Clark Gable
Ace Wilfong, Gangster Defendant
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A Free Soul is a 1931 American pre-Code drama film directed by Clarence Brown and starring Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Lionel Barrymore and Clark Gable. [3][4][5][6][7] A Free Soul became famous for Barrymore's climactic courtroom monologue, and he won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance. [8]
A Free Soul: Directed by Clarence Brown. With Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Lionel Barrymore, Clark Gable. An alcoholic lawyer who successfully defended a notorious gambler on a murder charge objects when his free-spirited daughter becomes romantically involved with him.
- (3K)
- Crime, Drama, Romance
- Clarence Brown
- 1931-06-20
Stephen Ashe, a famous criminal lawyer, lives in San Francisco and is adored by his free-spirited daughter Jan. One day, Stephen, a freethinker who drinks too heavily and hates everyone in his family except for Jan, is invited by Grandma Ashe to a family dinner. After extending the invitation, the snobbish Grandma Ashe warns Jan not to let ...
- Clarence Brown, Charles Dorian
- Norma Shearer
- Proof That It’S Pre-Code
- A Free Soul: Class Warfare
- Trivia & Links
- Awards, Accolades & Availability
The opening moments of the movie show Norma Sherer’s Jan nude in silhouette. She asks her father to bring her some underwear.One of Sherer’s dresses for this film is so sheer that you can see that it’s apparently quite chilly on set.Jan and Ace conduct themselves in a great deal of great premarital sex.When dressing down Ace, Stephen lists his crimes, besides being a mobster, as dealing opium and white slavery.Sitting firmly on that line between daring and dull is 1931’s A Free Soul. The story of a father-daughter relationship and how it’s almost ruined by their vices has a strong start and a ludicrous finish– but, of course, we’ll get to that in a minute or so. Jan Ashe (Norma Shearer) and her father Stephen (Lionel Barrymore) are members of the elite (...
A more in-depth discussion of this movie is available in 3rd issue of The Pre-Code Companion. You can also see other available issues and topics covered in the series by clicking hereor on the bann...
This film is available as part of the Forbidden Hollywood, Volume 2 set along with The Divorcee, Three on a Match, Female, and Night Nurse. You can pick it up over at Amazon.- 5 min
Morally ambivalent defense attorney Stephen Ashe (Lionel Barrymore) gets mobster Ace Wilfong (Clark Gable) off the hook when he's brought up on...
- (54)
- Clarence Brown
- Drama
- Norma Shearer
A Free Soul (1931) was a Crime - Drama Film directed by Clarence Brown and produced by Clarence Brown and Irving Thalberg. The film was based on the novel of the same name and also Stage Play written by Adela Rogers St. Johns published in 1927 (novel); Jan 12, 1928 - Apr 1928 (play performed at Playhouse Theatre, NY).
An alcoholic lawyer who successfully defended a notorious gambler on a murder charge objects when his free-spirited daughter becomes romantically involved with him.
