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A Free Soul

A Free Soul

Drama · Romance · 1931

An alcoholic lawyer who successfully defended a notorious gambler on a murder charge objects when his free-spirited daughter becomes romantically involved with him.

Movie details

A Free Soul

“She wasn't a divorcee but she believed that strangers could kiss!”

1931 Drama · Romance 1h 33m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.2 / 10

Community rating

An alcoholic lawyer who successfully defended a notorious gambler on a murder charge objects when his free-spirited daughter becomes romantically involved with him.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over A Free Soul?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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City Streets

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A mobster's daughter leads her boyfriend from the circus into bootlegging.

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Tala, a London-based Palestinian, is preparing for her elaborate Middle Eastern wedding when she meets Leyla, a young British Indian woman who is dating her best friend. Spirited Christian Tala and shy Muslim Leyla could not be more different from each other, but the attraction is immediate and goes deeper than friendship. But Tala is not ready to accept the implications of the choice her heart has made for her and escapes back to Jordan, while Leyla tries to move on with her new-found life, to the shock of her tradition-loving parents. As Tala's wedding day approaches, simmering tensions come to boiling point and the pressure mounts for Tala to be true to herself.

Manhattan Melodrama

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Edge of the City

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Clarence Brown

Written by

Becky Gardiner

Norma Shearer

Norma Shearer

Jan Ashe

Leslie Howard

Leslie Howard

Dwight Winthrop

Lionel Barrymore

Lionel Barrymore

Stephen Ashe

Clark Gable

Clark Gable

Ace Wilfong

James Gleason

James Gleason

Eddie

Lucy Beaumont

Lucy Beaumont

Grandma Ashe

Roscoe Ates

Roscoe Ates

Man Shot at in Men's Room (uncredited)

Court is in session

Put A Free Soul on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.