Verdict: Not Guilty (1933): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 1933, Verdict: Not Guilty is a drama, horror and fantasy film directed by James Gist, running about 9 minutes.

What it’s about. 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.

How it landed. With an audience score of 6.0/10, Verdict: Not Guilty has drawn a solid, mixed-to-positive response.

Where to watch. In US you can stream it on Criterion Channel. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch Verdict: Not Guilty page.

If you liked it. Fans of Verdict: Not Guilty tend to enjoy The Shawshank Redemption, The Godfather, Schindler's List and The Godfather Part II.