
Directing
Joseph De Grasse
Born — Died
1873-05-04 — 1940-05-25
Place of birth
Bathurst, New Brunswick, Canada
Known for
Directing
Credits
51 titles
Most famous for his work directing with his wife Ida May Park.
Known for
NRNatalie Bourget, an American living in Paris, is married against her will to Jean Bourget, the brutal leader of the Paris "Apache" underworld. At a cabaret, Jean compels Natalie to perform an Apache dance, during which Harrison Forbes and his American mistress, Helen Armstrong, notice Natalie's strong resemblance to Helen.
L'apache
1919
4.7When John Mason's father is killed, John is wounded. Attracted to his nurse Alice, a conflict arises between him and his friend Ben who plans to marry Alice. John later finds the killer of his father but goes to face him not knowing Ben has removed the bullets from his gun.
The Dawn Rider
1935
NRWealthy Jack Stimson (Jay Belasco) falls in love with Broadway diva Velma Vrooman (Gretchen Lederer), and for her sake bankrolls the musical production in which she is currently starred. But when Velma proves to be fickle and unreliable, Jack shifts his affections to humble chorus girl Bobbie (Louise Lovely).
Bobbie of the Ballet
1916
10.0A country girl goes to visit friends in the big city, and observes a different kind of life.
The Market of Souls
1919
6.0The story of a young woman living in the wilderness.
The Place Beyond the Winds
1916
5.5A man recalls his earlier days when he was married and his wife cheated on him.
A Mother's Atonement
1915
Film credits
1930s · 4 titles
4.7When John Mason's father is killed, John is wounded. Attracted to his nurse Alice, a conflict arises between him and his friend Ben who plans to marry Alice. John later finds the killer of his father but goes to face him not knowing Ben has removed the bullets from his gun.
The Dawn Rider
1935
4.0A re-edited, digitally colourised and re-scored version of vintage black and white Western 'The Dawn Rider', complete with contemporary, pulse pounding music. The re-edit brings 'The Dawn Rider' down to a 22 minute short version.
Avenging Angel
1935
5.7A 12-episode serial in which scholastic sports star Frank Merriwell leaves school to search for his missing father. His adventures involve a mysterious inscription on a ring, buried treasure, kidnaping and Indian raids. He saves his father and returns to school just in time to win a decisive baseball game with his remarkable pitching and hitting.
The Adventures of Frank Merriwell
1936
7.0An unscrupulous lawyer uses alcohol to swindle an innocent family.
The Drunkard
1935
1920s · 2 titles
8.0Our hero catches a gang of bank robbers while taking time out to romance the banker's pretty daughter.
The Cowboy Kid
1928
9.0After graduating from a fashionable finishing school and touring Europe with her father, Selina Peake returns to the United States, where her father is accidentally killed after losing his fortune in a gambling den. Selina is reduced to teaching in a high school in the Dutch community at High Prarie near Chicago. She boards in the farmhouse of Klass Poole, a dull-witted market gardener, and finally marries Pervus DeJong, a poor and backward farmer. She shares the drudgery of her husband's futile life and finds happiness only in their small son, Dirk, whom she calls "So-Big."
So Big
1924
1910s · 5 titles
6.0The story of a young woman living in the wilderness.
The Place Beyond the Winds
1916
Helen MacDermott, daughter of the Factor at Bear Lake, has been carefully and religiously brought up by her widowed father. Bob Brandt, a dashing young gambler and adventurer, stops at Bear Lake in his wanderings, and having occasion to visit the post to buy supplies, he becomes acquainted with Helen. She quickly surrenders to his charms.
The Measure of a Man
1915
Although Nell Barclay is very young, she has succeeded in falling in love with Ralph Tracy, a big, manly ranch owner and friend of her father. Louis Potosi, a neighbor, is also in love with Nell. The two suitors attend the round-up held on the Barclay ranch and pay court to the pretty girl while watching the roping and branding of the cattle.
Jealousy on the Ranch
1912
A western short from 1912 starring Joseph De Grasse & Edna Maison.
For the Sake of the Papoose
1912
Jack Thompson asks "Boss" Barnet for his daughter's hand, and the wise old man asks him how much money he has in the bank. Jack is embarrassed and the "boss" tells him that when he has $2,500 he will consent to the wedding. The young people are disappointed by the turn of affairs, and to hasten the wedding the girl hits upon a clever ruse.
The $2500 Bride
1912
Behind the camera
NRNatalie Bourget, an American living in Paris, is married against her will to Jean Bourget, the brutal leader of the Paris "Apache" underworld. At a cabaret, Jean compels Natalie to perform an Apache dance, during which Harrison Forbes and his American mistress, Helen Armstrong, notice Natalie's strong resemblance to Helen.
