A Yankee Princess
{{short description|1919 silent film by David Smith}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{infobox film
| name = A Yankee Princess
| image = A Yankee Princess (1919) - Ad 2.jpg
| caption = Magazine advertisement
| director = David Smith
| writer = Bessie Love (scenario)
| based_on = {{based on|"The Yankee Princess" (story)|Bernard McConville{{cite magazine|magazine=Wid's Yearbook|url=https://archive.org/details/widsyearbook191902unse/page/260/|title=Edna Schley: Representing the foremost authors of America and England|date=1919}}}}
| starring = Bessie Love
| music =
| cinematography = Clyde De Vinna{{cite book |last=Love |first=Bessie |year=1977 |title=From Hollywood with Love: An Autobiography of Bessie Love |location=London |publisher=Elm Tree Books|oclc=734075937|page=150}}
| editing =
| studio = Vitagraph Company of America
| distributor = Vitagraph Company of America
| released = {{Film date|1919|4|21|U.S.}}
| runtime = 5 reels; 4,646 feet
| country = United States
| language = Silent (English intertitles)
}}
A Yankee Princess is a 1919 American silent comedy-drama film produced and distributed by the Vitagraph Company of America. It was directed by David Smith and stars Bessie Love, who also wrote the screenplay. It is a lost film.[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.10866/default.html The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: A Yankee Princess]{{cite book|title=The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films 1911–1920|editor-last=Hanson|editor-first=Patricia King|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley, California|date=1988|isbn=978-0-520-06301-3}}
Plot
Poor inventor Michael O'Reilly (Pearce) is an immigrant from Ireland living in the United States. When he suddenly comes into money, he sends his daughter Patsy (Love) is sent to an exclusive boarding school. The snobby students shun her until she claims to be an Irish princess, and they then demand to see her coat of arms. To meet this need, her father buys the family heirlooms of the destitute Irish Windbourne estate.
Lord Windbourne (Wetherby) himself appears and becomes engaged to Patsy, with the intention of reclaiming his treasures and her fortune. When she learns his true character, she breaks the engagement, but Windbourne threatens to reveal the O'Reillys' deception.
Handsome young Irishman Larry Burke (Gordon) appears with proof that he is the real Lord Windbourne. He proposes to Patsy, who accepts.{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/filmdailyvolume778newy/page/475|title=Nothing Big But Makes Congenial Material for Vitagraph Star|magazine=The Film Daily |date=April 13, 1919|page=7}}{{cite magazine |title=Reviews: A Yankee Princess |magazine=Exhibitors Herald and Motography |volume=8 |issue=18 |page=40 |publisher=Exhibitors Herald Company |location=New York City |date=April 26, 1919 |url=https://archive.org/details/exhibitorsherald08exhi/page/n339}}{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/moving40chal/page/n369|page=929|magazine=The Moving Picture World|date=May 10, 1919|title=Comedy a Big Element in 'A Yankee Princess'}}{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/motionpicturenew192unse_0/page/2522|magazine=Motion Picture News|date=April 19, 1919|title='A Yankee Princess'—Vitagraph|pages=2523, 2528|first=Laurence|last=Reid}}
Cast
File:A Yankee Princess (1919) - Ad 1.jpg
- Bessie Love as Patsy O'Reilly
- Robert Gordon as Larry Burke
- George Pearce as Michael O'Reilly
- Aggie Herring as Mrs. O'Reilly
- J. Carlton Wetherby as Lord Windbourne
- Katherine Griffith as Lady Windbourne
- Lydia Yeamans Titus as Molly McGuire
- Max Asher as The French Chef
Reception
The film received generally positive reviews, although the story was deemed predictable.{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/exhibitorsherald09exhi/page/n791|title=What the Picture Did for Me|quote=This is a winner. Book it. It will please all, especially the Irish. Good business.|first=Mack J.|last=Davis|magazine=Exhibitors Herald and Motography|page=75|volume=9|issue=10|date=August 30, 1919}}{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/photoplayworld02-1919-06/page/n37|magazine=The Photo-Play World|page=36|date=June 1919|title=The Flitting Shadows|first=Chester A.|last=Blythe}}{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/exhibitorsherald08exhi/page/n335|title=Digest Pictures of the Week|magazine=Exhibitors Herald and Motography|page=36|quote=contains much that is pleasing to the eye but little of substance.|date=April 26, 1919|volume=8|issue=18}}{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/exhibitorsherald09exhi/page/84|magazine=Exhibitors Herald|title=What the Picture Did for Me|quote=A dandy picture that pleased all my people|first=Eugene|last=Sanders|page=85|volume=9|issue=27|date=June 28, 1919}} It was commercially successful. The photography was highly praised, as was the acting, in particular that of Bessie Love.{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/motionpicturenew19moti_4/page/1802|magazine=Motion Picture News|date=March 22, 1919|title=Action Abounds in Bessie Love Productions|page=1803}}{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/movwor40chal/page/n123|magazine=The Moving Picture World|title=Star Demonstrates Her Versatility|date=April 5, 1919|page=112}}{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/photoplayjournal03cent/page/n221|magazine=The Photo-Play Journal|date=April 1919|page=36|first=Bert D.|last=Essex|title=The Silent Trend}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
{{Commons category|A Yankee Princess}}
- {{IMDb title|0010926|A Yankee Princess}}
- {{Tcmdb title|505163|A Yankee Princess}}
- {{AFI film|2172|A Yankee Princess}}
{{David Smith|state=expanded}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yankee Princess, A}}
Category:1919 comedy-drama films
Category:1910s English-language films
Category:American black-and-white films
Category:American silent feature films
Category:English-language comedy-drama films
Category:Films based on short fiction
Category:Films directed by David Smith (director)
Category:Lost American comedy-drama films
Category:Lost silent American films
Category:Silent American comedy-drama films
Category:Vitagraph Studios films
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