William Christy Cabanne (usually billed minus the "William") was an American film director of considerable longevity but little distinction. He started as jack-of-all-trades in several New York studios, making his screen acting debut in Cord of Life (1909). Under the supervision of D. W. Griffith, Cabanne began directing films for Triangle Studios, chalking up such credits as Enoch Arden (1915) and Douglas Fairbanks' first feature The Lamb (1915). Cabanne became one of Fairbanks' favorite directors, for much the same reason that he flourished in the 1920s: Cabanne was efficient, organized, and he didn't get in the star's way with any attention-getting artistry of his own. In one of his few associations with a "blockbuster," Cabanne was a casting director and production assistant for MGM's Ben-Hur (1926). He had no trouble adjusting to sound, churning out programmers like Graft (1931), Rendezvous at Midnight (1935) and The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1937). Only in a few scattered productions like the 1934 version of Jane Eyre or 1940's The Mummy's Hand did Cabanne evince any sort of individual style, though he was seldom able to sustain that style for a full seven or eight reels. In 1944, Cabanne directed the only color film ever made by Bela Lugosi, Scared to Death, but the picture was of such low quality that it remained unreleased for three years. Cabanne flourished until the late 1940s, cranking out B-minus westerns like King of the Bandits (1947) and Silver Trails (1948). The "Christy Cabanne" frequently listed amongst the bit players in Cecil B. DeMille's 1942 Reap the Wild Wind is most likely starlet Christine Cabanne, a relative of the director.
| Title | Year | Editors' Rating | User Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Silver Trails
Director |
1949 | |||
|
Back Trail
Director |
1948 | |||
|
King of the Bandits
Director |
1948 | |||
|
Robin Hood of Monterey
Director |
1947 | |||
|
Scared to Death
Director |
1947 | |||
|
Sensation Hunters
Director |
1945 | |||
|
The Man Who Walked Alone
Associate Producer, Director, Screenwriter |
1945 | |||
|
Dixie Jamboree
Director |
1944 | |||
|
Keep 'em Slugging
Director |
1943 | |||
|
Cinderella Swings It
Director |
1942 | |||
|
Drums of the Congo
Director |
1942 | |||
|
Scattergood Rides High
Director |
1942 | |||
|
Scattergood Survives a Murder
Director |
1942 | |||
|
Timber
Director |
1942 | |||
|
Top Sergeant
Director |
1942 | |||
|
Scattergood Baines
Director |
1941 | |||
|
Scattergood Meets Broadway
Director |
1941 | |||
|
Scattergood Pulls the Strings
Director, Screenwriter |
1941 | |||
|
Alias the Deacon
Director |
1940 | |||
|
Black Diamonds
Director |
1940 | |||
|
Danger on Wheels
Director |
1940 | |||
|
Hot Steel
Director |
1940 | |||
|
The Devil's Pipeline
Director |
1940 | |||
|
The Man from Montreal
Director |
1940 | |||
|
The Mummy's Hand
Director |
1940 | |||
|
Legion of Lost Flyers
Director |
1939 | |||
|
Mutiny on the Blackhawk
Director |
1939 | |||
|
Smashing the Spy Ring
Director |
1939 | |||
|
Tropic Fury
Director |
1939 | |||
|
Everybody's Doing It
Director |
1938 | |||
|
Night Spot
Director |
1938 | |||
|
This Marriage Business
Director |
1938 | |||
|
Annapolis Salute
Director, Screenwriter |
1937 | |||
|
Criminal Lawyer
Director |
1937 | |||
|
Don't Tell the Wife
Director |
1937 | |||
|
The Outcasts of Poker Flat
Director |
1937 | |||
|
The Westland Case
Director |
1937 | |||
|
We Who Are About to Die
Director |
1937 | |||
|
You Can't Beat Love
Director |
1937 | |||
|
The Last Outlaw
Director |
1936 | |||
|
Another Face
Director |
1935 | |||
|
Behind Green Lights
Director |
1935 | |||
|
One Frightened Night
Director |
1935 | |||
|
Rendezvous at Midnight
Director |
1935 | |||
|
Storm over the Andes
Director |
1935 | |||
|
The Keeper of the Bees
Director |
1935 | |||
|
A Girl of the Limberlost
Director |
1934 | |||
|
Jane Eyre
Director |
1934 | |||
|
Money Means Nothing
Director |
1934 | |||
|
When Strangers Meet
Director |
1934 | |||
|
Broken Hearts
Director |
1933 | |||
|
Daring Daughters
Director |
1933 | |||
|
Midshipman Jack
Director |
1933 | |||
|
The World Gone Mad
Director |
1933 | |||
|
Hearts of Humanity
Director |
1932 | |||
|
Hotel Continental
Director |
1932 | |||
|
The Midnight Patrol
Director |
1932 | |||
|
The Red-Haired Alibi
Director |
1932 | |||
|
The Unwritten Law
Director |
1932 | |||
|
Western Limited
Director |
1932 | |||
|
Convicted
Director |
1931 | |||
|
Graft
Director |
1931 | |||
|
Sky Raiders
Director |
1931 | |||
|
The Dawn Trail
Director |
1931 | |||
|
Conspiracy
Director |
1930 | |||
|
Annapolis
Director |
1928 | |||
|
Driftwood
Director |
1928 | |||
|
Nameless Men
Director |
1928 | |||
|
Altars of Desire
Director |
1927 | |||
|
Monte Carlo
Director |
1926 | |||
|
The Midshipman
Director |
1925 | |||
|
Is Love Everything?
