Thomas Harper Ince was an American silent era filmmaker and media proprietor.
Ince was known as the "Father of the Western" and was responsible for making over 800 films.
Ince, c. 1918
"Inceville", Santa Ynez Canyon, California, c. 1919
101 Ranch Players, 1913. Photograph by Garnet E. Palfrey
Ince-Triangle Studios, c. 1916
The Italian is a 1915 American silent film feature which tells the story of an Italian gondolier who comes to the United States to make his fortune but instead winds up working as a shoeshiner and experiencing tragedy while living with his wife and child in a tenement on New York's Lower East Side. The film was produced by Thomas H. Ince, directed by Reginald Barker, and co-written by C. Gardner Sullivan and Ince. The film stars stage actor George Beban in the title role as the Italian immigrant, Pietro "Beppo" Donnetti. In 1991, this film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
Contemporary pamphlet for the film
George Beban in The Italian
Screenwriter C. Gardner Sullivan (pictured) wrote the story with Thomas H. Ince.
Clara Williams as Beppo's wife, Annette, with "Little Tony"
