A Free Soul (1931)

Lionel Barrymore: Stephen Ashe

Photos 

Quotes 

• Stephen Ashe, Defense Attorney : I wish my mother belonged to some other family.

• Ace Wilfong, Gangster Defendant : Well, it's about your daughter.

  Stephen Ashe, Defense Attorney : Jan? Well, what about her?

  Ace Wilfong, Gangster Defendant : Why, I want to marry her.

  Stephen Ashe, Defense Attorney : What? What was that?

  Ace Wilfong, Gangster Defendant : What's the matter with that?

  Stephen Ashe, Defense Attorney : What's the matter with it? The only time I hate democracy is when one of you mongrels forget where you belong... a few illegal dollars and a clean shirt and you move across the railroad tracks. Tell your boy to bring me some libations, and don't insult your guests!

• Ace Wilfong, Gangster Defendant : Mr. Ashe, a guy like me has to ride with lady luck. A squealer leaves his pals in plenty of trouble.

  Stephen Ashe, Defense Attorney : Hmm, I see. You want to go to the gallows with your mouth shut.

• Stephen Ashe, Defense Attorney : [to Jan]  I've had to drink as I've had to breathe, and you know it!

• Stephen Ashe, Defense Attorney : Here, give this problem a little thought, Mr. Einstein.

• Casino Valet : Well, well, Mr. Ashe, we've been waiting for you. This is quite an honor.

  Stephen Ashe, Defense Attorney : Honor, my hat!

• Stephen Ashe, Defense Attorney : Don't you see, my hands are bleeding where the spikes have been driven through.

• Jan Ashe : I know how you're suffering, dear, but just a little time, and then...

  Stephen Ashe, Defense Attorney : *Suffering*... it isn't suffering, it's *madness*. All this is really driving me to stark insanity.

  Jan Ashe : Dad, if you don't stand now, dear, you never will.

  Stephen Ashe, Defense Attorney : Say, you're assuming a lot, Jan. I don't want a drink. It's this bargain I resent that cuts me off from all normal living. A bargain I had to make to keep you from playing with rattlesnakes.

  Jan Ashe : Not very fair, darling.

  Stephen Ashe, Defense Attorney : A crook! With the mob! Mixed into everything from opium to white slavery. Huh! What kind of a "bargain" do you call that?

  Jan Ashe : I know it isn't much of a bargain, dear, but we thought we ought to try it now, didn't we?

  Stephen Ashe, Defense Attorney : Oh, I can't stand it! If I could only get a little sleep. I'm going mad for sleep! I can't get a... just a few minutes and I'm wide awake again. It's frightful!

• Stephen Ashe, Defense Attorney : Where do you live?

  Jan Ashe : St. Patrick's Hotel, San Francisco.

  Stephen Ashe, Defense Attorney : On the day of the killing, did you see Ace Wilfong?

  Jan Ashe : Yes, I did.

  Stephen Ashe, Defense Attorney : Where?

  Jan Ashe : St. Francis Hotel, he came there.

  Stephen Ashe, Defense Attorney : Tell us exactly what happened... in your own words.

  Jan Ashe : He'd been very brutal the night before...

  Prosecuting Attorney : I object, your honor.

  Stephen Ashe, Defense Attorney : It's all right, I'm not trying to juggle with this witness, your honor.

  Judge : Objection sustained.

  Stephen Ashe, Defense Attorney : All right, strike out the answer about Wilfong's brutality.

• Stephen Ashe, Defense Attorney : Well, you look like a comic strip. What's the matter with you? The man was presented at court, wasn't he? Huh? Ha ha ha ha hee hee hee hee.