Director, Screenwriter |
1924 | |||
|
Lend Me Your Husband
Director |
1924 | |||
|
Sixth Commandment
Director, Presented by, Producer |
1924 | |||
|
The Average Woman
Director |
1924 | |||
|
The Spitfire
Director |
1924 | |||
|
Youth for Sale
Director |
1924 | |||
|
Beyond the Rainbow
Screenwriter |
1922 | |||
|
Till We Meet Again
Director, Screen Story |
1922 | |||
|
At the Stage Door
Director, Screenwriter |
1921 | |||
|
Barricade
Director |
1921 | |||
|
What's a Wife Worth?
Director, Screenwriter |
1921 | |||
|
Beloved Cheater
Director |
1920 | |||
|
The Notorious Mrs. Sands
Director |
1920 | |||
|
The Triflers
Director |
1920 | |||
|
Fighting Through
Director |
1919 | |||
|
God's Outlaw
Director, Screenwriter |
1919 | |||
|
Mayor of Filbert
Director |
1919 | |||
|
The Pest
Director |
1919 | |||
|
Cyclone Higgins, D.D.
Director, Screenwriter |
1918 | |||
|
One of Many
Director, Screenwriter |
1917 | |||
|
The Great Secret [Serial]
Director, Screenwriter |
1917 | |||
|
Daphne and the Pirate
Director |
1916 | |||
|
Flirting with Fate
Director, Screenwriter |
1916 | |||
|
Reggie Mixes in
Director |
1916 | |||
|
Sold for Marriage
Director |
1916 | |||
|
The Flying Torpedo
Screenwriter |
1916 | |||
|
Enoch Arden
Director, Producer |
1915 | |||
|
The Absentee
Director |
1915 | |||
|
The Failure
Director |
1915 | |||
|
The Lamb
Director, Screenwriter |
1915 | |||
|
The Martyrs of the Alamo
Director, Screenwriter |
1915 | |||
|
Judith of Bethulia
Actor, First Assistant Director |
1914 | |||
|
The Better Way
Screenwriter |
1914 | |||
|
The Dishonored Medal
Director, Screenwriter |
1914 | |||
|
The Gangsters of New York
Director |
1914 | |||
|
The Great Leap
Director |
1914 | |||
|
The Sisters
Screenwriter |
1914 | |||
|
A Chance Deception
Screenwriter |
1913 | |||
|
A Misunderstood Boy
Screenwriter |
1913 | |||
|
A Timely Interception
Actor, Screenwriter |
1913 | |||
|
An Adventure in the Autumn Woods
Screenwriter |
1913 | |||
|
During the Round-Up
Screenwriter |
1913 | |||
|
His Mother's Son
Screenwriter |
1913 | |||
|
So Runs the Way
Screenwriter |
1913 | |||
|
The Adopted Brother
Screenwriter |
1913 | |||
|
The Sorrowful Shore
Screenwriter |
1913 | |||
|
The Wanderer
Actor |
1913 | |||
|
The Yaqui Cur
Actor |
1913 | |||
|
A String of Pearls
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
A Temporary Truce
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
Black Sheep
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
Neptune's Daughter
Director, Screenwriter |
1912 | |||
| 1912 | ||||
|
The Informer
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
The Punishment
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
Under Burning Skies
Actor |
1912 |