A Free Soul (1931)

Good example of pre-code entertainment

This film will probably never come out on DVD since it really doesn't have the kind of compelling screenplay or dialogue that still draws a large general audience like "It Happened One Night" does, for example. However, if you are a serious student of the early talkies and pre-code entertainment in particular, it is essential viewing. It has a great cast. Lionel Barrymore plays alcoholic defense attorney Stephen Ashe in a role that won him an academy award, and Norma Shearer plays his daughter Jan, the "Free Soul". Barrymore's performance is great, and he has the best lines of anyone in the film. He does a great job of projecting guilt over and shock at his daughter's behavior as well as giving us an idea of why he feels he must drink -"I must drink the way other men must breathe", he says at one point. Also, James Gleason shows why he was one of the great character actors of the 30's and 40's in his role as Barrymore's assistant, stealing several scenes. The rest of the cast seems to be a bit stuck in silent film-era performances, as they pose and posture for the camera and utter largely unmemorable dialogue. Much of this has to be the fault of the director, since many of the members of the cast - Norma Shearer and Clark Gable in particular - had given very good and natural performances in past "talkies".

The jist of the story is this - Stephen and his daughter Jan have always lived a lifestyle of which the rest of their socialite family disapproved. Stephen has always taught his daughter to go her own way and not pay attention to what other people think. Now this may be good advice when it has to do with priggish conventions rooted in tradition rather than right and wrong. However, what Stephen has failed to point out to Jan is that people also generally think it is a bad idea to walk into a busy intersection blind-folded, and just because this is a majority opinion does not make it a convention ripe for the testing. Thus, completely blindfolded, Jan walks into the busy intersection that is the world of gangster Ace Wilfong, a murderer that her father has recently managed to get acquitted in one of his more sober moments. Stephen Ashe is faced with a parent's worst nightmare - he has given his daughter what turns out to be very bad advice, and she has not only listened but followed it. When Jan finally sees what Ace is and rejects him, he does not take it well, threatening both her and her doormat-like fiance, Dwight Winthrop, played by Leslie Howard in one of his blander performances. Dwight does the "noble thing" and kills Ace in cold blood, then promptly turns himself in claiming a gambling debt as the motive, rather than the real reason - protecting Jan's honor. In one of the more unbelievable turns of events in the movie, this one bullet has done more to raise Dwight's stature in Jan's eyes than all the chocolates at Russell Stovers. Now she suddenly professes her undying love to Dwight. In the nick of time, Stephen Ashe, recently recovered from a multi-month bender, enters the courtroom to defend his daughter's fiancee and lay the blame of the whole situation on himself. He must have succeeded at swaying the jury, because the final scene is Dwight and Jan saying their temporary goodbyes as she leaves for New York.

I love this movie for several reasons. One is the starkness of the pre-code relationship between Ace and Jan. For example, when Jan returns from a long trip, Ace tells her "make yourself comfortable, your things are still hanging in my closet". It is also great to see Clark Gable in the supporting role that finally made him a star, plus we get a look at him and Leslie Howard on screen together eight years before "Gone with the Wind". Another reason I love this film is that it conveys a subtle, probably unintended message. This movie, one of the favorite targets of the pro-decency and pro-code crowd in the early 30's, takes place during prohibition. However, that doesn't even seem to slow down Barrymore's character when it comes to drinking himself to death. It just takes his alcoholism off the main streets. Thus what did the Hayes code proponents really expect to accomplish by making mainstream American feature films unrealistically G-rated sanitized fluff? Illicit behavior and illicit movies just didn't go away because some law was passed. It just took the behavior off the screens of the mainstream theatres. If the real purpose of prohibitions on personal behavior and the art forms that portray it are so that Puritans won't have to see it, why didn't they/ don't they, just look the other way in the first place and leave everyone else alone? February 9, 2007

Clark Gable breaks out...

