James Cruze
2 credits on HibingeTV
American actor and film director, born in 1884. He began as a stage and screen actor before moving into directing, where he became one of the most successful directors of the silent era. His best-known films include The Covered Wagon (1923) and The Pony Express (1925). He was known for large-scale westerns and adventure films that helped define the epic mode of 1920s Hollywood.
Directed
Music, Drama
A pre-Code early sound musical drama directed by James Cruze, based on Ben Hecht's short story "The Rival Dummy." Erich von Stroheim stars as Gabbo, a ventriloquist who becomes increasingly unhinged as he relies more and more on his dummy Otto as his only means of emotional expression. Betty Compson co- stars as Mary, his former assistant and lover. The film was originally released with Multicolor sequences, now surviving only in black and white. As a work published before 1930, it is in the public domain.
Music · Drama · Horror
The Great Gabbo
1929 - Music
Western, Adventure
James Cruze, who had scored a hit with The Covered Wagon (1923), returned to the frontier epic with this story of the Pony Express and the riders who carried mail across the West. The plot follows a rider framed for murder and the woman who believes him, set against the backdrop of the short-lived but legendary mail service. Wallace Beery plays a villain, Ricardo Cortez the accused rider, and Betty Compson the woman who helps clear him. Cruze stages the riding sequences with the same eye for scale that made his westerns spectacles. Published in 1925, it is in the public domain in the United States.
Western · Adventure · Silent
The Pony Express
1925 - Western