L'apache
1919
NRWealthy Jack Stimson (Jay Belasco) falls in love with Broadway diva Velma Vrooman (Gretchen Lederer), and for her sake bankrolls the musical production in which she is currently starred. But when Velma proves to be fickle and unreliable, Jack shifts his affections to humble chorus girl Bobbie (Louise Lovely).
Bobbie of the Ballet
1916
10.0A country girl goes to visit friends in the big city, and observes a different kind of life.
The Market of Souls
1919
6.0The story of a young woman living in the wilderness.
The Place Beyond the Winds
1916
5.5A man recalls his earlier days when he was married and his wife cheated on him.
A Mother's Atonement
1915
10.0The normal life of a young farm boy as he goes to school and as he relaxes in the country is depicted.
The Old Swimmin' Hole
1921
NRRoger Curwell (William Stowell) is disowned by his father (Joseph W. Girard) because of his desire to be an artist. But instead of making good as a painter, Roger finds himself drunk and on the skids in San Francisco's Barbary Coast. At a dive run by Hell Morgan (Alfred Allen), he meets Lola (Dorothy Phillips), who nurses him back to physical and moral health.
Hell Morgan's Girl
1917
NRWealthy stockbroker Lemuel Morewood wants his sons, Billy and Tom, to learn the business and marry Emily Donelson and Frances Berkeley, respectively. Billy, however, is infatuated with Mrs. Bruce Guilford, a leader of the "smart set," while Tom loves boxing. At a dinner for which Lemuel hires Bessie Brayton, an orphan from the West, to entertain, Lemuel responds to Bessie's taunts about being old-fashioned by winning a lot of money gambling with Major Bellamy Didsworth, who tries to swindle Bessie, and leaves with her to spend it.
Father and the Boys
1915
9.0The film tells the tale of three ex-cons who finally go straight, through the redemptive power of love. After rescuing Mary from certain death, the “three bad men” meet her saintly mother and stay on to help on their farm. In The Hidden Way, two of the ex-cons conspire to steal the family’s tiny nest egg, but through plot twists involving a medicinal spring, a wronged woman, a villainous Casanova, his avaricious father, and government inspectors (!), the pair eventually see their error and join the third in turning over a new leaf.
The Hidden Way
1926
NRNora Helmer has years earlier committed a forgery in order to save the life of her authoritarian husband Torvald. Now she is being blackmailed lives in fear of her husband's finding out and of the shame such a revelation would bring to his career.
A Doll's House
1917
NRNora Helmer has years earlier committed a forgery in order to save the life of her authoritarian husband Torvald. Now she is being blackmailed lives in fear of her husband's finding out and of the shame such a revelation would bring to his career.
A Doll's House
1917
NRWhen Mary and Fannie Graham, daughters of a good mother but a father with criminal instincts, are left motherless, Mary flees from her unhappy surroundings while Fannie, inheriting her father's disposition, remains and is raised as a thief.
The Girl in the Checkered Coat
1917
9.0Unhappily married to Sir Robert Grimwood, an older man whose only passion is chess, Lady Marion finds solace in the arrival of her old suitor, John Heritage.
His Wife's Friend
1919
8.0John Middleton is distressed to learn that his family is taking in an orphan girl named Mary. He turns aside all her attempts to befriend him. But with the passage of time, John discovers (long after everyone else has) that he loves Mary. But by now it's too late. She plans to marry his friend Willie.
The Girl I Loved
1923
NRA spirited young college graduate is sent away to the Kentucky mountains to live with her uncle after returning home and scorning the effete minister her parents had chosen for her husband. One day, finding herself lost in the wilderness, she is rescued by two brothers who fall in love with her—but as they compete for her affections with increasing ferocity, her feelings become conflicted. Partially lost: the second of two reels survives.
The Lion, the Lamb and the Man
1914
NRMontgomery Seaton, one of the idle rich, pays more attention to his friends' business than to his marital situation.
Tangled Hearts
1916
NRA tailor tries to pass himself off in high society by wearing some of his rich customer's clothes.
A Tailor-Made Man
1922
NRJames Fairfax, editor of the scandalous Morning Argus, stops at nothing for a juicy story, much to the disdain of his staff—especially reporter Dolly Clare.
Dolly's Scoop
1916
6.3Family tensions in the Kentucky hills are inflamed by an outsider's dishonest scheme to exploit the area for its coal.
Heart o' the Hills
1919
NRA woman gives up her illegitimate child, and then marries without telling her new husband about the child.
The Price of Silence
1916
NRA girl from Paris' underworld fights for love and survival during a time of international turmoil.
The Wildcat of Paris
1918
NRNo synopsis available yet.
The Mark of Cain
1916
NRThe heraldic image of the fleur-de-lis weaves through the story of an orphaned girl, born with a birthmark in the shape of the insignia her mother had become obsessed with before her death, as her own fascination with the symbol leads her to a series of troubled relationships with powerful men. Partially lost: an unknown length of the film survives.