& into stardom. He's pretty good too as as Ace, a two bit hood, heading for jail. He hooks up with his attorney's daughter, Jan. She breaks off her engagement to good but boring socialite, Leslie Howard, to walk on the wild side with Ace. Gable dominates most scenes he's in.
I said most. Lionel Barrymore basically steals this movie. He is Ace's brillant, but alcoholic, attorney Steve Ashe. He gets Ace off then regrets it as he sees how evil he is & how he abuses his daughter. His attempts to break them up is a good part of thie pre-code mellow drama.
A tour de force court room scene by Barrymore in the finale sewed up the Oscar for him. It is still relevant & excellent acting even today. It is an old fashioned movie but still entertaining 70 years on. Also Norma Shearer is one of the few leading ladies Gable had that he didn't seduce or try to seduce. September 19, 2005

So "Free" The Story Almost Flies Away

"A Free Soul" on paper seemed like a knock-out. I simply can't believe the movie doesn't reach the intensity and emotion that could have been.

The movie has Lionel Barrymore playing a lawyer Stephen Ashe who defends a gangster, Ace Wilfong (Clark Gable) over a murder charge. After Ashe gets Wilfong off by some questionable actions Ace sets his eyes on Ashe's daughter Jan (Norma Shearer) and she sets her eyes on him as well, despite being engaged to Dwight (Leslie Howard) because after all Jan is "a free soul" and her life is nobody's business. She does as she pleases.

The story-line may sound typical for a 30s melodrama and at first it hits all the right bases but then the film goes on to long, creates sub-plots that only confuse the movie, and forgets about certain characters for too long, and when concerning one character we led to believe he died only to reappear!!

Now as much as I like Shearer, and I do think she was a talented actress, I wondered how her rival would do in her role, Joan Crawford. Crawford too played these "free" or "lost" soul characters think of "Dancing Lady", "Paid", and "Shining Hour".

Leslie Howard simply isn't used enough so no connection is made with his character. Gable's doesn't seem clearly defined and acts accordingly to how the script wants him to, not perhaps how the character would want him to. And why Barrymore won the Oscar I'm uncertain. The movie was nominated for a total of 3 Oscars.

"A Free Soul" is good for filmbuffs to watch but not anyone else. And I'm surprised I seem to be in the minority view of the movie. Clarence Brown, the film's director, had a much better film in 1931 starring Gable and Crawford called "Possessed". That one I strongly recommend. This one you have to twist my arm a little bit.

Any what about that ending scene? Can you get anything more heavy-handed and preachy and completely unnecessary. My guess is, that last scene is what got Barrymore the Oscar, but geez are they laying it on thick or what?

Bottom-line: Starts off well, but for whatever reason loses track and is not able to balance its characters. Don't get me wrong it has its moments, and I'm a fan of black&white movies but I was expecting more. Worthwhile for filmbuffs. July 11, 2004

"A Free Soul"

The cast alone makes this a great film to own - with Lionel Barrymore before the pain from spinal problems forced him to a wheelchair, Clark Gable, Norma Shearer and a small part by up-and-coming Leslie Howard. Classic story of good and evil, but who cares who wins when you get to watch talent like this when it is still young and fresh.

Norma Shearer was extremely popular at the time this was made and Gable was just beginning to climb the perverbial Hollywood ladder. They have genuine chemistry together and my favorite English actor, Leslie Howard, has a small supporting role but adds to the stylish and noirish feel of this film. As an aside, Howard went on to make many great films, including "Gone with the Wind" and "The Petrified Forest" (with Humphrey Bogart and Bette Davis), but this great talent was killed during WW II when flying from the States to England. A legend lingers today that has not been disproved that Howard was acting as an undercover agent for Britain and the U.S. and that he was taking valuable information to Britain when his plane was shot down June 1, 1943.

In this film, Gable is seductive and Shearer loves every moment of it, but her father, Barrymore, can see the danger ahead and valiantly fails to keep his daughter from the tragedy he sees coming to them all.
No one could have picked a better cast for this film, from the smallest part to the lead. They were all superstars of their time and it's wonderful that films like this are here for new generations to view. The storyline may seem quaint compared to today's values, but I wish sincerely that young people will give this film and others of its genre a chance. There's not a doubt in the world that those of every generation beyond 18 will truly enjoy "A Free Soul". As they say - "What's not to like!" March 6, 2004

Norma Shearer And Clark Gable Ignite The Screen

For those of you like myself who normally associate the great Norma Shearer with refined and very ladylike roles, a viewing of Clarence Brown's "A Free Soul", is a wonderful illustration of the great versatility of this actress who sadly is forgotten by most audiences today. Married to the legendary Irving Thalberg who had visions of Norma becoming the dignified first Lady of MGM and appearing only in prestigious productions, Norma saw otherwise and delighted in tackling "racier" roles such as that in "A Free Soul". Here she is the "free soul" of the title where she most capably plays Jan Ashe a young free thinking daughter of defense lawyer Stephen Ashe who scandalises her family and "degrades", her social standing by seeing nothing wrong with living a life of excess and in finding love in certain "undesirable" environments. Considered racy stuff in 1931 it gave Norma Shearer a most challenging acting experience and succeeded in winning for Lionel Barrymore who played her alcoholic defense Lawyer father, an Academy Award as Best Actor of the year.

