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
Civilization is a 1916 American pacifist drama film produced by Thomas H. Ince, written by C. Gardner Sullivan and Edward Sloman, and directed by Ince, Reginald Barker and Raymond B. West. The story involves a submarine commander who refuses to fire at a civilian ocean liner supposedly carrying ammunition for his country's enemies. The film was a big-budget spectacle that was compared to both The Birth of a Nation and the paintings of Jean-François Millet. The film was a popular success and was credited by the Democratic National Committee with helping to re-elect Woodrow Wilson as the U.S. president in 1916. The film was one of the early movies to depict Jesus Christ as a character, leading some to criticize the depiction as in "poor taste."
Civilization (film)
C. Gardner Sullivan wrote the initial outline for Civilization on Easter Sunday 1915.
Full-page newspaper advertisement promoting the spectacle of Civilization
Image: Civilization still 1