The Unbeliever

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The Unbeliever
The Unbeliever 1918 poster.jpg
Movie poster
Directed by Alan Crosland
Based onThe Three Things
by Mary Raymond Shipman
Produced by Edison Company
George Kleine
Starring Raymond McKee
Marguerite Courtot
CinematographyPhilip Tannura
Music byJ. Warde Hutton
Production
company
Edison Company
Distributed byGeorge Kleine
Release date
  • February 11, 1918 (1918-02-11)
Running time
80 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)
Scene with Marguerite Courtot and Raymond McKee The Unbeliever (1918) - 2.jpg
Scene with Marguerite Courtot and Raymond McKee

The Unbeliever is a 1918 American silent propaganda film made towards the end of World War I. It was directed by Alan Crosland for the Edison Company towards its last days as a functioning film-making company. It stars Raymond McKee and Marguerite Courtot, who married a few years later, and Erich von Stroheim. [1] [2]

Contents

Plot

As described in a film magazine, [3] Philip Landicutt has always held the people of the lower classes as being far beneath him. He also is prejudiced against anyone with German blood and does not believe in God. He joins the Marine Corps and goes to France where constant association with the men in his battery and nearly answering the call from above during an action makes him see things differently. He returns home, crippled, but with a better knowledge of man and God. During a raid he rescued a Belgian girl who is later sent to stay with his mother. When he comes home and sees her, he finds himself in love.

Cast

Reception

Like many American films of the time, The Unbeliever was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. For example, the Chicago Board of Censors required a cut, in Reel 4, of executing a woman and child and two views of man pulling young woman's waist down. [4]

Preservation

A print is preserved at the Library of Congress. [5] As a still-surviving feature from Edison, The Unbeliever can be found on Kino's omnibus of Edison Company shorts and features; it is the last film on the final DVD. [6] with a new score by Donald Sosin. Alpha Video also has released a DVD version. [7]

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References

  1. ↑ Progressive Silent Film List: The Unbeliever at silentera.com
  2. ↑ The AFI Catalog of Feature Films: The Unbeliever
  3. ↑ "Reviews: The Unbeliever". Exhibitors Herald. 6 (13). New York City: Exhibitors Herald Company: 23. March 23, 1918.
  4. ↑ "Official Cut-Outs by the Chicago Board of Censors". Exhibitors Herald. 6 (15): 33. April 6, 1918.
  5. ↑ The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: The Unbeliever
  6. ↑ Edison: The Invention of the Movies at KinoLorber.com
  7. ↑ The Unbeliever on dvd by Alpha Video
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