Das gottlose Mädchen

I very much enjoyed this film. Noah Beery was appropriately villainous and the stars were attractive and appealing.

However, as a life-long atheist, I was offended by De Mille's take on the question of atheism vs. belief. It is clear that he considers atheism to be a very evil thing and something that should be shunned, if not forcibly eliminated.

To my eyes, the religious kids in the school were the truly intolerant ones, who came to the atheist meeting with the intention of breaking it up, using force if needed. Force was indeed used, and the ensuing Merle resulted in the unnecessary death of a student.

The reformatory was a hellish place, though it was interesting that De Mille put in a disclaimer to the effect that although the events depicted actually do take place in some reformatories, there are many that actually try to rehabilitate, so we shouldn't judge such places too harshly.

The first is exciting and it seems that the set was actually burned down, with injuries inflicted on the star.

As an atheist, I wasn't too fond of the heroine's conversion.

Having viewed a new sound-free print accompanied by a top silent-film pianist, I have developed a new respect for Cecil B deMille. I used to regard him as unwatchable. Being a little deaf, I was able to lip-read in the close-ups, so I was highly amused by the witty colloquialisms in the captions. I wonder how the people who later applied a sound track handled that! Judging by the other posts, I think this print had more in it than was shown in other countries. Comments in the foyer afterward: "Television still has a lot to learn" and from a film producer: "It's time to re-evaluate Cecil B". This retired cinematographer saw a very fine piece of direction.

As someone who knew Lina personally, I can safely say that she would NEVER have categorized her life as "tragic". Like many people, she had her share of heartaches and disappointments, but her attitude was positive and she loved her life and her friends. She successfully transitioned into a post-Hollywood career breeding and judging championship Great Danes, a true passion of hers. Her sense of humor, her grace and her passion for life were inspiring to those of us fortunate enough to have known her. It was her passion that makes "The Godless Girl" memorable. It was her remarkable strength and dedication to those whom she loved that makes HER memorable.

During the awkward transitional stage from silents to talkies, Cecil B. DeMille made this 1929 story about THE GODLESS GIRL. It's given a very heavy-handed treatment and the Christian values vs. Atheism may seem a bit jarring to modern audiences.

LINA BASQUETTE has the title role, a movie originally shot as a silent film but with some sound added before the film was released. It's an intimate drama, a crime story involving high school students, not the usual epic kind of film DeMille is famous for except for a climactic fire sequence.

A riot breaks out at high school when someone circulates pamphlets on Atheism and meets a lot of resistance from a religious group. Three of the students end up in a reformatory when one of the girls among the students dies when a stair railing collapses.

Treatment there seems to be worse than the average prison. Things go from bad to worse when brutal guard NOAH BEERY gets his hands on two of the male students disobeying rules. DeMille seems to relish showing the brutal treatment. The hero of the tale, TOM KEENE, devises an escape plan so he and Lina can escape the torments of the so-called reform school.

Suspense builds for the escape plan and there's a quieter interlude where the boy and girl with different beliefs fall in love. But then the action picks up again after the two are found by the authorities and returned to their prison. While she's in solitary, an accidental fire sets the stage for the very suspenseful conclusion wherein the hero has to come to her rescue.

Summing up: One of the better silent films, it holds the interest throughout and builds to a realistic fire sequence that director DeMille milks for all it's worth.

I don't usually like silent movies, finding them boring. But this one is actually very good and even quite dramatic. I wanted to comment on something said by another viewer about the score by Carl Davis. They said that the composer had stolen Paul Simon's "An American Tune". Actually, Paul Simon borrowed the theme from Bach's Chorale "Erkenne mich, mein Hueter" from the St. Matthew Passion. This is the actual theme that Mr. Davis used in his score, and he did give credit, listing this and other sources of his themes in the credits at the end of the film.

Also, while my wife and I watched the movie on TCM, we did not see any scenes with spoken dialog as another reviewer mentioned, even though TCM showed a version based on Cecil De Mille's personal nitrate print from George Eastman House. Maybe this version tried to recreate the film as originally envisioned as a full silent film with music.