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A Free Soul (1931
1931 in film

Events...
) is a Pre-Code
Pre-Code

Pre-Code films were created before the United States Motion Picture Production Code of 1930 or Hays Code - censorship guidelines - took effect on 1 July 1934 in the United States of America....
 film which tells the story of an alcoholic
Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a term with multiple and sometimes conflicting definitions to describe the detrimental effects of alcohol intake.In common and historic usage, alcoholism refers to any condition that results in the continued consumption of alcoholic beverages despite health problems and negative social consequences....
 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 gotten an acquittal for on a murder charge. A Free Soul stars Norma Shearer
Norma Shearer

Edith Norma Shearer was an Academy Awards Canadian-American actor....
, Leslie Howard
Leslie Howard (actor)

Leslie Howard was an English people Academy Award-nominated Stage and film actor, director, and Theatrical producer. He is best known by international audiences as Ashley Wilkes in the film Gone with the Wind ....
, Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore

Lionel Barrymore was an United States Academy Award-winning actor of stage, radio and film....
 and Clark Gable
Clark Gable

Clark Gable was an Cinema of the United States, nicknamed "The King of Hollywood" in his heyday. In , the American Film Institute named Gable seventh among the AFI's 100 Years......
 (the first screen appearance together of the future Ashley Wilkes
Ashley Wilkes

George Ashley Wilkes is a fictional character in the Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind and the later Gone with the Wind . The character also appears in the 1991 book Scarlett , a sequel to Gone with the Wind written by Alexandra Ripley, and in Rhett Butler's People by Donald McCaig....
 and Rhett Butler
Rhett Butler

Rhett Butler is a fictional character, and one of the main protagonists of Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell....
).

The movie was adapted by Becky Gardiner and John Meehan
John Meehan (screenwriter)

John Meehan , was a Canadian screenwriter. He wrote for 34 films between 1929 in film and 1948 in film.He was born in Lindsay, Ontario, and died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles....
 (dialogue continuity) from the play by Willard Mack
Willard Mack

Willard Mack was a Canada-born actor, film director, and playwright.Born Charles McLaughlin, in Morrisburg, Ontario, at an early age his family moved to Brooklyn, New York....
, which was based on the book by Adela Rogers St. Johns
Adela Rogers St. Johns

Adela Rogers St. Johns was an American journalist, novelist, and screenwriter. She wrote a number of screenplays for Silent film and, late in life, appeared with other early twentieth-century figures as one of the 'witnesses' in Warren Beatty's Reds , but she is best remembered for her groundbreaking exploits as a "girl reporter" during...
.






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A Free Soul (1931
1931 in film

Events...
) is a Pre-Code
Pre-Code

Pre-Code films were created before the United States Motion Picture Production Code of 1930 or Hays Code - censorship guidelines - took effect on 1 July 1934 in the United States of America....
 film which tells the story of an alcoholic
Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a term with multiple and sometimes conflicting definitions to describe the detrimental effects of alcohol intake.In common and historic usage, alcoholism refers to any condition that results in the continued consumption of alcoholic beverages despite health problems and negative social consequences....
 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 gotten an acquittal for on a murder charge. A Free Soul stars Norma Shearer
Norma Shearer

Edith Norma Shearer was an Academy Awards Canadian-American actor....
, Leslie Howard
Leslie Howard (actor)

Leslie Howard was an English people Academy Award-nominated Stage and film actor, director, and Theatrical producer. He is best known by international audiences as Ashley Wilkes in the film Gone with the Wind ....
, Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore

Lionel Barrymore was an United States Academy Award-winning actor of stage, radio and film....
 and Clark Gable
Clark Gable

Clark Gable was an Cinema of the United States, nicknamed "The King of Hollywood" in his heyday. In , the American Film Institute named Gable seventh among the AFI's 100 Years......
 (the first screen appearance together of the future Ashley Wilkes
Ashley Wilkes

George Ashley Wilkes is a fictional character in the Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind and the later Gone with the Wind . The character also appears in the 1991 book Scarlett , a sequel to Gone with the Wind written by Alexandra Ripley, and in Rhett Butler's People by Donald McCaig....
 and Rhett Butler
Rhett Butler

Rhett Butler is a fictional character, and one of the main protagonists of Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell....
).

The movie was adapted by Becky Gardiner and John Meehan
John Meehan (screenwriter)

John Meehan , was a Canadian screenwriter. He wrote for 34 films between 1929 in film and 1948 in film.He was born in Lindsay, Ontario, and died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles....
 (dialogue continuity) from the play by Willard Mack
Willard Mack

Willard Mack was a Canada-born actor, film director, and playwright.Born Charles McLaughlin, in Morrisburg, Ontario, at an early age his family moved to Brooklyn, New York....
, which was based on the book by Adela Rogers St. Johns
Adela Rogers St. Johns

Adela Rogers St. Johns was an American journalist, novelist, and screenwriter. She wrote a number of screenplays for Silent film and, late in life, appeared with other early twentieth-century figures as one of the 'witnesses' in Warren Beatty's Reds , but she is best remembered for her groundbreaking exploits as a "girl reporter" during...
. It was directed by Clarence Brown
Clarence Brown

Clarence Brown was an United States film director. Born in Clinton, Massachusetts, to a cotton manufacturer, Brown moved to the South when he was eleven....
.

A Free Soul
A Free Soul

A Free Soul is a Pre-Code film which tells the story of an alcoholism 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 gotten an acquittal for on a murder charge....
 became famous for a 14-minute uninterrupted take where Barrymore delivers a monologue that is said to be the main reason he won the Academy Award for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry....
 that year. (Norma Shearer was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Academy Award for Best Actress

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry....
 and Clarence Brown for Best Director
Academy Award for Directing

The Academy Award for Achievement in Directing is one of the Academy Award presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to Film directors working in the film industry....
.) 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
The Divorcee

The Divorcee is a 1930 in film USA drama film written by Nick Grind?, John Meehan and Zelda Sears, and based on the novel Ex-Wife by Ursula Parrott....
, also starring Norma Shearer), as one of five Pre-Code films in the "TCM Archives - Forbidden Hollywood Collection, Vol. 2" DVD box set.

Cast

  • Norma Shearer
    Norma Shearer

    Edith Norma Shearer was an Academy Awards Canadian-American actor....
     - Jan Ashe
  • Leslie Howard
    Leslie Howard (actor)

    Leslie Howard was an English people Academy Award-nominated Stage and film actor, director, and Theatrical producer. He is best known by international audiences as Ashley Wilkes in the film Gone with the Wind ....
     - Dwight Winthrop, Jan's Fiancee
  • Lionel Barrymore
    Lionel Barrymore

    Lionel Barrymore was an United States Academy Award-winning actor of stage, radio and film....
     - Stephen Ashe, Defense Attorney
  • James Gleason
    James Gleason

    James Gleason was an United States actor born in New York City. He was also a playwright and screenwriter.Balding and slender with a craggy voice, Gleason portrayed tough but warm-hearted characters, usually with a New York background....
     - Eddie, Stephen's Assistant
  • Clark Gable
    Clark Gable

    Clark Gable was an Cinema of the United States, nicknamed "The King of Hollywood" in his heyday. In , the American Film Institute named Gable seventh among the AFI's 100 Years......
     - Ace Wilfong, Gangster Defendant
  • Lucy Beaumont
    Lucy Beaumont

    Lucy Beaumont was an English actress of the stage and screen from Bristol, England. She was the daughter of Sir Albert and Helen Coles. She was educated at Young Ladies College in Bath, England....
     - Grandma Ashe


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