HELL-BOUND TRAIN (1930)

The Hell-bound train is always running and its engineer, the devil himself, is always on duty. This hour-long silent film was made by James Gist, a Christian evangelist, and his wife Eloyce, and the two would take this and other short films on the road to show in churches and at revival meetings. This one doesn't actually have a narrative; instead, it's a series of episodes showing people engaging in bad behavior that ensures them a ride on the train. The sinning in the first coach is triggered by dancing, which inevitably leads to drinking and bootlegging and sex and adultery and babies. When a jealous woman stabs another to death after too much dancing, the devil (a man in a Halloween devil costume) hops up and down with joy, and we see the title card, "The devil rejoices" for the first of several times. In the second coach, drunkenness prevails, leading to rape. In the third, it's jazz music which drives children mad and causes a woman to collapse. Someone yells out, "Stop the blues and bring the hymn book!" but it’s too late—she's dead. Thievery is the next sin as we see two street kids steal food from a grocer and get sent immediately to work on a chain gang. Murderers, gamblers, adulterers, and liars get their due, with a whole coach devoted to hypocrites and backsliders who strayed from the church. One man is asked to join the church, declines the offer, and dies of a heart attack. Playing pool is bad, as is talking back to your parents. One woman takes "medicine to avoid becoming a mother" which is "murder in cold blood." Finally, we’re told that "the good time midnight life crowd will be lost in Hell," as we see the train, full of sinners, enter a tunnel and burst into flames, undoubtedly a representation of the flames of hell. 

Almost a hundred years after its production, this film is fun to watch and easy to mock, but the sincere tone mitigates a bit against it being seen as camp. (Of course, a sincerely made movie can still be campy, as with the notorious MANOS THE HANDS OF FATE). Though the outcomes for the sinners seem exaggerated, the acting isn't, except for the prancing devil; that guy (there are no credits) is having a really good time rejoicing over sin. Filmed mostly in a Black neighborhood in Indianapolis in wintertime, as there is frequently snow on the ground in exteriors, the only existing print of this film was cobbled together from a number of sources but it makes a satisfying whole. The camera work is rough and ready, but that also adds to the appeal here, as the camera is almost always on the move. Claims have been made that this movie is "visually stunning" and a very important find. Those are exaggerated claims, though the film was chosen for the National Film Registry in 2021. The genre of non-professional religious films is surely an underrepresented one and I'm glad to have seen this. [Criterion Channel]