Showing posts with label norma shearer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label norma shearer. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

"A FREE SOUL" (1931) Review

A Free Soul (1931)


"A FREE SOUL" (1931) Review

A good deal of time has passed since I last saw a movie released during the Hollywood era known as Pre-Code. Just recently, one movie caught my attention, while watching a documentary about the era on YOU TUBE. Intrigued, I found myself watching the 1931 film, "A FREE SOUL".

This 1931 movie became famous for a good number of reasons. It marked leading lady Norma Shearer's first role, following her Oscar winning performance in "THE DIVORCEE" and solidified her reputation for starring in provocative films about modern women in the early 1930s. The movie not only proved to be the first time American film audiences took notice of future star Clark Gable, it also marked the first time that the latter would co-star with Leslie Howard. The two actors reunited some eight years later in the 1939 Oscar winner, "GONE WITH THE WIND""A FREE SOUL" also became famous for a scene that featured a monologue from Lionel Barrymore that may have led to the actor's Best Actor Academy Award.

Adapted from co-writer Adela Rogers St. Johns' novel and Willard Mack's play, "A FREE SOUL" told the story about the relationship between an alcoholic San Francisco defense attorney and his free-spirited daughter. When Stephen Ashe successfully defends mobster Ace Wilfong from a murder charge, he inadvertently introduces the latter to his daughter Jan. Although the Ashe family expects Jan to marry the also well-born Dwight Winthrop, she becomes romantically involved with Wilfong. The affair comes to an abrupt end when Ashe learns about it from a lovesick Wilfong. Disgusted over his daughter's affair with the gangster, Ashe makes her promise to end it, and he promises to stop drinking. Jan, Ashe and the latter's assistant named Eddie; spend a long vacation in the Sierra Nevadas. But Ashe, still longing for alcohol abandons Jan and Eddie at a small town in search for booze. And when Jan returns to San Francisco, she finds herself abandoned by the Ashe family and faced with an angry Wilfong, who demands that she marries him.

I really did not know what to expect of "A FREE SOUL". Despite the hulaballoo over Pre-Code films during the past two decades, I have found some of them a bit overrated. Happily, I cannot say the same about "A FREE SOUL". Some have said that the plot was a loose adaptation on the life and career of Adela Rogers St. John's alcoholic father, Earl Rogers. It was probably a very loose adaptation, since I doubt that St. John ever dated a gangster. Nevertheless, I cannot deny that I enjoyed this movie a lot. Well . . . most of it. I have one or two quibbles about the film. I found some of the performances in the movie a bit theatrical. Although Lionel Barrymore, Norma Shearer and Clark Gable all gave first-rate performances, there were moments when they came off as a bit theatrical . . . or seemed unable to shake the pantomime style of the silent era. Only Leslie Howard and James Gleason managed to avoid this. And there was also that brief moment in the movie's first scene in which Stephen Ashe was handing Jan her lingerie, while she dressed in another room. Huh. Were director Clarence Brown and the screenwriters trying to be provocative? Or did interactions between St. John and Rogers actually happened? Personally, I found it odd and a touch incestuous. I really wish producer Thalberg had ordered it cut or altered.

There is one major aspect of "A FREE SOUL" that truly bothered me. I got the feeling that both Stephen and Jan Ashe were being punished for their actions in this film. Ashe's alcoholism was treated as some kind of criminal misdemeanor or social affrontery, instead of the disease that it truly was. The screenplay's treatment of the Jan Ashe character really annoyed me. At first the movie allowed her to revel in her sexuality, portraying her as a sexual and free-spirited woman. But apparently, sexual and free-spirited women - especially those from among San Francisco's high society - are not allowed to be that. The screenplay made sure to punish Jan for her approach to life by allowing her to have a disastrous affair with a gangster. In the end, she has become a more somber and "respectable" woman who ends up married to the very respectable Dwight Winthrop. So much for the independent woman of the Pre-Code Era.

Despite these drawbacks, I must admit that "A FREE SOUL" is good melodrama. Screenwriters Adela Rogers St. John, Becky Gardiner, Willard Mack and John Meehan created a fascinating tale of sex, crime, family conflict and alcoholism. I may have been a little upset at how the movie treated Ashe's alcoholism as some kind of social disease at times, I must admit that I was impressed by how the movie also showed the level of his decline in scenes that featured his inability to overcome his alcoholism during the Ashes' vacation and Jan's discovery of him inside a seedy flophouse back in San Francisco. And Norma Shearer really strut her stuff in scenes that featured Jan's sexual desire for Wilfong. I was amazed at how she made it all look fluid and natural, despite a few scenes in which she clung to silent pantomime. The screenwriters did an excellent job in allowing the plot to flow naturally. But they were not the only ones responsible for the movie's natural flow. I also have to give credit to director Clarence Brown for maintaining the film's steady pace . . . and preventing me from falling asleep out of sheer boredom. Many films from the early 1930s, especially those from MGM, tend to come off as filmed plays. Thankfully, I could never accuse "A FREE SOUL" of being one.

