Movie 5min

When The Devil Drives (1907)

Satan drives a train over telegraph wires, under the sea, etc.
Not rated.

+ 2 images
Facts
Director Walter R. Booth
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Titles
(Country Spesific) Der Teufel als Zugführer
Production
Distribution
(UK, Re-release in 1913, 1907) Charles Urban Trading Company
Categories
Black and White Dark Comedy Fantasy Short Silent Film The Devil Train Trick Film
Descriptions

The devil hijacks a train trip in France. Made by magician turned filmmaker Walter Booth, who established the Charles Urban Trading Company to make films in his own London garden.

Source: TMDB


A four wheeled cab is hired by a suburban family to take them to the station. On the way the devil takes the place of the cabman. At the station the cab and driver vanish, leaving the astounded passengers alone with their luggage. They embark on the train and are comfortably settled for the journey when the devil materializes from the fire box of the engine, disposes of the driver along with his mate, and takes control. An incredible journey follows in which the train flies through the air; travels along the sea bed so that the passengers can observe the sea life; climbs a cliff; plunges into an abyss; skims the surface of the water and turns the passengers in all directions before finally turning turtle at the entrance of a tunnel and again taking to the air. The devil laughs maniacally.

Source: BFI


This early, special effects silent short, was designed solely to thrill audiences with the Devil taking charge of a train and driving it under the sea before spinning it around in the sky! Most of this makes use of a Bassett-Lowke O-gauge model and painted-on effects. Look closely at the scene where the train travels along the sea-bed and you can see the cameraman reflected in the glass of the fish tank! The film is made in the style of Georges Méliès’ fantastical journeys such as Voyage a Travers l’Impossible (France, 1904) using optical tricks and a combination of painted backdrops and models with a live cast but there are some real railway scenes. As can be expected for these early silent movies they give a wonderful insight into the pre-grouping era with some very rare shots indeed. This film is no exception and there is a shot taken outside what is reputed to be Muswell Hill station on the GNR. There is then a shot of an LNWR 4-4-0 arriving at Llandudno Junction station and a very, very, rare shot of an LNWR 3-cylinder Compound 2-2-2-2 on an express, probably also in the vicinity of Llandudno. There is then one final shot of an LSWR 4-4-0 on an express taken from another train travelling in the opposite direction. These fantastical trick movies were quite in vogue at the time, as movie companies began to explore different production techniques. The film is awfully cheap by today’s standards but at the time, Victorian audiences would have found it both highly amusing and utterly magical. All the railway footage appears on Video 125’s Trains from the Arc’ DVD.

Source: British Railway Movie Database


Trick film. The devil drives a train. A four wheeled cab is hired by a suburban family to take them to the station. On the way the devil takes the place of the cabman. At the station the cab and driver vanish, leaving the astounded passengers alone with their luggage. They embark on the train and are comfortably settled for the journey when the devil materializes from the fire box of the engine, disposes of the driver along with his mate, and takes control. An incredible journey follows in which the train flies through the air; travels along the sea bed so that the passengers can observe the sea life; climbs a cliff; plunges into an abyss; skims the surface of the water and turns the passengers in all directions before finally turning turtle at the entrance of a tunnel and again taking to the air. The final evolutions of the train dissolve to a close-up of the devil's laughing face (282ft). (Shotlist)

Source: BFI


Off for a holiday, the family have a most exciting time. Even the train refuses to keep on the line and runs into the witching waves. The carriages finally return, one by one, from the vasty deep and become respectable rolling stock.

Source: Supplement to The Bioscope, July 30, 1914


A species of magic film which may have its attractions, but on the whole is too improbable to be really interesting. To see cars whirling over and over or running back up a bank after going down, is too overdrawn to be good. It is chiefly interesting as showing what can be done on a film.

Source: The Moving Picture World, December 12, 1908

Similar movies
The Black Imp
1905
The Black Imp
The Black Imp (1905)
88%
1905 4min
Faust and Mephistopheles
1898
Faust and Mephistopheles
Faust and Mephistopheles (1898)
79%
1898 2min
The Devil's Laboratory
1897
The Devil's Laboratory
The Devil's Laboratory (1897)
78%
1897 3min
Wonderful Flames
1907
Wonderful Flames
Wonderful Flames (1907)
77%
1907 4min
The Prince of Darkness
1900
The Prince of Darkness
The Prince of Darkness (1900)
75%
1900 1min
The Devil In the Studio
1901
The Devil In the Studio
The Devil In the Studio (1901)
74%
1901 1min
Cast
Unavailbale.
Crew
Walter R. Booth - Director