James W. Horne

During the silent-era Horne specialized in staging thrill scenes for features and serial films. On the strength of Horne's work in Cruise of the Jasper B, Buster Keaton hired him to direct his 1927 comedy College. From there he moved to Hal Roach Studios, where he worked with Roach's leading stars, Laurel and Hardy, Charley Chase, Our Gang, and his nephew George Stevens, who worked at the studio as a cinematographer, who later progressed to directing short films, and from the late 1930s became a top Hollywood feature filmmaker. Horne's Laurel and Hardy comedies Big Business (credited to "J. Wesley Horne") and Way Out West are acclaimed as classics.

Horne also displayed an aptitude for directing Roach's foreign-language versions; the American version might be staged by James Parrott, for example, but the international version would be entrusted to Horne.

Horne left Roach in 1932 during an economic downturn that eliminated many jobs. He was hired by Universal Pictures where, for the next few years, he directed the studio's now-obscure two-reel comedies. When Universal suspended production, Horne worked briefly at Columbia Pictures and returned to Roach in 1935.

In 1937 Columbia, noting the popularity of serials, decided to enter the field. At first the studio simply picked up the independent productions of the Weiss Brothers' "Adventure Serials" company, but by 1938 Columbia wanted to produce serials with its own actors, technicians, and facilities. Former serial specialist James Horne co-directed (with Ray Taylor) the first of Columbia's own serials, and it turned out to be one of the studio's best. The Spider's Web, starring Warren Hull as a masked crimefighter, was the most popular serial of 1938, surpassing such well-received serials as Buck Rogers and Dick Tracy Returns by a wide margin, according to a tally published in The Motion Picture Herald.

James W. Horne
Photoplay (Dec. 1915)

This cemented Horne's position in Columbia's serial squad, and he directed cliffhangers exclusively (and without assistance) for the rest of his life. This job security seems to have prompted Horne to indulge his sense of humor, because most of his Columbia serials are tongue-in-cheek. Horne had his actors play their roles straight for the first three chapters—these would be the sample episodes used to sell the serial to exhibitors. Then, starting with Chapter 4, Horne would stray farther and farther from the straight melodramatic path, encouraging his actors to ham it up with overly dramatic readings, and staging ridiculous fight scenes (the hero would take on six thugs simultaneously and win). Horne kept the action barely serious enough to satisfy action fans, and in fairness to Horne many of his cliffhanging perils are very effectively staged. But the overall tone of Horne's serials is mock-serious, with urgent narration recapping the action (the 1960s Batman TV series copied Horne's style). The Green Archer, which Horne co-wrote as well as directed, is probably the most satirically enjoyable of Horne's serials.

James W. Horne died on June 29, 1942, of a cerebral hemorrhage following a stroke. He was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to James W. Horne.

• Works by or about James W. Horne at Internet Archive
• James W. Horne at IMDb