A Free Soul

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Clarence Brown directs. William H. Daniels behind the camera. Hugh Wynn cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 195 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 2Directed by Clarence Brown, shot by William H. Daniels. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 3Editor Hugh Wynn shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 4Norma Shearer and Leslie Howard and Lionel Barrymore carry the top of the cast.
• 5Marketing tagline: "She wasn't a divorcee but she believed that strangers could kiss!".
• 6IMDB entry: tt0021885 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 7Only 49 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography

William H. Daniels

Editing

Hugh Wynn

Costume design

Adrian

Runtime

93 min · 1h 33m

Status

Released

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

NR

IMDB

A Free Soul (1931) ↗

Also by

Clarence Brown

• 
  The Great Redeemer

  1920 · ★ 10.0
• 
  Butterfly

  1924 · ★ 9.0
• 
  The Acquittal

  1923 · ★ 9.0
• 
  Don't Marry for Money

  1923 · ★ 8.0
• 
  Kiki

  1926 · ★ 7.8
• 
  When in Rome

  1952 · ★ 7.7

Community reviews

What people are saying

• CinemaSerf2022-09-08
  ★ 7/10

  Lionel Barrymore is on quite good form here as the drunken, but accomplished, lawyer "Ashe" who manages to get the young "Ace" (Clark Gable) off on a charge of murder (it's all to do with an hat!). Celebrating their success, the young hoodlum is introduced to the young and feisty "Jan" (Norma Shearer) and a romance soon blossoms. This disturbs the old man, so she comes up with a pact - he (her father) comes off the booze and she will stop seeing the man she has fallen in love with. To the hills they head for three months where both manage to keep to their word, but sadly his strength of character doesn't survive his first visit to a town, and so she rushes back into the rather aggressive arms of her beau who demands marriage. "Ace" isn't the only man interested in the future of the lady, though. Long time family friend "Winthrop" (Leslie Howard) is also her suitor, and when he sees how troubled she is, he takes matters into his own hands and in the end, it might just be that dipso-dad is the only thing standing between him and the chair. Gable certainly had a star quality, but as an actor I always found him rather wooden - here, this early outing illustrates his rather dry technique quite well. Howard features sparingly, and again there is little natural to his rather theatrical and over-done performance . Luckily, though, I found Shearer and Barrymore to have a charming chemistry - even if they do call each other "darling" just one too often, and the story has a rather "back were we started" conclusion that is probably for the best. Pre-code, and that is pretty noticeable in the garments Miss Shearer almost wears. Whilst nothing at all shocking by later standards, some of her gowns cling in all the right places in a fashion that would not have been permitted even five years later... It's fun, this film. It moves along nicely and I rather enjoyed watching it.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

  US

Key crew

• EditorHugh Wynn
• Theatre PlayWillard Mack
• NovelAdela Rogers St. Johns
• AdaptationBecky Gardiner
• Costume DesignAdrian
• Art DirectionCedric Gibbons
• Sound DirectorDouglas Shearer
• ProducerIrving Thalberg
• DialogueJohn Meehan
• Camera OperatorA. Lindsley Lane
• Still PhotographerMilton Brown

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• gangster
• murder
• alcoholic
• pre-code

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical (limited)1931-06-02NR· New York City, New York
• Theatrical1931-06-20

Also known as

International titles

• Spiel mit dem FeuerAT