Monday, November 17, 2014

Tillie's Punctured Romance -- November 17, 2014

Motography, 14-November-1914

100 years ago, the Keystone Film Company offered states rights to its first feature production, Tillie's Punctured Romance.  Note that star Marie Dressler was billed above Charlie Chaplin, Mabel Normand and Mack Sennett. 

Some sources claim that Tillie's Punctured Romance is the first feature-length slapstick comedy, or even the first feature-length comedy.  I don't know if that is true, but it is certainly the first one to be a big success.  Marie Dressler was a comic star in vaudeville and Broadway.  She starred in Tillie's Nightmare on Broadway.  Tillie's Punctured Romance is loosely based on the play. 

Motography, 14-November-1914

"Up to the present time multiple reel comedies of three reels or more have been more or less experiments, and , in the majority of cases, absolute failures..."  "It is the 'Cabiria' of comedy."  "She is supported by the well-known Keystone pair, Mabel Normand and Charles Chaplin.  To the latter falls the greater part of the action, and there is probably no one on the screen better able to give it a comedy twist than this inimitable comic." 

If you would like to see the movie, there are many poor-quality version available.  It has recently been restored.  I want to see that version. 

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