La fille sans dieu

Anyone who has seen a handful of Cecil B. DeMille pictures will be able to see that they are often contradictory on many levels, and can take some bizarre turns. In the Godless Girl – his last silent feature – an exaggerated and ill-informed attack upon atheism turns into what is for its era a rather grittily authentic portrayal of a penal institution.

Interestingly, the opening scenes show how fundamentalists such as DeMille and his screenwriter Jeanie MacPherson seem only able to picture atheists as having a ritualism and desire to convert similar to that of a religious group. It's also indicative of DeMille's fundamentalism that there are rarely actual arguments for belief in his pictures – just a sprinkling of quotations from scripture, a dash of Old Testament pyrotechnics and a reverent depiction of religious figures. Here that last tactic is reversed, with the unbelievers appearing as ridiculous caricatures, their tenets belittled rather than tackled. However the Godless Girl is rare among DeMille pictures in that it does contain a passing reference to an actual philosophical argument for the existence of God, one known as the argument from beauty. But this is rather overshadowed by DeMille's preferred method – to dazzle us with miracles. So we have cross-shaped burns appearing on Lina Basquette's hands, or Tom Keene's prayer being answered in the form of a falling electrical cable in the climactic fire sequence.

In contrast to this DeMillean theism is the thoroughly researched realism of the reformatory. Depictions of suffering and sadism do crop up quite a bit in DeMille's pictures, but they were rarely this convincing and this close to home. Particularly effective is the simplicity and relentlessness of the sequence in which Keene is tortured with a fire hose by the brutish Noah Beery. Beery is of course another caricature, but the starkness of the setting and the naturalism of the extras prevent this from becoming anything like a Sunday-school portrayal of Hebrew slaves toiling under the whip.

DeMille and MacPherson would probably not have regarded these changes in tone as inconsistent, and there is in fact one consistency in the Godless Girl that we can all appreciate – a formalist one. It's rarely noted that DeMille was a master of space and framing, and he always used his command of cinematic form to serve the story. It's natural that any competent director would depict the reformatory as Spartan and enclosed – and DeMille does that with visible ceilings, tight framing, swathes of barren grey and high angles in the yard so as not to show the sky or the outside world. However, DeMille also employs similar devices in the earlier scenes at the college. Why? Because the point of the story is that both the atheist girl and the Christian boy are close-minded and prejudiced, and DeMille's formalism is echoing this. They escape into the outside world at the same time as their convictions are beginning to soften, and DeMille takes full advantage of the outdoor setting with delicate framing, dappled lighting patterns and soft focus. It also gives him the perfect backdrop for his aforementioned argument from beauty.

The acting of the two leads is not at all bad, and for the most part tends more towards naturalism than melodrama (performances in DeMille pictures tended to go one way or the other – contradictions again!) The one moment of painful exaggeration from Lina Basquette is, unsurprisingly, in her early scene at the atheist meeting. The only sour note among the cast is comical character actor Eddie Quillan as "The Goat". In a rare display of deference to an actor DeMille apparently allowed him to improvise many of his scenes, but his style of comedy is at odds with the tone of the picture and spoils some of the deeper moments. This is not to say that Quillan had no talent, or that a picture such as this has no need of comic relief. It's simply that he is effectively a clown, and would fit better in a more light-hearted picture. Marie Prevost's sardonic sidekick actually provides much more effective comic relief.

On a final note, thanks to Filmfour we now have a very fine restored print of the Godless Girl. The score is by the unparalleled Carl Davis, and like all his work is listenable without being intrusive, and has a canny use of signature themes and classical interpolations. This new edition, occasionally shown late at night on the Filmfour channel in the UK, is well worth catching.

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.

"The Godless Girl" was director Cecil B. DeMille's last silent film. At the time, he was Hollywood's most successful director, but his last film--"The King of Kings"-- had angered some Christian viewers and he wanted a film to placate them. His idea for "The Godless Girl" came from a real news story about Hollywood High School, which was greatly embellished.

The film starts with a boy and girl who are attracted to each other. But the girl, Judy (Lina Basquette), is the head of "The Godless Society" (GS), an organization of students who wish to "kill the Bible". And the boy, Bob (Tom Keene), is student body president, devout Christian, and a model citizen. When the school's principal discovers that the nefarious GS is working to undermine society's laws, he sets out to destroy it. But Bob intervenes and says he will take care of it.

Events get out of hand and three students--Judy, Bob and class clown Samuel "Bozo" Johnson (Eddie Quillen)--are deemed responsible for a death and sent to a reformatory. This institution is like the worst adult prison. The especially sadistic head guard even twists his mustache like all respectable villains. Though there is a final act, the bulk of the film is dedicated to showing what a horrible place such institutions can be.

The film is not heavy-handed in promoting its Christian message, but it has its moments when Judy's atheistic philosophy is tested. Two such moments involve the "no atheists in foxholes" canard. The other is a simple appeal to the intelligent design view of the universe.

Regardless of DeMille's philosophical intentions, his skills as a director are remarkable. Inventive camera movements, wonderful nighttime scenes, convincing uses of fire as a dangerous element, and crowd choreography all demonstrate his talents.

The acting is true to the tradition of overacting in silent films, especially in the case of Miss Basquette. Tom Keene plays the comic part of Bob with a facility that still seems appropriate to a serious drama with deeper underpinnings.

Although the film hits the viewer over the head with its depiction of an atheistic character, to the point of putting a monkey in the scene of the GS meeting, the story still demonstrates some subtlety--sometimes feeling off track--and even some objectivity in portraying the two sides of the theistic question. Still, DeMille has stacked the deck enough to make audiences of 1929 feel that theism is the easy victor in the "war" for their souls. Religious imagery and emotional appeals to faith abound.

The restored copy (without sound) is well worth seeing.