Silent Era Home Page > Home Video > Tillie’s Punctured Romance
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SILENT ERA FILMS ON HOME VIDEO
Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2009 by Carl Bennett.
All Rights Reserved.
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Tillie’s Punctured
Romance
(1914) |
Keystone Film Corporation produced the world’s first feature-length comedy motion picture in 1914 with Tillie’s Punctured Romance, starring Marie Dressler, Charles Chaplin and Mabel Normand.
The film was a combination of stage-play adaptation and Keystone slapstick, with more punches and slaps thrown perhaps than in any other silent comedy.
Tillie, a simple farm girl, is enticed to run away to the city with her father’s money by Charlie, a city slicker. In the city, Tillie’s money is taken by Charlie until he reads of her impending inheritance of her uncle’s three-million dollar estate. — Carl Bennett
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 1999 Image Entertainment edition
Tillie’s Punctured Romance (1914), black & white, 72 minutes, not rated,
with Mabel’s Married Life (1914), black & white, 14 minutes, not rated.
Film Preservation Associates, distributed by Image Entertainment,
ID4670DSDVD, UPC 0-14381-46702-4.
Full-frame 4:3 NTSC, one single-sided, single-layered DVD disc, Region 0, ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 2.0 mono sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, chapter stops, snapper case, $24.99.
DVD release date: 24 August 1999.
Country of origin: USA
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We have not viewed this disc, but we have seen the program material in its laserdisc edition. The films are accompanied by music scores performed by Gaylord Carter and John Muri. This is likely to be the best edition of the film — even a srough as it has survived — available on DVD home video.
USA: Click the logomark at right to purchase
a Region 0 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.com. |
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Canada: Click the logomark at right to purchase
a Region 0 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.ca. |
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 1999 Laserlight Digital edition
Tillie’s Punctured Romance (1914), black & white, 73 minutes, not rated,
with The Vagabond (1916), black & white, 20 minutes, not rated, The Rink (1916), black & white, 20 minutes, not rated, and The Immigrant (1917), black & white, 20 minutes, not rated.
Laserlight Digital, 82 028, UPC 0-18111-99883-3.
Full-frame 4:3 NTSC, one single-sided, single-layered DVD disc, Region 0, 3 Mbps average video bit rate, 192 kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 2.0 mono sound, English language intertitles, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese language subtitles, chapter stops, keep case, $7.95.
DVD release date: 12 October 1999.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): content: 7 / video: 3 / audio: 4 / overall: 4.
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 For the video transfer, LaserLight utilized a very contrasty 16mm reduction print prepared by RAS Films in the 1960s. The reduction print was prepared from at least two different source materials, and features three different typefaces for the intertitles.
Highlights are blasted out much of the time and shadow detail lost in this substandard 16mm print. The transfer itself seems to have been adequately done and runs at the original camera speed of approximately 15-16 frames per second (FPS). What graytones remain in the image are grainy (the fault of the print) and are replete with compression artifacts (very difficult not to get with grainy, low-quality prints). The cropping of the picture image is tight (probably, again, the fault of the print), with heads sometimes cropped off at the top and proportionately more of the picture lost at the left. The film is a strain to watch much of the time. The print also features a soundtrack with hokey music and sound effects, and with a persistent narration of the story.
This edition is not worth the less-than-ten-dollars it can be had for.
USA: Click the logomark at right to purchase
a Region 0 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.com. |
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Canada: Click the logomark at right to purchase
a Region 0 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.ca. |
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 2002 Delta Entertainment edition
Charlie Chaplin Marathon (1914-1917), black & white, 133 minutes total, not rated.
Delta Entertainment, 82 365, UPC 0-18111-23659-1.
Full-frame 4:3 NTSC, one single-sided, single-layered DVD disc, Region 0, 3 Mbps average video bit rate, 192 kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 2.0 mono sound, English language intertitles, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese language subtitles, chapter stops, keep case, $7.95.
DVD release date: 5 February 2002.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / video: 3 / audio: 4 / overall: 4.
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This budget edition is nothing more than a 2002 repackaging of the same content reviewed above.
USA: Click the logomark at right to purchase
a Region 0 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.com. |
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Canada: Click the logomark at right to purchase
a Region 0 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.ca. |
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 2000 Koch Vision edition
Tillie’s Punctured Romance (1914), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Koch Vision, KOC-DV-6301, UPC 7-41952-63019-7.
Full-frame 4:3 NTSC, three single-sided, single-layered DVD discs, Region 0, ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 2.0 mono sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, chapter stops, keep cases in cardboard slipcase, $19.98.
DVD release date: 19 December 2000.
Country of origin: USA
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The Keystone film Tillie’s Punctured Romance was included in this budget-priced multidisc set. We have no indication as to the quality of this edition of the film, and cannot recommend it at this time.
USA: Click the logomark at right to purchase
a Region 0 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.com. |
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Canada: Click the logomark at right to purchase
a Region 0 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.ca. |
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 200? Front Row Features edition
Tillie’s Punctured Romance (1914), black & white, ? minutes, not rated,
with A Burlesque on Carmen (1916), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Front Row Features, unknown catalog number, unknown UPC number.
Full-frame 4:3 NTSC, one single-sided, single-layered DVD disc, Region 1, ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 2.0 mono sound?, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, chapter stops, keep case, unknown suggested retail price.
DVD release date: 200?.
Country of origin: USA
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| We have not seen this DVD. This budget edition will show up on eBay and in grocery stores, so be wary of its likely low-quality that would be consistent with other releases by this company. |
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 200? unknown video company edition
Tillie’s Punctured Romance (1914), black & white, ? minutes, not rated,
with The Gold Rush (1925), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, The Immigrant (1917), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, and A Burlesque on Carmen (1916), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.
Unknown video company, unknown catalog number, unknown UPC number.
Full-frame 4:3 NTSC, two single-sided, single-layered DVD discs, Region 1, ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, chapter stops, keep case, unknown suggested retail price.
DVD release date: 200?.
Country of origin: unknown
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| Where do these budget discs come from? This budget edition of two features and two short Chaplin films could source from the same company as the Front Row edition above. Don’t count on the quality of the film prints being very high. |
| Other silent era CHARLES CHAPLIN films available on home video.
Other MABEL NORMAND films available on home video.
Other KEYSTONE comedy films available on home video.
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| Charles Chaplin filmography in The Progressive Silent Film List |
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