James Cruze (born Jens Bosen in 1884 on an Indian reservation of Utah and raised as a Mormon), reached New York after performing in the West in a medecine show.
He became a professional actor, in particular in the serials Tannhauser (1913), The Million Dollar Mystery (1914) and Zudora (1914), and then directed
all sorts of films, from horror movies like
One Glorious Day (1922)
to
The Roaring Road (1919), about car racing, and to
Arbunke farces, notably Leap Year (1921).
Cruze pushed beyond Ince's poetic western and thus invented the epic western,
mainly with
The Covered Wagon (1923).
Quest'ultimo, epopea di una carovana di pionieri diretta verso ovest che si avvaleva delle imponenti scenografie naturali del Nevada, esaltava la lotta dell'uomo contro la natura ostile di una terra selvaggia. Concepito per affascinare grazie al contrasto con la vita urbana moderna, esagerava in fatto di realismo archeologico, ma restaurava possentemente lo spirito dei primi pionieri. La carovana e` vista come una piccola comunita` con tutte le sue piccole commedie e le sue grandi tragedie, compresa una storia d'amore con un'eroina contesa da due innamorati, una comunita` che ispira simpatia, esposta ai pericoli di una terra ignota.
Ruggles of Red Gap (1923)
the comedies Merton of the Movies (1924) and Beggar on Horseback (1925)
Mannequin (1926)
The City Gone Wild (1927) for Louise Brooks.
The Mating Call (1928)
She Knew What She Wanted (1930)
Washington Merry-Go-Round (1932)
Other notable films that Cruze directed include:
the satirical Beggar on Horseback (1925), based upon the 1924 play written by Marc Connelly,
the historical epics The Pony Express (1925) and Old Ironsides (1926)
the expressionistic
The Great Gabbo (1929), in which Stroheim plays an evil ventriloquist,
the crime thriller I Cover the Waterfront (1933),
his last major western
Texas Rangers (1936), and the gangster movie
Gangs of New York (1938), written by Samuel Fuller.
Two Fisted (1935)
Sutter's Gold (1936)
Prison Nurse (1938)
Come On Leathernecks (1938)
He directed about 160 films.
