Though it does have a few fans, most people who watch Free and Easy (1930) find it to be a heady combination of insulting, dumb, and boring. Though Buster Keaton fans suffer the worst in seeing him put in such horrid material, nobody involved in the making of that turkey came out unscathed, from director Edward Sedgewick behind the camera to poor, embarrassed looking Robert Montgomery shucking corn in front of it. As was common back in the early sound era, movies were shot multiple times in different languages, since dubbing was not viewed as a viable option. Usually the entire cast was replaced with Spanish-speaking actors, as in the Spanish Dracula in 1931 with Carlos Villerias and Lupita Tovar replacing Bela Lugosi and Helen Chandler. This is because dramatic actors trying to speak foreign tongues phonetically and potentially mispronouncing words could be death to emotionally charged scenes for Spanish or French speaking audiences. Considering that Buster Keaton was a comedian, it was assumed that any mispronunciations on his part would add to the humor, so he was kept in the alternate versions of his talkies, reading his lines off of cue cards-- it's obvious even if you don't come into those films with that information on hand.
Estrellados (1930) is the Spanish language version of Free and Easy, unavailable in the States for years until recently with Warner Archive's releasing it on DVD with the English language original. Being an avid Keaton fan (and apparent masochist), I was curious, despite feeling the original film was a monstrous mess, an insult to Keaton, the audience, and film-making at large with its brainless jokes, dumb main characters, and cheap sentimentality. I had heard this version had some differences from the English one. These changes are minor, the most significant ones being the alteration of the titular song's lyrics and additional scenes in the campy movie within a movie.
All the old problems from Free and Easy were transferred over to Estrellados: Elmer is an idiot who never wises up, the ingénue love interest is even dumber than him, the plot meanders (stopping only to plug in star cameos and painful musical numbers), the ending is downbeat for the sake of seeming more Chaplinesque even if it does not fit the tone of the piece, and every other character is obnoxious and unfunny. MGM was obviously trying to make sure they could use as much footage from the original film as possible, mainly the cameos and musical numbers. They even use footage of Anita Page and Trixie Frazanga (who played the love interest and battle-axe mother in the English language version) as yet more cameo fodder, with Raquel Torres pointing and saying, "Look-- it is ANITA PAGE AND TRIXIE FRAZANGA!" Sometimes they'll even cut from the Spanish language actors to the English language ones within the same scenes! How lazy!
Keaton is obviously uncomfortable in every scene, not knowing Spanish and being forced to give lifeless line readings. I felt so sorry for him. It was bad enough to make a film totally antithetical to his style and comic philosophy once-- but having to do it twice is cruel. Unless you liked the original or are a big Keaton fan, stay clear of this nightmare.
Estrellados (1930) is the Spanish language version of Free and Easy, unavailable in the States for years until recently with Warner Archive's releasing it on DVD with the English language original. Being an avid Keaton fan (and apparent masochist), I was curious, despite feeling the original film was a monstrous mess, an insult to Keaton, the audience, and film-making at large with its brainless jokes, dumb main characters, and cheap sentimentality. I had heard this version had some differences from the English one. These changes are minor, the most significant ones being the alteration of the titular song's lyrics and additional scenes in the campy movie within a movie.
All the old problems from Free and Easy were transferred over to Estrellados: Elmer is an idiot who never wises up, the ingénue love interest is even dumber than him, the plot meanders (stopping only to plug in star cameos and painful musical numbers), the ending is downbeat for the sake of seeming more Chaplinesque even if it does not fit the tone of the piece, and every other character is obnoxious and unfunny. MGM was obviously trying to make sure they could use as much footage from the original film as possible, mainly the cameos and musical numbers. They even use footage of Anita Page and Trixie Frazanga (who played the love interest and battle-axe mother in the English language version) as yet more cameo fodder, with Raquel Torres pointing and saying, "Look-- it is ANITA PAGE AND TRIXIE FRAZANGA!" Sometimes they'll even cut from the Spanish language actors to the English language ones within the same scenes! How lazy!
Keaton is obviously uncomfortable in every scene, not knowing Spanish and being forced to give lifeless line readings. I felt so sorry for him. It was bad enough to make a film totally antithetical to his style and comic philosophy once-- but having to do it twice is cruel. Unless you liked the original or are a big Keaton fan, stay clear of this nightmare.