A Free Soul (1931)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Clarence Brown

Writers:

Adela Rogers St. Johns (book)
John Meehan (dialogue continuity)

Release Date:

20 June 1931 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Romance

Plot:

An alcoholic lawyer who successfully defended a notorious gambler on a murder charge objects when his free-spirited daughter becomes romantically involved with him.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Alcoholic | Engagement | Lawyer | Polo Player

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Norma Shearer	...	Jan Ashe
Leslie Howard	...	Dwight Winthrop
Lionel Barrymore	...	Stephen Ashe
James Gleason	...	Eddie
Clark Gable	...	Ace Wilfong
Lucy Beaumont	...	Grandma Ashe

Also Known As:

Free Souls (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

93 min (Turner library print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:TV-G | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

Point Lobos, Point Lobos State Reserve, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The film ranked as ninth best picture in 1935 by the annual Film Daily poll of critics.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the emotional scene when Shearer promises to give up Gable, Barrymore's hair changes between close-ups and medium shots.

Quotes:

Stephen Ashe, Defense Attorney: I wish my mother belonged to some other family.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Tiny Toon Adventures: Prom-ise Her Anything (#1.17)" (1990)

Soundtrack:

By the River Sainte Marie

Lionel Barrymore Gives An Oscar Winning Acting Lesson

They are alike, this father & daughter. Liberal, passionate, willful - they live life on their own terms, disdaining their narrow-minded relations. Few regrets & even fewer apologies cloud either conscious - yet each harbors a character trait that threatens to destroy them. Hers is emotional instability; his, acute alcoholism. Although both will make bad choices that will haunt them, each will continue to see their reflection in the other, unique & individual, A FREE SOUL.

Based on a book by Adela Rogers St. Johns, Norma Shearer gets top billing in this aged but enjoyable soap opera, and she is very good, turning on the histrionics most effectively. But it is Lionel Barrymore who gets full honors - and a Best Actor Oscar - for his portrayal of her brilliant, tragic, lawyer father. Masterfully, he dominates his every scene. His final appearance, a tempestuous summation to a murder trial jury, is considered a classic.

Playing the two very different men in Shearer's life are Clark Gable & Leslie Howard. Gable is excellent, oozing the virility that was about to make him a huge star. Howard deftly underplays his less flashy role and becomes the film's calm center. James Gleason as Barrymore's factotum, and Lucy Beaumont as Barrymore's patrician mother, both give memorable performances. Film mavens will spot Edward Brophy as one of Gable's henchmen & master stutterer Roscoe Ates as the man in the washroom window.