When only a few years ago the
Vitagraph Company made their very creditable production of Charles
Dickens's "A Tale of Two Cities," the two leading male characters,
Sidney Carton and Charles Darnley, were played by two different
actors--the final action of the plot turning on the fact that these
two were "doubles," for this fact makes possible Sidney Carton's
supreme sacrifice for his friend and the woman he loves. There was a
fairly close facial resemblance between the two actors who played
these parts--enough, with the aid of the wigs they wore and other
make-up, to make the picture convincing. Today, no director would
think of putting on such a picture with two different actors in the
dual roles of Carton and Darnley. When, in 1917, the Dickens classic
was released as a William Fox feature, William Farnum played both
roles, and some really remarkable results were obtained in scenes
where both characters were present at the same time. Almost everyone
has seen pictures containing examples of the possibilities offered by
double exposure in making pictures of this nature.
In the first place, when two characters are supposed to be "doubles,"
it is certainly more convincing to have one player portray both roles.
Again, any additional trouble that is attached to making pictures of
this kind, on account of the double exposures involved, is confined to
those scenes in which both characters are present in the scene at the
same time, and even then the difficulty is minimized by the use of
close-ups.
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