This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Here's the way I see things..... Norma Shearer's character Jan falls in love with a gangster played by you know who even though she's going out with a nice guy.The gangster is something exciting while the nice guy is quickly forgotten.What girl wouldn't want to be in constant danger of being shot at instead of horseback rides on the beach? Daddy, who's a lawyer & alcoholic, was OK with the gangster (Hey he's bringing in business, right?) until he found out the gangster is going out with his daughter.Now there's a problem & this causes a rift in the once tight bond between father & daughter, her family as well.Eventually the daughter realizes her & the gangster's relationship is going nowhere & he realizes that she's never going to publicly acknowledge their relationship (She always sneaking in the backdoor to see him) She sees what a mistake shes made & that she was actually better off with the nice guy.The gangster let's her know he's never, NEVER going anywhere & in steps the nice guy to save her from the gangster.BOOM.Now they go & find her father who was doing well but slipped & fell off the wagon a little ways back & hopped a train to ??? to bring him back to try & help the nice guy beat the case.THE END.I wasn't into this movie as much I hoped or thought I would be.It was just something to sit back & watch.I think I might have dozed off once or twice & had to rewind it back.Go ahead & give A Free Soul a shot.You'll probably enjoy it more than I did

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.

Very entertaining pre-code flick from 1931 has lovely Shearer as the "free soul" flapper daughter of an alcoholic lawyer, played by Barrymore. They have a very close, but unusual father-daughter relationship, where she ignores his boozing and he ignores her wild lifestyle...until she falls for Gable, who plays a gangster being defended by her father, for whom she shuns the love of the "the nice guy" played by Howard. Gable really chews up playing the poker-faced bad guy and Barrymore is completely over-the-top, especially in the final courtroom showdown. Lucy Beaumont also turns up as (what else) the grandmother and its always nice to see her. A captivating oldie with some racy scenes and situations for the time.

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.