The godless girl
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The godless girl |
| Original title | The Godless Girl |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1928 |
| length | 113 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Cecil B. DeMille |
| script | Jeanie Macpherson |
| production | Cecil B. DeMille |
| music | Hugo Riesenfeld |
| camera | J. Peverell Marley |
| cut | Anne Bauchens |
| occupation | |
| |
The Godless Girl is a silent drama directed by Cecil B. DeMille in 1928 with Lina Basquette in the title role.
action
Judith Craig is a staunch atheist and runs the “Club of the Wicked” in her school. Her counterpart is Bob Hathaway, a staunch Christian who runs such a youth organization and therefore meets with the sharpest opposition from Judith. She just condescendingly calls him “the archangel”. Both groups don’t give each other anything, and there are regular scuffles at and outside the school. Once, when a fight on a staircase got completely out of hand, a little girl died. Judith, Bob and a somewhat retarded boy named Bozo, who are also involved, are charged with the resulting fall and have to go to juvenile prison. Here they are confronted with a harsh world of discipline and order, represented by strict prison management that doesn't understand jokes and knows zero tolerance.
Bob and Judith, who were given five years, begin to grow closer during this time. Bob even falls in love with his former mortal enemy. He helps her to flee together, and they both find shelter on an abandoned farm. This brief moment of freedom in mother nature is gradually allowing Judith to develop the belief that there must be such a thing as a God. But reality quickly catches up with them again. They are caught, brought back to prison and given additional solitary confinement. When a fire breaks out in the prison a little later, it is the God-believing Bob who saves Judith from the fire hell together with Bozo and another inmate named Mame. They even rescue the cruelest of all the guards on site, who until then had particularly harassed and tormented them. Lying dying, this man lets the young people flee to freedom. There Bozo and Mame get together as well as Bob and Judith. All four are pardoned for their good deed.
Production notes
The ungodly girl was DeMille's last silent film and released in August 1928. In the following year there was also a “sound film” version in the USA, enriched with some sound sequences. The film premiered in Germany in October 1928.
The later film director Mitchell Leisen created the film structures, Adrian created the costumes.
useful information
The film was based on an incident that occurred at Hollywood High School in 1927. The “godless girl” was actually called Queen Silver (1910–1998). At the age of 17, she headed a club called The Junior Atheist League.
Leading actress Lina Basquette named her autobiography in 1991 after the very film in which she played her most prominent leading role: Lina: DeMille's Godless Girl .
While the film was a big box-office flop in the USA, it enjoyed great popularity with German moviegoers.
reception
“Cecil B. De Mille tried again here on a piece of religious propaganda. The film is on the whole irrelevant, but it was very successful and has been quoted a lot. "
Individual evidence
Web links
- The godless girls in the Internet Movie Database (English)