James Cruze
James Cruze (March 27, 1884 near Ogden, Utah – August 3, 1942, in Hollywood, California) was a silent film actor and film director. Cruze was born as Jens Vera Cruz Bosen. The Vera Cruz middle name came from the battle of Vera Cruz. He was raised in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but did not practice the religion after his teenage years. Very little is certain about his childhood and teen years because he told a different story at every interview he granted. Cruze acted, directed and or produced in over 100 films mainly during the silent film era. His first known acting job was at Lubin Manufacturing Company in 1910. He started at Thanhouser Company in 1912 which is where the majority of his body of work was produced, much of it as the leading man. He married the actress Marguerite Snow in 1913 and had a daughter by her in 1914. They divorced in 1922. After leaving Thanhouser in 1916, he worked for several other companies as director and producer, primarily for Paramount Pictures, from 1918 to 1938. He married the actress Betty Compson in 1924 and they divorced in 1930. He married Alberta McCoy on 30 June 1941.
Actor
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The Cry of the Children
THE CRY OF THE CHILDREN is the most famous and best documented of all Thanhouser films. In its day it was recognized as one of the most important expressions of the pre-World War One reform movement, in particular child labor. Perhaps because the uncompromising content drew...Watch Movie
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Joseph in the Land of Egypt
The second of “Thanhouser Big Productions,” a monthly schedule, Joseph in the Land of Egypt was a true “feature” film, a new class of film which came to dominate the market by the end of 1914. A feature was an hour or more, heavily advertised, with elaborate production...Watch Movie
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The Star of Bethlehem
Biblical tale about the birth of Christ told with a cast of 100's. Thanhouser's ambitious STAR OF BETHLEHEM was one of the first steps toward true feature-length films (more than two reels long). It appeared the year before the Italian epic QUO VADIS? was screened in the U....Watch Movie
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She
This sensational popular story was one of three Haggard novels filmed by Thanhouser. It has many of the elements found in the not-yet-invented adventure/fantasy serial genre. Thanhouser’s expertise in location work, costume fantasy, and elaborate storytelling pay off in in SHE, the studio’s first...Watch Movie
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Tannhäuser
Though different in spelling and pronunciation, Thanhouser’s adaptation of "Tannhäuser" was probably inevitable. The opera, with original libretto and music by Wagner, based on traditional legends, was the first Wagner opera seen in the United States and enjoyed great popularity throughout the...Watch Movie
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Cymbeline
Southern California locations vividly suggest both elemental pre-Roman Britain and classical Rome. An energetic cinematic pacing and intimacy show rapidly improving narrative technique and realism well beyond the limitations of the stage. Especially cinematic are the bedchamber scene in the first...Watch Movie
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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
James Cruze featured as Jekyll/Hyde in this second U.S. film version of the classic novel by Robert Lewis Stevenson. This famous tale, made even more sensational by Richard Mansfield's stage performance, was filmed in at least nine silent versions. Thanhouser's was the second...Watch Movie
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The Tiniest of Stars
An air of authenticity infuses this family drama of a brother and sister who take to the variety stage. The popular stage was a source of everyday entertainment for most Americans of the time, and had been Edwin Thanhouser's career before 1910. Audiences were beginning to...Watch Movie
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Marble Heart
This story, already a well-known English play of 1854 adapted from an earlier French play, casts the three most popular Thanhouser adult stars in a story of unrequited love, with a dream sequence that parallels the main story. Pale makeup is especially noticeable in some scenes, the answer to...Watch Movie
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When the Studio Burned
The film studio’s worst enemy was fire, thanks to mostly wooden structures and highly flammable negatives, prints and film stock. Fire actually struck the Thanhouser studio on January 13, 1913 and burned the main facility to the ground. Most of the negatives and prints were...Watch Movie
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In a Garden
The gardener tells the story he has seen unfolded within the precincts of a beautiful spot: the beginning of affection between two, the quarrel and the reconciliation years afterward. The ups and downs and ups of a romance over 30 years, told as a series of flashbacks by the gardener who...Watch Movie
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David Copperfield
The most ambitious Thanhouser Company effort since its first release in 1910 came with DAVID COPPERFIELD. Based on Charles Dickens's 1850 immortal story of an English lad's tribulation-filled journey to adulthood, Thanhouser released the films over the course of three weeks...Watch Movie
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Zudora Episode #2: The Mystery of the Sleeping House
A mysterious and exotic secret society conducts elaborate ceremonies in American suburbia with the kidnapped heroine Zudora who they want to marry off to their leader as a substitute for the real princess who was taken by a rival tribe back in India. The sets range from cheap...Watch Movie
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