The Crown Prince's Double (1916) Directed by Van Dyke Brooke, Scenario by Anne Mahring. Cast: Maurice Costello, Norma Talmadge, Howard Hall, Anders Randolf, Thomas R. Mills, Thomas Brooke, Daniel Leighton, Anna Laughlin, Leila Blau. 5 reels. This film is LOST

This film was Talmadge's last for Vitagraph. Talmadge played the girlfriend of Barry Lawrence, the American double. The film opened in New York on December 26, 1915, but didn't go into general release until 1916. Release may have been delayed, since Talmadge's first two films after leaving Vitagraph, Captivating Mary Carstairs and The Missing Links, were released first.

Review from Variety, January 7, 1916

Very much "Beverly of Graustark," "Prisoner of Zenda" and "Rupert of Hentzau" all rolled into one and a little of "Such a Little Queen" added for good measure, and you have "The Crown Prince's Double," a five-part Blue Ribbon feature of the Vitagraph Co. which is to be released through the V-L-S-E. Gilbert Patten is credited with being the author of the story, while the picturization has been worked out by Anne Mahring and produced under the direction of Van Dyke Brooke. King Gustav (Howard Hall) of Ostrau has decided that his son shall wed the princess of a neighboring monarchy. The plans are all laid and the Prince has expressed his willingness. But the populace of the little kingdom are on the verge of a revolution and before the wedding takes place the uprising occurs and both father and son are forced to flee for their lives. Later the settle in London, where the son becomes infatuated with a burlesque actress. The father, becoming aware of his son's affair, decides to send him to America with Peter Hart, a young American who has formed a friendship with the father and son. On their arrival here Oscar falls in love with Hart's sister, Isabelle, and the two elope. The Crown Prince cables to his father the glad tidings and they arrive just at the moment when Baron Hagar is telling His Majesty that the populace of Ostrau have decided they want him to again become their ruler. The Baron is sent to America to force the Crown Prince to have his marriage annulled and to return to his native land. Oscar and his wife, accompanied by her brother, flee from the spying of Baron Hagar and his associates. They arrive in New York and the brother sees Barry Lawrence, who is a double of the Crown Prince. He is a down-and-outer and is eager to accept the $1,000 offered him to go to the most prominent hotel in town and to register there. He does and the detectives mistake him for the Crown Prince. After much adventure in which the double foils the detectives, both he and the Crown Prince, through the medium of clever double exposure photography, appear before the Baron and the Prince advises him for once and all that he does not intend to return to his native land if he has to give up the woman he loves. Maurice Costello plays the double role of Crown Prince and the double and does it very well. The story is a rather romantic thriller that holds the interest, and with the American touch that has been supplied to the story by laying most of the action in New York, the picture should appeal as a feature. The photography is good and the direction all that could be asked for. Of the minor faults in the picture there are two that stand out glaringly. One, the receipt of a cablegram in London by the father, shows an ordinary American Postal cablegram blank and the other is the fact that there wasn't any door to the elevator in the hotel scene. There isn't a hotel in the world that would leave its elevator shaft wide open.

Last revised, August 17, 2005