Product Details

• Actors: Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Lionel Barrymore, James Gleason, Clark Gable
• Directors: Clarence Brown
• Writers: Adela Rogers St. Johns, Becky Gardiner, John Meehan, Willard Mack
• Producers: Clarence Brown, Irving Thalberg
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Warner)
• VHS Release Date: December 21, 1994
• Run Time: 91 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302004462
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #14,293 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly Mature Melodrama For 1930's, November 29, 2001

By	James L. (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Norma Shearer stars as the free soul, a woman with bad judgement who falls in love with brutal crime king Clark Gable, a man recently defended in court by her alcoholic father, Lionel Barrymore. She's already engaged to polo champ Leslie Howard, a much better match in the eyes of her family. The film is surprisingly adult in its presentation of Shearer's relationship with Gable, as well as in Barrymore's alcoholism. The performances are a mixed bag. This was one of Shearer's early sound films, and she's still playing to the back row as if it were a silent film - lots of dramatic hand gestures and lurching about. She never completely lost some of those mannerisms in her acting, which is too bad, because in her quieter moments she is fine. Barrymore has the showiest part, and he makes the most of it, with his justly famous courtroom speech a highlight. Howard was a great actor in the right roles, but this wasn't one of them, and as in certain other films, he's pretty bland. But it's Clark Gable that impresses the most in one of his first roles. The film comes alive when he's on screen, bringing an intensity and explosiveness to his gangster character, and showing how even early on in his career he had the screen presence that would make him a legend. The writing is pretty good and the direction is a little creaky, but the film is worth a look as a worthy example of Hollywood filmmaking in the early days of sound.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Norma Shearer And Clark Gable Ignite The Screen, January 21, 2004

By	Simon Davis - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

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.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a Moving, Heartfelt 95 minutes!, August 9, 1999

By A Customer

Gable, Barrymore, Howard and Shearer are superbly cast as people from different worlds who cross paths in a tour-de-force film. The plot, timing, and acting efforts of all the stars are perfect! That applies mainly to Lionel Barrymore who won an Oscar for his down-to-earth performance as a free-swinging, drinking lawyer (look out for those courtroom scenes, especially the finale) and Clark Gable as an underworld gambler who is defended in court by Barrymore and in turn, falls in love with his daughter. A timeless classic by all means, this is a movie to watch over and over with the family.