When the final version of the movie went before Hollywood censors, they demanded that MGM cut the scene where Norma Shearer lays on the bed and suggestively asks Clark Gable to put his arms around her. The studio ignored the demand and released the film uncut.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records (2002), the movie holds the record for the longest take in a Hollywood film shot in 35mm: the climactic courtroom scene at 14 minutes. Since a reel of camera film only lasts 10 minutes, it was achieved by using more than one camera.
When the mule chases James Gleason, not a stuntman, is knocked down by the animal, a scene which wasn't planned, as Norma Shearer's reaction attests.
A contemporary magazine described one of the negligees, designed by Adrian, as: "Norma Shearer can well afford to look regal with all of us clamoring for her more loudly than ever. She wears this knockout negligee in 'A Free Soul' which you must see. It's tangerine velvet, girls, with one of those trains that is simply 'tripping'!" The magazine article is describing the negligee Norma is wearing in the famous scene where she stretches out her arms towards Clark Gable and seductively asks, "Come on, put 'em around me."
The censors objected to numerous elements in the film's plot including premarital sex, alcoholism, murder, gambling, and threats of kidnapping. However, after increased enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code in 1934, censor Joseph Breen prevented the film from being re-released after 1936.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
