To rapidly find out a free roll causing trouble.

The method for manufacturing the cellulose ester film includes a peeling process for peeling the web W, which is formed by casting a dope of cellulose ester on a support 1, form the support 1, a drying process for drying the peeled web W and a taking-up process for taking up the film F obtained by drying the web W. The web W is successively trained over a plurality of free rolls 32, 41 and 51 in the respective processes to be fed. The diameters of the free rolls 32, 41 and 51 used in the respective processes are made different at every process.