What an interesting contrast. In this 1929 film, Atheists are trying to infiltrate a school and the principal is determined to "stamp out this blasphemy". Today, in many schools, the opposite is true--schools telling students they cannot bring religious items to school and religious clubs are forbidden. Personally, I'd sue love to see a world where BOTH diametrically opposed views were allowed and even encouraged.
Soon after the film begins, you see a secret meeting of an atheist club. They even have a monkey as a mascot (a nod to Darwinism). The good Christian kids respond by raiding the meeting and beating the snot out of them. Whether the film intends for this to be a GOOD thing or if it goes on to encourage ALL religious toleration is left to be seen. In the meantime, the fight becomes absolutely insane--violent and uncontrolled--worse than a prison riot!! Eventually, a student is killed in the mêlée!! As this atheist dies, she panics--after all, is this is end?! Is there something after death?
Three rather randomly chosen teens are sent to reform school for this death--one Atheist (the girl), one Christian and one sitting on the fence (Eddie Quillan). Quillan was toying with joining the Atheists but chickened out at the last minute. Here, he seems to be in the film for comic relief--an odd type of character for this film. Much of the rest of the film is the standard prison film--showing both the women's and the men's institutions.
In an odd twist, however, the two prisons are side by side (divided by an electric fence) and the godless girl and Christian boy start chatting--and becoming very chummy. In a scene you could only get away with in a silent film AND if you are DeMille, as the two talk through the fence, they are electrocuted--and the fence burns cross-like imprints on the Atheist's hands and it's an apparent sign from God!! It was amazingly melodramatic and dumb. I almost expected to see stigmata next!
The boys' prison ends up being very, very brutal thanks to some savage guards. The nice boys are savagely beaten and it's so bad that Quillan is either beaten to death or close to it (the film doesn't let us know) and the other guy escapes...with the Atheist girl!! Talk about a couple of "strange bedfellows"! You'll just have to tune in to see how it all ends--and it does end on a very exciting note.
As a film about Atheists, THE GODLESS GIRL is a mixed up mess. It's message is so muddled you really don't know what DeMille intended. Was it a film about how Atheists are wrong? Is it a film about religious toleration? With a pointless nude scene (don't worry--you don't see much--unlike in some other DeMille films), a romance between the Atheist and Christian that seems based solely on hormones, and lots of violence, it's hard to tell what religious message is being promoted. All this is pretty typical of DeMille's films of the era, as they are a strange blend of Christianity and blatant sex!! Don't believe me? Then try watching SIGN OF THE CROSS and CLEOPATRA (1934)--they are chock full of stuff that should have kept Christians away from the theaters in droves.
As a film about reform schools and a need for change, the film is much more successful and interesting. While the film seemed to go way overboard on the savagery of the male prison in particular, it did serve to bring these sort of prisons to the light of the public--even though the film inserted a message during the break in the middle that tended to lessen the film's impact.
Overall, it's a really stupid film--pure crap. However, it's exciting and scandalous crap that is sure to entertain. Just don't confuse ANYTHING DeMille ever did as an endorsement of Christianity--he probably did more to hurt Christianity than Pontius Pilate and Karl Marx combined!! Why he is revered by some religious people (especially after this film) is beyond me.
This is one of several shorts and full-length films included on the DVD set entitled "American Film Archives: Volume 3"--a set of films dedicated to social causes. While the set would probably not be of much interest to the casual viewer, it is a great historical archive of American life and concerns that otherwise would have been forgotten.
Soon after the film begins, you see a secret meeting of an atheist club. They even have a monkey as a mascot (a nod to Darwinism). The good Christian kids respond by raiding the meeting and beating the snot out of them. Whether the film intends for this to be a GOOD thing or if it goes on to encourage ALL religious toleration is left to be seen. In the meantime, the fight becomes absolutely insane--violent and uncontrolled--worse than a prison riot!! Eventually, a student is killed in the mêlée!! As this atheist dies, she panics--after all, is this is end?! Is there something after death?
Three rather randomly chosen teens are sent to reform school for this death--one Atheist (the girl), one Christian and one sitting on the fence (Eddie Quillan). Quillan was toying with joining the Atheists but chickened out at the last minute. Here, he seems to be in the film for comic relief--an odd type of character for this film. Much of the rest of the film is the standard prison film--showing both the women's and the men's institutions.
In an odd twist, however, the two prisons are side by side (divided by an electric fence) and the godless girl and Christian boy start chatting--and becoming very chummy. In a scene you could only get away with in a silent film AND if you are DeMille, as the two talk through the fence, they are electrocuted--and the fence burns cross-like imprints on the Atheist's hands and it's an apparent sign from God!! It was amazingly melodramatic and dumb. I almost expected to see stigmata next!
The boys' prison ends up being very, very brutal thanks to some savage guards. The nice boys are savagely beaten and it's so bad that Quillan is either beaten to death or close to it (the film doesn't let us know) and the other guy escapes...with the Atheist girl!! Talk about a couple of "strange bedfellows"! You'll just have to tune in to see how it all ends--and it does end on a very exciting note.
As a film about Atheists, THE GODLESS GIRL is a mixed up mess. It's message is so muddled you really don't know what DeMille intended. Was it a film about how Atheists are wrong? Is it a film about religious toleration? With a pointless nude scene (don't worry--you don't see much--unlike in some other DeMille films), a romance between the Atheist and Christian that seems based solely on hormones, and lots of violence, it's hard to tell what religious message is being promoted. All this is pretty typical of DeMille's films of the era, as they are a strange blend of Christianity and blatant sex!! Don't believe me? Then try watching SIGN OF THE CROSS and CLEOPATRA (1934)--they are chock full of stuff that should have kept Christians away from the theaters in droves.
As a film about reform schools and a need for change, the film is much more successful and interesting. While the film seemed to go way overboard on the savagery of the male prison in particular, it did serve to bring these sort of prisons to the light of the public--even though the film inserted a message during the break in the middle that tended to lessen the film's impact.
Overall, it's a really stupid film--pure crap. However, it's exciting and scandalous crap that is sure to entertain. Just don't confuse ANYTHING DeMille ever did as an endorsement of Christianity--he probably did more to hurt Christianity than Pontius Pilate and Karl Marx combined!! Why he is revered by some religious people (especially after this film) is beyond me.
This is one of several shorts and full-length films included on the DVD set entitled "American Film Archives: Volume 3"--a set of films dedicated to social causes. While the set would probably not be of much interest to the casual viewer, it is a great historical archive of American life and concerns that otherwise would have been forgotten.