“Gowns by Adrian.”

From his earliest days working at MGM, the studio with "more stars than there are in heaven," costume designer Gilbert Adrian had a vision and showcased a new era in costume design for the screen. This pre-Code immorality tale is no exception, with Norma Shearer as a sexually liberated singleton in slinky bias-cut satin sheaths (they predate Adrian's creation of Jean Harlow's signature look). About a father-daughter relationship that comes close to ruin over a mobster, with the famous courtroom finale that earned Lionel Barrymore an Academy Award, and Clark Gable in an early role.

With a slide show introduction to 1930s silver screen glamour by series host Nathalie Atkinson

ABOUT THE MOVIE

A FREE SOUL
USA 1931 93mins
Directed by Clarence Brown
Starring Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Lionel Barrymore and Clark Cable

ABOUT DESIGNING THE MOVIES

Programmed and hosted by journalist Nathalie Atkinson, Designing the Movies makes art direction, set, costume and production design the lens for analysis