A Free Soul
| A Free Soul | |
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| Directed by | Clarence Brown |
| Produced by | Irving Thalberg |
| Written by | Becky Gardiner Willard Mack John Meehan Adela Rogers St. Johns |
| Starring | Norma Shearer Leslie Howard Lionel Barrymore Clark Gable |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | June 20, 1931 |
| Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
A Free Soul is a 1931 Pre-Code film which tells the story of an alcoholic defense attorney who must defend his daughter's ex-boyfriend on a charge of murdering the mobster she had started a relationship with; a mobster whom her father had previously got an acquittal for on a murder charge. A Free Soul stars Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Lionel Barrymore, and Clark Gable (the first screen appearance together of the future Ashley Wilkes and Rhett Butler).
The movie was adapted by Becky Gardiner and John Meehan (dialogue continuity) from the play by Willard Mack, which was based on the novel by Adela Rogers St. Johns. It was directed by Clarence Brown.
A Free Soul became famous for a sequence where Barrymore delivers a monologue that is said[by whom?] to be the main reason he won the Academy Award for Best Actor that year. (Norma Shearer was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role and Clarence Brown for Best Director.) Gable made such an impression in the role of a gangster who pushes Shearer around that he was catapulted from supporting player to leading man, a position he held for the rest of his career.
A Free Soul was released on DVD by Warner Home Video on March 8, 2008 (along with The Divorcee, also starring Norma Shearer), as one of five Pre-Code films in the "TCM Archives - Forbidden Hollywood Collection, Vol. 2" DVD box set.
[edit] Cast
- In credits order:
- Norma Shearer as Jan Ashe
- Leslie Howard as Dwight Winthrop
- Lionel Barrymore as Stephen Ashe
- James Gleason as Eddie
- Clark Gable as Ace Wilfong
- Lucy Beaumont as Grandma Ashe
[edit] Production
According to the Guinness Book of World Records (2002), A Free Soul holds the record for the longest take in a commercial film, the final courtroom scene at 14 minutes. Since a reel of camera film lasts only 10 minutes, the take was achieved by using more than one camera.
[edit] External links
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