A Free Soul
| A Free Soul | |
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theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Clarence Brown |
| Produced by | Clarence Brown Irving Thalberg (uncredited) |
| Written by | Dialogue continuity by John Meehan Adaptation by Becky Gardiner Uncredited: Philip Dunning Dorothy Farnum John Lynch |
| Based on |
A Free Soul (1927 novel) by Adela Rogers St. Johns A Free Soul (1928 play) by Willard Mack (uncredited) |
| Starring | Norma Shearer |
| Cinematography | William Daniels |
| Edited by | Hugh Wynn |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
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Release date
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Running time
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91 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $529,000 |
| Box office | $1,422,000 |
A Free Soul is a 1931 American Pre-Code film which tells the story of an alcoholic San Francisco 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.
A Free Soul became famous for a sequence where Barrymore delivers a monologue that is said to be the main reason he won the Academy Award for Best Actor that year. 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 written by John Meehan (dialogue continuity) and Becky Gardiner (adaptation) from the 1928 play by Willard Mack, which was based on the 1927 novel A Free Soul by Adela Rogers St. Johns. However, according to MGM publicity material, the story on which this film was based first appeared serially in Hearst's International with Cosmopolitan magazine starting in September 1926. Although onscreen credits list only the book by Adela Rogers St. Johns, contemporary reviews list both the novel and Willard Mack's play. Uncredited contribution is also assigned to Philip Dunning, Dorothy Farnum and John Lynch.
According to the Guinness 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.
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Wikipedia