Based on the writings of Adela Rogers St. John, she apparently based the character of renegade and alcoholic Stephen Ashe on her own father, a brilliant but undisciplined lawyer of great merit. "A Free Soul",begins with Stephen defending crooked gangster and conman Ace Wilfong (Clark Gable in his mesmorizing breakthrough performance). Succeeding in getting him off his charges Ace and Jan find they have an instant attraction for each other despite their very different stations in life. When Stephen brings Ace home to his mother's (Lucy Beaumont) birthday celebration while drunk it causes a scandal in the Ashe family and fed up with their judgemental views of people and their place in the level of society Jan drops her proper but boring fiancee Dwight Winthrop (Leslie Howard) and goes off with Ace much to the horror of the family members. Things however dont go as smoothly as Jan or Ace expected and when Stephen pays a visit to Ace's gambling establishment and Ace confides that he wants to marry Jan a huge argument breaks out. Seeing the impossible situation she is now in Jan makes a deal with Stephen whereby if he permanently goes off the drink she will not see Ace again. Despite a three month trip away Stephen eventually falls off the wagon and disappears. Returning home Jan finds herself alienated from her critical family and again takes up with Ace. However she finds herself in a relationship where the man is considered the boss and she begins to fear Ace and what he will do to her. After being pushed around and then threatened by Ace Jan makes her escape only to be pursued by Ace. At this moment the still besotted Dwight comes to Jan's defence and in a dramatic confrontation shots Ace to free Jan from his verbal and physical abuse. After Dwight is placed on trial for murder Stephen discovers what has happened and pulls himself together long enough to intervene in the murder case delivering in one last burst of his old brillance a stunning defence of Dwight which secures his freedom but which costs him his life as he collapses with a heart attack in the court room. Sobered by all the tragedy she has witnessed Jan now sees for the first time the real value of Dwight and his attentions and goes away with him to start a new life.

Created as one of MGM's prestige pictures for 1931 "A Free Soul", is famous for providing Clark Gable with the role that finally earned him complete stardom. He commands the screen in every scene he appears in and his brutalising of Norma Shearer in a number of scenes really enflamed audience curiosity about this forthright young man who pulled no pushes with his women. His scenes with Norma Shearer are really electric and the two have a potent screen chemistry together that strangely apart from two other films, "Strange Interlude", and "Idiot's Delight", never resulted in a regular teaming in movies like Gable enjoyed with performers like Joan Crawford or Jean Harlow. The film also marks the first teaming of very different performers Gable and Leslie Howard who of course are still best remembered for their work together in 1939 in "Gone with the Wind". Lionel Barrymore certainly has the most showy of the roles and he makes the most of his meaty part as the hard drinking but gifted Lawyer who is considered the black sheep of the family. His final courtroom delivery is a tour de force for his acting skills and while some might consider it ham of the first order I feel it brings the film to a most effective climax. Of particular note is the easy rapport that Barrymore as Stephen Ashe enjoys with Norma Shearer's character. They are depicted more like best friends or co conspirators if you wish, than like father and daughter and the two performers real life affection for each other definately shows in their very pleasing performing together here.

As a very early sound film effort that shows some of the seamier elements of society "A Free Soul", is certainly a curio today. It has retained its interest largely because of Clark Gable's dramatic rise to stardom through his "roughing up" of MGM's first lady which was considered shocking at the time. I believe however that this story is of interest for many other reasons than that. Norma Shearer presents another side to her dramatic abilities here and the film still can be seen as an entertaining melodrama from Hollywood's number one studio with excellence in every department. "A Free Soul", is an enjoyable trip back to pre code Hollywood when men were tough and women still dared to cross the boundaries of "respectability". Highly recommended. January 22, 2004

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