The Unbeliever

Philip Landicott is an arrogant atheist who believes that birth and breeding are the most important things in life and that the notion of "equality" defies reason. He joins the Marines to prove his superiority in the Great War, but in the trenches of Belgium he gets a rude awakening. Amid the slaughter and horror of battle he realizes he would be lost without the help of those he once held beneath him. As he sees the brutal atrocities visited upon innocent civilians by the enemy, his sense of purpose becomes clear. He narrowly survives crisis after crisis, and he comes to believe that only a higher power could have delivered him from the jaws of death.

The Unbeliever may have been the Edison Company's final production, but it appears that no expense was spared. Directed by Alan Crosland, who would go on to direct The Jazz Singer (1927), this production employed a full battalion of U.S. Marine veterans. The battle scenes have an epic scale and realism that rival the best of D.W. Griffith. Erich Von Stroheim appears in an early role as the brutal German officer who appears to enjoy torturing children.

• war