Verdict: Not Guilty

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Verdict: Not Guilty (1933)

Directed by Eloyce Gist, James Gist

Drama, Horror, Fantasy · 9m

Part religious allegory and part church pageant, it presents the heavenly trial of a woman who has died giving childbirth out of wedlock. The jailer wears a mask death's head mask and a nun's habit with a skull and crossbones on the front and God sits on an altar, flanked by angels, while the devil attempts to convict the woman for her sins. Shot with a handheld camera that doesn't always remain steady or keep the scene in frame, it is full of religious imagery and evocative folkloric elements, with flashbacks to the woman's life that provide a realism in sharp contrast to the allegorical pageantry. It shows its amateur origins, the texture, the pageantry, and the allegorical and ritualistic elements also looks forward to the American Underground cinema of Kenneth Anger, Curtis Harrington, and others in the 1950s and 1960s.

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Crew

Director
Eloyce Gist, James Gist
Writer
James Gist, Eloyce Gist
Editor
Eloyce Gist, James Gist

Details

Release date
1933-01-01
Runtime
9m
Genres
Drama, Horror, Fantasy
Original language
EN
Spoken languages
No Language
Countries
United States of America