also a lot more lighthearted in this film than she was in any of her other movies or any of her Broadway shows where she was considered one of the great ladies of the theater. She was actually quite capable of pulling this off, playing a sort of younger version of her character in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", where her Billie Burke like performance overshadowed a strong and determined woman underneath.

Cummings, on the other hand, was not one of the more talented leading men of Hollywood's golden age in spite of the amazing list of credits he left behind. While not a bad actor, he had a very limited range. Even the so-called leading ladies men such as Herbert Marshall and George Brent added more spice to their weakly written parts. Nigel Bruce, always entertaining, and also from "Rebecca", just simply puts his on-screen son to shame in the acting department. C. Aubrey Smith, who had a small part in "Rebecca", appears here as Anderson's uppercrust father, and delivers his always commanding performance. As the love interest, Ruth Hussey is blander than she was in "The Philadelphia Story", which gave her an Oscar Nomination against Anderson. (Ironically, Anderson would appear in the Warner Brothers film "All Through the Night", which also starred Jane Darwell, who won the Oscar that year).

According to "The MGM Story", this was a remake of a 1932 Robert Montgomery film entitled "But the Flesh is Weak". Hopefully both will be shown together on Turner Classic Movies (where I saw "Free and Easy") to compare the two. Montgomery, it should be noted, was one of Hollywood's best leading men in the 1930's. His range was much greater than Cummings who did better in frivilous comedys like this rather than dramas such as "King's Row" and "The Lost Moment". At 56 minutes, "Free and Easy" is easy and free to watch on cable, especially for the presence of the supporting players.

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.