The Fascination of the Fleur de Lis
1915
NRIn pre-Civil War days, a woman dies in childbirth. Her sister, believing the child to be illegitimate, leaves the baby in the care of one of her sister's slaves.
The Grip of Jealousy
1916
NRA humble, conscientious factory worker decides to take matters into her own hands when her guileless younger sister catches the eye of a disreputable department manager. Mostly lost: a small fragment exists.
Virtue Its Own Reward
1914
NRDuring a violent disagreement, a miner strangles his partner and accidentally shoots the man's wife. He then deserts his own wife and son to elope with the saloon keeper's daughter. As they are fleeing, the girl discovers the deed and insists upon caring for the baby found in the dead wife's arms.
Pay Me!
1917
4.6Paul Revere Forbes, an descendant of Paul Revere, is a teller at Cyrus Peabody's bank. He learns that Cyrus and his son, Ernest, have speculated with $35,000 of the bank's money, and the entire sum has been lost.
The Scarlet Car
1917
NRHaving been misinformed that all French girls are morally suspect, American soldier David Kendall (Edwin August) is in for quite a shock when he's shipped Over There. After meeting several "nice" Frenchwomen, David returns to the states with a whole new perspective on things. It isn't long before he falls in love with Nenette (Carmel Myers), the daughter of French-born restaurateur Armande Bisson (Andrew Robson). But when Nenette is implicated in a murder, the disillusioned David instantly repudiates her -- and by extension, all Daughters of France.
A Broadway Scandal
1918
7.0Young actress Bonnie May finds work in a private play given at Mrs. Baron’s mansion, where she endears herself to all, especially Victor Baron, the invalid son who has written the play. He begs her to stay on to help him write another play, despite the reluctance of his mother.
Bonnie May
1920
NREn route to Australia, beautiful authoress Alice Gordon (Louise Lovely) is shipwrecked on a desert island in the company of wealthy book publisher John Meeson. Sensing that his days are numbered, and lacking pencil and paper, Meeson tattoos his last will and testament on Alice's lovely back.
The Grasp of Greed
1916
7.0When a famed matador is forced to become an outlaw, he seeks to get revenge on the dancing girl who betrayed him.
The Brand of Lopez
1920
6.5A doctor is called to the home of a young man who wants to enlist in the Army.
If My Country Should Call
1916
NRAfter divorcing his first wife and marrying a more gentle natured woman, Ralph Hadley finds himself again attracted to his ex-wife, a shrewd business woman. Trouble begins when he foolishly invites her to lunch, setting gossipy tongues-wagging. The news reaches his devoted wife who has discovered she is pregnant.
The Piper's Price
1917
8.0Robert Wells is an American born in China who, unbeknownst to him, has an Oriental half-brother. Wells' uncle sends him to help Ray Williams build bridges in China. Williams is in league with Chinese reactionaries and he discredits Wells by turning him into a drug addict. Wells eventually becomes an outcast and is in a stupor when he is found by his half-brother, Kong Sue, the son of the Lord of Thundergate, a powerful Mandarin reactionary.
Thundergate
1923
9.0Calvin Gray, a former soldier, is hired to manage the wealth of the Briskow family in a Texas oil town. As he defends them from a corrupt banker and a cunning con artist, he forms a deep connection with the Briskows' daughter, Allegheny, leading to unexpected changes in his life.
Flowing Gold
1924
NRThis melodrama about an actress in love with a playwright and the stage manager blackmailing her for her affections offers a unique glimpse into Chaney’s career before his classic performances in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera. Preserved and restored by the Academy Film Archive in 2004.
Triumph
1917
Hazel and Jack are about to be married. At his death, Hazel's uncle, Howard Wild, has bequeathed to them as a wedding present a deed to the old Wild mansion.
A Night of Thrills
1914
5.4A fishwife tells her young daughter a fairy story about a princess imprisoned by a hunchback in a seashell, a story that parallels her own life.
Alas and Alack
1915
Helen MacDermott, daughter of the Factor at Bear Lake, has been carefully and religiously brought up by her widowed father. Bob Brandt, a dashing young gambler and adventurer, stops at Bear Lake in his wanderings, and having occasion to visit the post to buy supplies, he becomes acquainted with Helen. She quickly surrenders to his charms.
The Measure of a Man
1915
The youthful monarch, Edward IV of England, is treacherously advised by Sir Stephen Fitz Allen, who is the King's boon companion, in favor of turning down the offer of Louis XI to cease the controversy that has been pending so long. The King, Edward IV, follows the advice of his companion and the French messenger meets with an insult, returning to the French court in a quandary.
The Higher Law
1914
