The Godless Girl

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The Godless Girl
J. Peverell Marley
Edited byAnne Bauchens
Distributed byPathé Exchange
Release dates
  • August 1928 (1928-08) (silent version)
  • March 31, 1929 (1929-03-31) (sound version)
Running time
113 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguagesSound (Part-Talkie)
English intertitles

The Godless Girl is a 1928 American sound part-talkie dramatic directed by Cecil B. DeMille. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the RCA Photophone sound-on-film system. The cast features Lina Basquette, Marie Prevost, Tom Keene, and Noah Beery.[1]

Plot

This drama features a romance between two different teenagers: a young

atheist girl, Judith Craig, and the male head of a Christian
youth organization, Bob Hathaway. The two leaders and their groups attack each other, starting a riot that kills a young girl. Followed by a goofy boy, Bozo, the three are thrown into a juvenile prison with a cruel head guard and bad living conditions. The film maker makes a point of talking about the truth of prison cruelty in the middle of the movie. Bob, who is in love with Judy, eventually rescues her and takes shelter in an old farm where Judy, breath-taken by the romance and beauty of the forest, realizes there must be a God. They are found and taken back to prison and held in solitary confinement until a fire breaks out. Mame is Judy's new friend who is trying to get her out before she burns. But the rest of the prison girls escape. Bob, who is trusting in God to help them, finally rescues Judy with the help of Mame and Bozo; they also rescue the cruel head guard who pleads for his life and, as he is dying, sets them free for their kind act and rescue. At the very end, Bozo and Mame seem to end up together while Bob and Judy and their rekindled faith ride off together as the movie ends.

Cast

Music

The film features a theme song entitled "Love (All I Want Is Love)" which was composed by Josiah Zuro and Charles Weinberg. It is sung and played several times on the soundtrack and serves as the love theme for the film.

Production

The film was inspired by a real-life incident at Hollywood High School when a student called Queen Silver started an atheist society.[2] She was a child prodigy and socialist orator, accused of leaving atheist pamphlets in student lockers at Hollywood High School in 1927.[3] The lead actress, Lina Basquette, named her autobiography, Lina: DeMille's Godless Girl, after the film.

The UCLA Film and Television Archive restored the film's sound version, in which dialogue scenes were added to the final reel, a film that was one of DeMille's first part-sound efforts. Actor Fritz Feld filmed the sound sequences without DeMille's supervision since DeMille had already broken his contract with Pathé, and signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.[4]

Reception

The film was very popular in the

Nat Shilkret
for Victor Records. Unfortunately, due to the long delay in releasing the sound version, the film was again outdated by the time of its release as all-talking film were quickly become standard by the mid 1929.

Preservation

In 2007, a version was released by

George Eastman House, in association with the Cecil B. DeMille Foundation and Film4
, with the picture portion restored from deMille's own nitrate print. Unfortunately, a modern score which bore no resemblance to the original score was used on the DVD. The film has yet to be released with its soundtrack in the form that most audiences originally saw the film in 1929.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Progressive Silent Film List: The Godless Girl at silentera.com
  2. ^ The Godless Girl: Introduction to the 1928 classic by Cecil B. DeMille
  3. ^ Queen Silver: The Godless Girl by Wendy McElroy, Prometheus Books
  4. ^ The Crank Film Series, UCLA, film notes Archived February 6, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Ben Mankiewicz in Turner Classic Movies discussion of the film.

External links