"A FREE SOUL", like any other film is not perfect. It had its flaws. But I believe that a first-rate narrative, solid acting from an excellent cast led by Norma Shearer and Oscar winner Lionel Barrymore, and well-paced direction from Clarence Brown allowed the movie to hold up very well after eighty-odd years.

Sunday, July 7, 2019

"A FREE SOUL" (1931) Photo Gallery

shearer307

Below are images from the 1931 film, "A FREE SOUL". Based upon Adela Rogers St. Johns' 1927 novel and directed by Clarence Brown, the movie starred Norma Shearer, and Academy Award winner Lionel Barrymore: 



"A FREE SOUL" (1931) Photo Gallery

_con


3795093473_7be667c327


freesoul4a


a_free_soul


AFreeSoul4


AFreeSoul5


freesoul8a


AFreeSoul6


AFreeSoul8


freeSoul_b


freesoul9


howard.shearer


large


Lionel Barrymore A Free Soul


shearer309

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

"THE DIVORCEE" (1930) Review

463211_original


"THE DIVORCEE" (1930) Review

I just watched "THE DIVORCEE" last night. This 1930 MGM film tells the story of a happily married couple, whose marriage crumbles under the taint of infidelity. This is the second time I have seen this film and again, found myself surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

Norma Shearer portrayed Jerry Martin, a happily marrried New York socialite, who discovers that her husband, Ted (Chester Morris), had a drunken one night stand with some blowsy woman. She tried to pretend that it was bridge under the water and openly forgave him. But his infidelity continued to bother her. And when he leaves New York for a business trip to Chicago, she has a one night stand with his best friend, Don (Robert Montgomery). Jerry confesses her infidelity . . . and discovers that as far as Ted is concerned, what was good for the goose, was not for the gander. The couple divorces and spends an unhappy year trying to forget one another. They eventually reconcile at a party in Paris.

I understand that the Jerry Martin role nearly evaded Norma Shearer, because husband and MGM production chief Irving Thalberg did not feel that the role suited her. She used a series of sexy photographs taken by George Hurrell to convince Thalberg that she could do the role. And she certainly proved that she was the right woman for the role. What I liked about Shearer's take on Jerry was that she was not one type of woman or another. She was a complex woman who discovered that she could not hide her feelings - whether she was disturbed by her husband's infidelity and hypocricy; or her longing to reconcile with him, despite enjoying the company of other men. Shearer certainly deserved the Academy Award she had received for Best Actress.

Although he had some moments of over-the-top acting as Ted Martin - Jerry's husband, Chester Morris did a pretty good job portraying the newspaper man, who tried to dismiss his own infidelity . . . and discovered how his wife truly felt in the worst possible way. What I found interesting about Ted's character was how alcohol led to a great deal of his troubles. It was alcohol that encouraged Ted to cheat on Jerry. And it was the booze that he had indulged, following the breakup of his marriage that led to the loss of his job. Morris did a great job in portraying a complex and flawed man without becoming some one-note antagonist. 

Robert Montgomery was at turns rather funny and sexy as Don, Ted's best friend with whom she cheated on. Many have dismissed Conrad Nagel as a boring actor, who performance in the movie was not worth mentioning. Mind you, his role as Paul, Jerry's former boyfriend was not as splashy as Morris or Montgomery's, but Nagel still managed to invest enough angst as a man who is dealt a double blow in life when the woman he loves (Jerry) marries another man and he finds himself in a loveless marriage with a woman (Judith Wood), whose face he had disfigured due to a drunken car accident. 

While watching this film, I was surprised how the attitudes and personalities of most of the major characters seemed revelant today. Despite the late 20s/early 30s wardrobe and slang, the so-called "Bright Young Things" were really not that different from the Twenty and Thirtysomethings in the dating scene, today. I felt as if I had been watching some comedy-drama about a marriage, set in the late 20th or early 21st centuries. As a sideline, I also enjoyed the movie's East Coast setting and set designs by Cedric Gibbons. And I especially liked Shearer's wardrobe, designed by the famous Adrian. 

I realized that "THE DIVORCEE" had a "happy ending" that many modern viewers do not care for. But for me, it was an ending in which both husband and wife were humbled. They not only forgave each other, but forgave themselves. Hell, I bought it. But more importantly, "THE DIVORCEE" continued to be an entertaining and fascinating movie, even after eighty-five years.

Saturday, December 5, 2015

"THE DIVORCEE" (1930) Photo Gallery



Below are photos from the 1930 adaptation of Ursula Parrott's novel, "Ex-Wife" called"THE DIVORCEE". Directed by Robert Z. Leonard, the movie starred Oscar winner Norma Shearer, Chester Morris, Conrad Nagel and Robert Montgomery: 


"THE DIVORCEE" (1930) Photo Gallery