A Free Soul (1931)
Clarence Brown's "A Free Soul"
After catapulting Greta Garbo to international fame, Clarence Brown did the same for a few more actors with his 1931 film "A Free Soul." Norma Shearer, Lionel Barrymore, and Clark Gable all benefited from the success of the film and eventually became stars in their own right.
The film stars Norma Shearer as a woman named Jan, whose father is an alcoholic defense lawyer. After falling in love with one of his defendants, Ace, her father berates her. She promises to leave Ace as long as her father stops drinking. After getting off the wagon, her father can't help but to fall back on old habits. In doing so, she goes back to Ace only to realize that her father was right about him the whole time. Jan's ex-fiance defends Jan from getting kidnapped by Ace by killing him. At the trial, along with the help of her father, Jan sets the record straight.
The films that Clarence Brown chooses to direct all seem to have a common element. In every film, the characters fall in and out of love, familial relationships disassemble and reassemble, and friendships begin and end. All of this drama unfolds due to expectations held by the characters, particularly of each other. Every character has a certain fault or taboo nature that other characters find undesirable. Because of these judgments, relationships begin to fall apart. In this film, the character of Jan is the 'free soul' of the film's title. Her demeanor and behavior stem from a sense of self-worth and personal liberty. This ends up rubbing many characters the wrong way, especially her extended family who are considered 'posh,' as the British would say. She, in turn, can't abide her father's excessive drinking. He cannot abide by who she chooses as a companion. In the end, the characters are all able to finally let go of their pretensions.
Many stars were created with the success of this film. The film's lead protagonist, Norma Shearer had already been in many leading roles by 1931, however. In fact, she had won an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role the year prior for "The Divorcee." However, it was "A Free Soul" that audiences stamped her a bonafide star. The reason was due to her sexually liberated behavior and her revealing costumes. Because the enforcement of the Production Code did not become established until 1934, women in films could be as sensual as the studio would like (without being too revealing). This meant that the studio could turn Norma into a sex symbol (until she started more 'prestigious' roles after the enforcement of the Production Code). Another star the film created was Lionel Barrymore. By this point, Barrymore had done well over 100 films dating as far back as 1911. Not only this, he was a renowned stage actor dating back to 1893. "A Free Soul" was the first time, however, that he received commercial recognition from the general population. Because of this, he received an Academy Award nomination and win for his performance. The final star "A Free Soul' made was Clark Gable. Gable did such a good job that it catapulted him from a supporting player to a leading man overnight. His career and all of their career would forever be changed.
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