Heaven-Bound Traveler

1935

Family

1
IMDb Rating 4.6/10 10 100 100

adultery religion woman director short film

Plot summary

Heaven-Bound Travelers (circa 1935) was discovered among the rolls of film in the Gist collection at the Library of Congress by S. Torriano Berry during the recent restoration of Hell-Bound Train. Eloyce Gist takes a central role onscreen as a wife and mother who is wrongfully accused of adultery by her husband and is left to fend for herself and their daughter in the world. As she struggles to sustain them, the husband becomes riddled with guilt and struggles with his decision, and the social realism of the drama shifts to an allegorical struggle between the devil, appearing to tempt humanity to sin, and the angels. The film does not exist in complete form but the fragments show a project of ambitious scope. Presented with a score composed and performed by Dr. Samuel Waymon.

Director

Eloyce Gist Photo
Eloyce Gist

Top cast

Eloyce Gist Photo
Eloyce Gist as The Wife
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
140.3 MB
1280*900
English 2.0
NR
24 fps
12 hr 15 min
Seeds 8
260.61 MB
1536*1080
English 2.0
NR
24 fps
12 hr 15 min
Seeds 6

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by planktonrules

Another religious home movie from the Gists.

"Heaven-Bound Traveler" is a film by Eloyce and James Gist. I have no idea where this and the other Gist films were intended to be shown--perhaps in theaters but more likely at churches and tent meetings. This is because the films have almost no budget and are silents and lack the usual look of the more professionally made black movies of the day. Regardless, they have somehow been preserved and give us an interesting look at the times and the people portrayed in the film.The film begins with a woman deciding to become a Christian. Her husband is angry about this (who knows why) and this causes strife in their marriage. Soon, he accuses her of adultery and throws her out as well as their child. Over time, she remains true to her faith. Eventually, the man sees the error of his ways and repents...and what follows are some folks dressed up as angels and demons....and looks like portions of "Verdict Not Guilty" were used as well.This is all very strange and cheap and weird. The film is low-budgeted and cheap but also has a certain weird charm as well. Certainly worth watching...but not a film most people would enjoy but more of an important historical record of black America and religion in the 1930s.
Reviewed by Michael_Elliott

The End of the Trilogy

Heaven-Bound Traveler (1935) ** (out of 4) The third and final film from James and Eloyce Gist is about a woman and her young daughter who are thrown out of their home after she's falsely accused of being a cheater. HEAVEN-BOUND TRAVELER was another film from the Gist's that was made so that they could show it during their days of traveling to black churches to try and teach people about right and wrong. HELLBOUND TRAIN was one of the worst films I had ever seen and VERDICT NOT GUILTY wasn't much better. This one here actually tells a coherent story, which makes it better than the previous two films and I think the message here comes across a lot better than the earlier films as well. There are still all sorts of problems with this movie but these technical issues are to be expected for this type of film and the fact that I doubt the budget was over $500. The scenes dealing with the winged angel and pitchfork carrying Devil are more humorous than anything else but for the most part this race film is worth watching.
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