Godless Girl

Restored in 4K by Photoplay Productions, backed by an orchestral score by Carl Davis, The Godless Girl is the final silent feature by the cinema’s greatest showman and moralizer, Cecil B. DeMille (The Ten Commandments). Naive teenager Judy (Lina Basquette) leads a Godless Society at her high school and encourages her fellow students to “Kill the Bible.” A pious schoolmate, Bob (Tom Keene), organizes a mob to destroy Judy’s headquarters, resulting in the death of her comrade (Mary Jane Irving). The tragedy lands all three teens at a brutal reform school, where they suffer institutionalized cruelty and are victimized by one especially barbaric guard (Noah Beery). In the climactic final act, the school is set ablaze, and DeMille pulls out all the dramatic stops to deliver an epic, masterfully orchestrated setpiece in which Bob tries to rescue Judy from the hellish inferno. Audio Commentary by Film Historian Anthony Slide