Toward a Middle-Class Cinema: Thomas Ince and the Social Problem Film, 1914–1920

Abstract

Thomas H. Ince (1882–1924) was a popular motion-picture producer and director in the 1910s. He built his reputation and fortune by making feature films that appealed to middle-class tastes. In addition to his westerns and the epics for which he is best known, Ince made a number of social-problem films. Three of his films—The Italian(1914),Dangerous Hours(1920), andThe Dark Mirror(1920)—are particularly interesting for how they illuminate the relationship between the American cinema and Progressive Era reform. A close analysis of these three films suggests ways that popular culture reflected the concerns of mainstream progressives and how these concerns shifted during the course of the decade.