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Several movies feature twin characters as comedians / villains / hero / heroines. I want to know what is the first movie which first used twin characters in it?

NB- In reality, they may be real-life or maybe fictional twins. It would not matter as long as they are twins in movies.

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    Are u talking about real.life twins on screen or just fictional twins first apperance
    – Ankit Sharma ♦
    Jan 31, 2013 at 6:02
  • They maybe real life or maybe fictional. It does not matter as long as they are twins in movies.
    – Mistu4u
    Jan 31, 2013 at 6:26
  • Shakespeare uses twins in some of his plays. Would a movie of one his plays be dated to the time of the movie or of the writing of the play?
    – rosends
    Jan 31, 2013 at 18:23
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    @Dan: I think OP is interested in the occurrence of twins in a movie and not the underlying script.
    – Sayan
    Feb 1, 2013 at 6:32
  • Yes I am interested in the movie only.
    – Mistu4u
    Feb 4, 2013 at 16:31

3 Answers 3

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The oldest I can find is a 1921 silent drama movie, Don't Tell Everything (IMDb entry here)

De Briac twins (Charles De Briac and Raymond De Briac) starred in this movie. They also starred in The Bachelor Daddy (1922), Daddies (1924), Every man for himself (1924)

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There were a ton of silent films that featured twins. Many used double exposures so that the same actor could play both roles. Two very early examples are THE CORSICAN BROTHERS (1912) where George Lessey played both twins, and MERELY A MILLIONAIRE (1912) where Hobart Bosworth played both roles. Both of these were short nickelodeon films.

Since 75% of all silent films are lost, it is very difficult to definitively state that something is the "first" of anything. THE UK film THE CORSICAN BROTHERS (1898) was one of the first to use double exposures, which allowed an actor to play a ghost of his twin.

Madeline and Marion Fairbanks were real-life twins who starred in many films at the Thanhouser studio. Their first film was THE TWINS (1912). They were in over 40 films together. The Fairbanks Twins

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The oldest I found is The Iron Mask(1929). It is part-talkie adventure film. But I couldn't find any article to justify it yet. William Bakewell appeared as the royal twins.

The other one I found is The Black Room (1935 film) which is a full talkie film. This movie stars Boris Karloff in a dual role as twin brothers.

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  • +1 Trivia: The Iron Mask is technically a part-talkie or silent film. The Black Room released in 1935 is the first talkie to feature twins.
    – Sayan
    Jan 31, 2013 at 7:28
  • @KeyBrdBasher, So The Black Room is the right answer?
    – Mistu4u
    Jan 31, 2013 at 7:30
  • @Mistu4u: No. Technically, silent movie or part-talkie too is a movie. Unless you are asking specifically about talkies, The Iron Mask seems to me the correct answer.
    – Sayan
    Jan 31, 2013 at 7:35
  • okay. No I was not asking about talkie only.
    – Mistu4u
    Jan 31, 2013 at 7:36
  • @KeyBrdBasher, Mistu4u so i changed my answer to include both movies. Firstly i added the The Black Room but changed it to The Iron Mask because of release date. Because their is no mention in question about silent,half-talkies or full talkies
    – Ankit Sharma ♦
    Jan 31, 2013 at 7:52

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