Free and Easy

When this story begins, you learn that Max (Bob Cummings) and Florian (Nigel Bruce) are son and father....and they are dirt poor. They live by finding girlfriends to support them in the way they've become accustomed and Max is determined to marry a rich lady. In addition, they are fourflushers and don't pay their debts. They are SUPPOSED to be charming...but to me they just seemed like nasty sociopaths. Perhaps this is why this MGM film lost money, as making you like people who are essentially selfish jerks is a tough sell (though it can work...such as in "The Lady Eve").

During the course of the story, Max pursues two women---Joan (Judith Anderson) and Martha (Ruth Hussey)....and he is neither subtle nor coy about either. Joan is rich...Martha isn't. Yet, despite himself, Max decides to marry Martha and then actually WORK for a living! But this plan is derailed when Florian runs up a huge gambling debt...so large he'll end up in prison or dead. So, Max abandons the notion of love and decides to marry Joan. What's next??

This film is a remake of an earlier movie, "-But the Flesh is Weak"...which I also did not like. Both suffered from having leading men who were pretty despicable...and it's so difficult to enjoy any film with such unlikable cads in teh lead. A lot of polish and nice acting, but these aren't enough to overcome the writing.

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.

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.

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.

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.