Best movie of this year hands down!

Just perfect...

Fresh and Exciting

Admirable film.

I find Clarence Brown is not a terribly remarkable director with many of his films being by the numbers but he does have has a few worthwhile movies under his belt. A Free Soul isn't a great film as the plot is on the ordinary side but it does have enough to elevate the film above this – plus I am a sucker for the MGM product of the 1930's. The common elements of a contemporary, pre code melodrama are here; alcoholism, adultery, gangsters, corruption of authority etc.Norma Shearer's nude silhouette in the first shot sets the tone of A Free Soul; a movie full of lust and sexual desire. One of the biggest stars of the film itself is the slinky silk dress Shearer wears to Grandma's party and Clark Gable's apartment. The dress is sexually suggestive to say the least and shows off a lot of skin. The design of the dress is cut to slide over her body in all the right ways to make her appear naked without actually being so as well as show off her assets. It's clear that costume design was taken very seriously in the days of old Hollywood as well as the art of how to wear clothes. Outfits are one thing though, with Shearer and Gable's scenes together steaming things up, in contrast to her fiancé played by Leslie Howard of whom she shares nowhere near the same level of sexual chemistry with. Gable played a number of gangsters in his career but none as such a player as Ace Wilfong (his gangster's hideout and apartment are to be envied). Likewise there is an unusually intimate relationship between Norma Shearer and her father played by Lionel Barrymore. Their interactions feel more like what you would expect between husband and wife as she refers to him as "darling", "dear" and "sweetheart" while also being extremely affectionate with him such as scene at the very beginning of the film in which she asks him to fetch her undies. I'm astounding at Norma Shearer's ability to burst of the screen with her sheer presence and I do wish I could call myself a bigger fan but her filmography is a bit lackluster in my view. Regardless there are enough melodramatic theatrics to keep A Free Soul interesting including a character's much unexpected death by the last character you would expect and a courtroom finale in which Barrymore tears the scenery (I just have to ask though would questioning your own daughter not be a conflict of interest?). The only scene which really disrupts the tone of the film is the moment in which Barrymore pulls a Buster Keaton by grabbing onto a train as it goes past and disappears out of sight, very odd.

An alcoholic lawyer who successfully defended a notorious gambler on a murder charge objects when his free-spirited daughter becomes romantically involved with him.Clark Gable made such an impression in the role of a gangster who pushes Norma Shearer around that he was catapulted from supporting player to leading man, a position he held for the rest of his career. That is really the only redeeming thing about this film, seeing Gable in an early role really busting out.Not that the film is a bad one, but there's a good reason you never hear anyone talking about "A Free Soul". It's not a classic, and it doesn't need to be rediscovered.

A Free Soul (1931) is so misleading. Hot off her smash hit The Divorcée, Norma Shearer seems like she'll be playing another empowered woman. With Lionel Barrymore, Clark Gable, and Leslie Howard backing her up, you'd think this film would be a classic of pre-code. Shearer plays a hard-drinking lawyer's free-spirited daughter who takes up a passionate affair with a gangster; however, her liberated sexuality comes with an awful price.And boy is it awful! The film goes out of its way to humiliate and chastise the heroine (and in turn, the audience) for her sexual exploration. It's complete with Barrymore giving a courtroom speech that reeks of Oscar bait and Leslie Howard being given next to nothing to do but sit back and make goo goo eyes at Shearer.Of course, it's not an entire waste. The first half of the picture is fun and full of hot material, like Shearer in a sheer evening gown. She never looked sexier (how I yearned to be Gable in this movie). Barrymore and Gable give solid supporting performances, though the material does not allow them to be at their best. We can only dream of what could have been, alas.

At some point in a courtroom scene, someone says, "This is too theatrical." His comment fits a description of this Clarence Brown movie that features NORMA SHEARER, LESLIE HOWARD and LIONEL BARRYMORE in leading roles.But the actor who commands the most attention whenever he appears is CLARK GABLE, then being groomed for stardom by MGM. He was given another "dangerous guy" role as a gangster who had once been a client of Shearer's father (Barrymore) and set free. Complications ensue when Shearer falls in love with the man she treats as a "boy toy" and the melodrama gets steamier when Leslie Howard has to protect her by shooting Gable.Remade in the '50s for an Elizabeth Taylor film called "The Girl Who Had Everything," it's hampered by the '31 conventions of early talkies, all of them featuring performers who were still using silent film technique for their acting styles. Thus, you can expect a lot of overacting, especially from Lionel Barrymore who uses all of his mannerisms to the nth degree in the final courtroom confrontation. Yet, he won a Best Actor Oscar for his very theatrical performance.Summing up: It's a matter of taste--and whether or not you can tolerate all the talky dialogue played out in stage-like fashion by a cast of talented players trying to make the transition to sound films. Of the cast members, it's Clark Gable who actually gives the most natural performance in the film--and whom one can easily spot as a candidate for stardom.