A Free Soul (1931)
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Stephen Ashe (Lionel Barrymore), an upper class alcoholic defense attorney, successfully defends local mobster Ace Wilfong (Clark Gable) in a murder case. After his daughter Jan Ashe (Norma Shearer) breaks her engagement to polo player Dwight Winthrop (Leslie Howard) and starts an affair with Wilfong, she finds that the liason is not easily severed when she wants out. Winthrop earns Miss Ashe's true affections by killing Wilfong to break his grip on her. Now the question is, can Stephen Ashe save Winthrop with an impassioned defense speech to the jury?
- Actors:
- Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Lionel Barrymore, Clark Gable, James Gleason, Lucy Beaumont, Roscoe Ates, Ann Brody, Edward Brophy, Clarence Burton, James Donlan, Bess Flowers, Francis Ford, Henry Hall, George Irving, Edward LeSaint, Eric Mayne, Sam McDaniel, Lee Phelps, Frank Sheridan
- Directors:
- Clarence Brown
- Producers:
- Clarence Brown
- Writers:
- Adela Rogers St. Johns, Becky Gardiner, Philip Dunning
- Aka:
- Free Souls
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama, Romance
- Collections:
- Award Winners, Oscar Nominations Competition 2023
- Awards:
More like A Free Soul
Reviews (2) of A Free Soul
tosspot? - A Free Soul review by rm
does the synopsis mean to call him a tosspot? does it mean hotshot? surely this needs rewriting....................................?????????????
High Society. - A Free Soul review by Steve
An insight into the lives of rich sophisticates in ’30s California; mainly a celebrated and entitled -but alcoholic- lawyer (Lionel Barrymore) and his reckless, free spirited daughter (Norma Shearer). It is interesting that with fascism gaining influence in the US and Europe, MGM gave us heroes who see themselves as above the law and normal morality.
Lionel gets a prohibition gangster (Clark Gable) off a murder rap while Norma falls in love with him, and his expensive lifestyle. And if that already looks an impressive cast, there's Leslie Howard second billed as a well-heeled polo celebrity. They stand around expensive apartments in swanky clothes (by Adrian) drinking cocktails as their laissez faire decadence reaps a whirlwind.
Barrymore won the best actor Oscar and Shearer was nominated, which is a bit of a stretch. These are mannered performances. Much of the problem is the direction of Clarence Brown who abandons his stars to lengthy long or medium shots, like figures on a stage. Brown also got nominated and he became a star director of soaps at MGM.
The main interest in this today is to see Shearer, a huge star of early talkies, plus the frivolous precode hedonism. It opens with a discussion of Norma's scanty lingerie! The writing is unpolished, the sound is poor and it has a flat, uninteresting look. But it's fascinating to hear what Hollywood was talking about before the censors took charge.