Did You Know?
During the filming of the fiery climax, Lina Basquette was actually burned rather badly. Her eyebrows, singed off by the heat, never grew back properly, according to her.
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According to journalist Dorothy Donnell, director Cecil B. DeMille spent eight months and $200,000 on research before the production began. This included the enrolling of a young male informant into a boy's reform school and a female informant into a girl's school. Two large scrapbooks were kept in DeMille's archive, containing sworn testimonials by many former inmates, with graphic descriptions of the brutalities they endured. Donnell later said, "I have seen these books, and read in them things so revolting that they will probably never be printed."
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For the fire scene, dozens of female extras playing inmates had to shimmy down the two-story exterior set of the reformatory. The set would be on fire and it was only a matter of time before the whole thing was consumed by flames. According to a cameraman, at least three young women did not leave the roof fast enough, and were badly burned.
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The film was in production during the time that sound films were becoming popular. Some footage with sync-sound dialog was shot after photography had been completed. The sound sequences were not directed by DeMille, who had already left the company, but by actor Fritz Feld.
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Silent film historian Kevin Brownlow has cited this film as "one of the few silent films with a built-in appeal for modern audiences," noting that its "exceptionally violent" content was one quality that would work in its favor.
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The authentic-looking reform school set was built by Mitchell Leisen on a Culver City back lot. For the climactic fire scene, in which the whole set burned down, Leisen had the actors' clothes sprayed with asbestos and even devised a way to fireproof their hair.
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One of the fictional claims made my the film's publicity department was that it was filmed on location in a real reformatory, using real inmates. This is false; the reform school sets (both indoors and out) were constructed sets, and the cast was comprised of Hollywood actors.
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The film was such a huge flop on its initial release, and proved to be such a financial strain on Cecil B. DeMille's production company, that he was forced to accept a three-picture contract with MGM, where he made his next film, Dynamite, released later that same year.
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Tom Keene could not be doubled for a scene where he is sprayed with a fire hose, and the sequence was exhausting to shoot. Co-star Eddie Quillan was also injured in that scene, when he was pushed into a pool of water. Electric cables had been left lying in the water, and Quillan received such a violent shock that it bounced him right back up out of the water.
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In 1929, Lina Basquette received a fan letter from Austria in connection with the film. The sender said she was his favorite American actress. It meant nothing to Basquette at the time, but the sender of the letter was Adolf Hitler.
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Eddie Quillan said that Cecil B. DeMille had allowed him a lot of room for improvisation and even took suggestions for script changes, rare for any actor working for the notoriously controlling DeMille.
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Then 17-year-old Sylvia Sidney was considered for the title role. A screen test was made in Chicago, where Sidney was appearing in the play "Crime" by A.H. Woods. The test consisted of the last act of the play and was directed by D.W. Griffith. DeMille viewed the test and decided he was not interested in her.
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Tom Keene was cast after deMille saw him in an industrial film produced for the National Safety Council by W. Allen Lucey of the Worcester Film Corporation.
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The crew fireproofed the actors' costumes for the fire scenes by spraying them with asbestos. According to Kevin Brownlow, art director Mitchell Leisen even figured out a way to flame-proof their hair.
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