Re: Bohemian Rap City: Movies Thread
The Godless Girl (1928; silent).
TCM played this a few weeks ago and I had saved it. Still only about halfway through. Really interesting melodrama based (
very loosely) on an actual event when then 15-year old student
Queen Silver started the Atheist Society at Hollywood High in 1925.
Cecil B. DeMille made the movie to get back into the good graces of religious censors after his earlier works had been criticized for not being sufficiently Bible-thumping.
TGG is eerie because it is on one level a very straightforward morality piece typical of the period, but on another level it's very problematic. It certainly does not celebrate the "godless girl" lead as a heroine fighting against religious bigotry, but it also doesn't exactly paint a great picture of the "godful boy" lead as some sort of onward Christian soldier. It's... strange. I don't for a minute think DeMille was trying to put across any sort of complex or nuanced message about religion or freedom -- it's a hamfisted Sunday School message that the Thumpers would eat up. But what comes out of the performance is something much better than you'd expect.
I also recommend it because all three leads -- Lina Basquette, Tom Keene, and Eddie Quillan -- are
great. Not kid actor great but actual great.
Fun fact: the supporting female lead is played by Marie Prevost, inspiration for
this Nick Lowe song.
dx -- I know you hate silent movies. I recommend you try this one. Keep in mind the acting is for audiences used to Vaudeville so it will feel very over the top, but I think you'll see things in this movie that are very interesting.