The Godless Girl

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.