High school students led by the Girl and Boy turn from Christianity toward secret atheistic meetings. When a girl is accidentally killed by a stairway collapse, the Girl and Boy go to reform school where they are treated brutally.
Lina Basquette
Judy Craig
Tom Keene
Bob Hathaway
Marie Prevost
Mame
Noah Beery
The Brute
Eddie Quillan
Samuel 'Bozo' Johnson
Mary Jane Irving
The Victim
Clarence Burton
Prison Guard
Kate Price
Prison Matron
Julia Faye
Inmate
Viola Louie
Inmate
Hedwiga Reicher
Prison Matron
Director
Cecil B. DeMille
Story
Jeanie Macpherson
June 6, 2022
7
After an incident at their high school, Lina Basquette and Tom Keene find themselves sent to an harsh and brutal state "reformatory" where they must deal with the nasty Noah Beery and his team of pretty cruel guards. During the course of the remainder of the film, the characters challenge their long held beliefs, whilst determining to survive this ghastly regime. This film is more notable for the fact that it is the last silent film from Cecil B. De Mille, but as far as the actual story goes, it is a very thinly spread couple of hours and though the performances are of a high standard; the production is lively and active and I particularly liked the way newspaper headline were used as inter-titles now and again, it struggles to hold the attention at times. It is quite a long watch that tends to recycle the nastiness just once too often, but the last twenty minutes bring the thing alive with a wonderfully staged conflagration that in some ways also vindicated the underlying storyline: a retribution on those who perpetrated abuse on these underprivileged people in the name of the Lord, but who were in reality, little more than horrible bullies.
Status:
Released
Original Language:
English
Budget:
$0.00
Revenue:
$0.00