Hell-Bound Train
About Hell-Bound Train
A horned devil drives a train toward hell. Each car holds a different sin of the time: gambling, drinking, dancing, jazz. The trip ends in a wreck, played with a model train thrown into a fire.
Cast & crew
More about Hell-Bound Train
James and Eloyce Gist wrote and directed it for the church meetings they traveled with. It was shot silent on handheld 16mm, in available light, with friends and family as the players. James's script was rewritten by Eloyce, who also re-edited it and reshot parts. Screenings were paired with her piano and his sermon.
Themes
Background
The Gists carried the reel to African American churches and hired halls, passing a plate after the sermon.
In film history
It is one of the few surviving silent films directed by an African American woman. Eloyce's rewrite and reshoots are part of the cut that remains.
Making
There is no studio set. The devil wears a cape and horns, and the last crash is a toy train in a bonfire.
Look
Handheld 16mm, no artificial lighting, silent.
Music
Originally silent, with Eloyce Gist at the piano in the hall. The 2016 restoration uses a score by Samuel Waymon.
Preservation
A 16mm print is at the Library of Congress. Kino Lorber restored it in 2016 for the Pioneers of African-American Cinema set. The National Film Registry added it in 2021.
Notes
- The Gists later made Verdict: Not Guilty (1933) and Heaven-Bound Travelers (1935).
- Eloyce was a Baháʼí; James was a Christian evangelist. The film itself is a Christian warning.
- Samuel Waymon, who scored Ganja & Hess, wrote a new score for the restoration.
- The Library of Congress selected it for the National Film Registry in 2021.
Scenes
- The devil walks the cars and names the sin in each one.
- A model train is thrown onto a fire for the wreck.
Also available
- Kino Lorber, Pioneers of African-American Cinema (2016)
- Criterion Channel