SOURCE: "Thomas H. Ince Was the Pioneer Producer Who Systematized the Making of a Movie," in Films in Review, Vol. XI, No. 8, October, 1960, pp. 464-84.

In the following essay, Mitchell details lnce's life and career as a film director-producer.

Thomas H. Ince, one of the more important of the pioneer filmmakers and one of the most interesting of the early producers, was only 43 when he died, suddenly, in 1924.

Today film historians are divided in their estimates of him. Some dismiss him as merely a commercial producer, who contributed nothing of lasting significance. Some praise his contributions to scenario construction and film editing, which, they say, did much to elevate the motion picture in its formative years. In France Ince has even been called "the equal, if not the master" of D. W. Griffith.

He was neither, but he nonetheless deserves a prominent place in film history. It was...