Name: Nearly a King
Released: 1916
Cast: John Barrymore, Katherine Harris, Russell Bassett, Beatrice Prentice, Martin Alsop

Cast & Crew

Film Details

Release Date

Feb 10, 1916

Premiere Information

not available

Production Company

Famous Players Film Co.

Distribution Company

Paramount Pictures Corp.

Country

United States

Synopsis

Jealous of Mary Pickford's new motion picture contract, John Barrymore broods over having no imminent movie deal. Then, his butler, who is an amateur scenarist, gives him a script about a prince in love with Daisy, an American dancer, and therefore willing to try anything to get out of his arranged marriage with a princess. When the prince hears about Jack Merriwell, an American actor to whom he bears a remarkable resemblance, he enlists him to take his place at the palace while he and Daisy elope. As soon as Jack and the princess meet, they fall in love, but when diplomats discover the hoax, they decide that Jack must face a firing squad. Then, however, the princess, eager to go through with the marriage, celebrates her twenty-first birthday, which marks the beginning of her reign as supreme ruler of the kingdom. Her first official act is to pardon Jack, and her second is to marry him, after which Barrymore, finishing the script, decides to use it for his next film.