Botched on all levels, this remake of A FREE SOUL from 1931 takes the basic plot of that searing classic and turns it into a bland love story.
Elizabeth Taylor has the Norma Shearer part. Here she's a snotty young woman who tosses daddy and beau aside to run after a gangster. There's no chemistry between Taylor and Fernando Lamas (the Clark Gable role) so it's impossible to buy her reckless actions.
William Powell has the Lionel Barrymore role that won him an Oscar. Here, Powell is sidelined into an empty role that gives him nothing to do. In the original film, Shearer fights to save Barrymore (who in turn comes to the rescue in the finale). Here, Powell just disappears into the woodwork. Gig Young plays the Leslie Howard role. As with Powell, Young disappears as well.
So 20 years after A FREE SOUL was a critical and popular hit, the story has been gutted and remade for no reason at all but to present the young Taylor in an adult role. At 69 minutes, they also turned it into a B movie.
Elizabeth Taylor has the Norma Shearer part. Here she's a snotty young woman who tosses daddy and beau aside to run after a gangster. There's no chemistry between Taylor and Fernando Lamas (the Clark Gable role) so it's impossible to buy her reckless actions.
William Powell has the Lionel Barrymore role that won him an Oscar. Here, Powell is sidelined into an empty role that gives him nothing to do. In the original film, Shearer fights to save Barrymore (who in turn comes to the rescue in the finale). Here, Powell just disappears into the woodwork. Gig Young plays the Leslie Howard role. As with Powell, Young disappears as well.
So 20 years after A FREE SOUL was a critical and popular hit, the story has been gutted and remade for no reason at all but to present the young Taylor in an adult role. At 69 minutes, they also turned it into a B movie.