Runtime: 114 minutes
Directed by: Cecil B. DeMille
Starring: Lina Basquette, Tom Keene, Marie Prevost, Noah Beery, Eddie Quillian
From: C.B. DeMille Productions
How could I NOT view this film after reading its plot description on my cable guide? It was part of TCM’s weekly Silent Sundays each Sunday night at midnight That description read, “Christian high schoolers battle atheist students in Cecil B. DeMille’s silent melodrama.” That make it sound like The Godless Girl would be a hoot… ooh yes, it was.
In high school, we follow a boy and a girl who are the oldest “teenagers” you’ll ever see; the girl is in her 20’s and the boy (who had a big role in Plan 9 From Outer Space) is in his 30’s! The boy is a Christian, the girl atheist. The principal of the school finds pamphlets of an atheist society and is gobsmacked that such a thing is present on school grounds. Times were different back then, I suppose… a literal riot happens between the two sides and the result is a girl falling through a staircase railing to her death. They are then sentenced to “reform school” but it’s portrayed as a prison, complete w/ brutal prison warden-portrayed by Wallace Beery’s brother Noah-and someone incorrigible having a hose turned on them.
As it’s DeMille, of course there’s spectacle present; even more impressive than the riot was the long action-packed finale when <redacted> occurs. There are also spicy Pre-Code moments; the version TCM played was fully silent-later there was another version featuring some dialogue in the final act as this flopped due to the release at the beginning of the talkie era. I was glad to read intertitles such as “crash out”… no, not like the “crashing out” all you kids like to say now; it was another term for “escape.” Of course there are attempts to do just that.
Also because it’s DeMille, there is a pro-Christianity message for those devout in your faith. The po-faced piety on display or how bombastic some scenes are may seem preposterous to some but of course the film is in earnest and no matter your religious affiliations, The Godless Girl may be quite enjoyable for you. The finale alone was worth the lengthy journey.
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