''The Green Goddess'' is a 1930 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

film directed by

Alfred E. Green Alfred Edward Green (July 11, 1889 – September 4, 1960) was an American film director. Green entered film in 1912 as an actor for the Selig Polyscope Company. He became an assistant to director Colin Campbell. Biography Green was born on Jul ...

. It was a remake of the 1923 silent film, which was in turn based on the play of the same name by William Archer. It was produced by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

using their new

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National Pictures, First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone is the last major analog sound-on-disc sys ...

sound system, and adapted by Julien Josephson. It stars

George Arliss George Arliss (born Augustus George Andrews; 10 April 1868 – 5 February 1946) was an English actor, author, playwright, and filmmaker who found success in the United States. He was the first British actor to win an Academy Award – which he ...

, Alice Joyce (in her final film role),

Ralph Forbes Ralph Forbes (born Ralph Forbes Taylor; 30 September 1904 – 31 March 1951) was an English film and stage actor active in Britain and the United States. Early life Forbes was born in Wandsworth, London, the son of Ernest John "E.J." and Ethe ...

and H.B. Warner. Arliss and Ivan F. Simpson played the same parts in all three productions, while Joyce reprised her role from the earlier film. Arliss was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance.

Plot

A small plane carrying three British citizens — Major Crespin, his estranged wife Lucilla, and pilot Dr. Traherne — becomes lost and is forced to crash land in the tiny realm of Rukh, somewhere near the Himalaya Mountains. The Raja who rules the land welcomes them. As it happens, the Raja's three brothers are soon to be executed for murder by the British. When the three plane-crash survivors appear, the Raja's subjects become convinced that their Green Goddess has delivered three victims into their hands for revenge. The three are to be killed once the Raja's three brothers are dead. The Raja professes no great love for his brothers, as they had posed a danger to the succession of his own children, but he sees no reason to anger his people by protecting his British guests. When he becomes attracted to Lucilla, however, he offers to spare her life if she will become his wife. She refuses. The prisoners become aware that the Raja has a

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

, operated by the Raja's renegade British exile and chief assistant, Watkins. Hoping to send for help, they try to bribe Watkins, but when they realize he is only leading them on, they throw him off the balcony to his death. Major Crespin manages to send a message before the Raja's men break into the room. The Raja personally shoots Crespin in the back, killing him in mid-transmission. The next day, Traherne and Lucilla are taken to the temple of the Green Goddess. Once more, the Raja renews his offer to Lucilla, but is again turned down. Given a moment alone, Traherne and Lucilla confess their love for each other. Then, in the nick of time, six British biplanes appear in the skies over Rukh. Lt. Cardew lands and demands the release of the couple. The Raja gives in.

Cast

as The Raja *

as Dr. Traherne * H.B. Warner as Major Crespin * Alice Joyce as Lucilla * Ivan F. Simpson as Watkins *

Reginald Sheffield Matthew Reginald Sheffield Cassan (18 February 1901 – 8 December 1957) was an English-American actor. Life He was born as Matthew Reginald Sheffield Cassan on 18 February 1901 in the St. George's, Hanover Square district of London, to Matt ...

as Lieutenant Cardew * Betty Boyd as An Ayah *

Nigel De Brulier Nigel De Brulier (born Francis George Packer; 8 August 1877 – 30 January 1948) was an English stage and film actor who began his career in the United Kingdom before relocating to the United States. Biography Nigel De Brulier was born in French ...

as Temple Priest

Production

''The Green Goddess'' was filmed in 1929 and completed before ''

Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman, Conservative politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creat ...

'' (1929) but was held out of release until later at the request of George Arliss because he felt that ''Disraeli'' was a better vehicle for his sound debut. '' The Green Goddess'' first was adapted for cinema in 1923. Produced by Distinctive Productions, it was directed by

Sidney Olcott Sidney Olcott (born John Sidney Allcott; September 20, 1872 – December 16, 1949) was a Canadian-born film producer, director, actor and screenwriter. Biography Born John Sidney Allcott in Toronto, he became one of the first great dire ...

and played by

, Alice Joyce and Jetta Goudal.

Adaptations to radio

''The Green Goddess'' was adapted as a one-hour radio play on the January 6, 1935 broadcast of ''

Lux Radio Theater ''Lux Radio Theatre'', sometimes spelled ''Lux Radio Theater'', a old-time radio, classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the Blue Network, NBC Blue Network (1934–35) (owned by the National Broadcasting Company, later predecessor of A ...

'', starring Claude Rains. It was adapted to radio again by Orson Welles on The Campbell Playhouse on February 10, 1939 with Welles as The Rajah and Madeleine Carroll as Lucille.

Preservation status

*The film survives with copies at the Library of Congress and Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research. Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, Feature Film Database:''The Green Goddess''
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References

External links

* * *
Review at pre-code.com
Streaming audio
''The Green Goddess''
on '' The Campbell Playhouse'': February 2, 1939
''The Green Goddess''
on Theater Guild on the Air: October 20, 1946 {{DEFAULTSORT:Green Goddess (1930 film), The 1930 films 1930 drama films Remakes of American films American black-and-white films 1930s English-language films American films based on plays Films directed by Alfred E. Green Films set in the British Raj Films set in India Films set in the Himalayas Indian mythology in popular culture Hindu mythology in popular culture Sound film remakes of silent films Warner Bros. films Films scored by Louis Silvers American drama films 1930s American films