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Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914) -- Charlie talks wealthy farmer's daughter Tillie into eloping with him (and taking her father's money)...

Overview

User Rating:
7.2/10   1,444 votes
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Down 6% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
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View company contact information for Tillie's Punctured Romance on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
21 December 1914 (USA) more
Genre:
Tagline:
in SOUND and MUSIC more
Plot:
Charlie talks wealthy farmer's daughter Tillie into eloping with him (and taking her father's money)... more | add synopsis
NewsDesk:
I'm Not a Huge Charles Chaplin Fan but...
 (From Rope Of Silicon. 2 February 2009, 12:41 AM, PST)

User Reviews:
A milestone for film comedy, but not a work for the ages more (30 total)

Cast

  (in credits order) (verified as complete)
Marie Dressler ... Tillie

Charles Chaplin ... The City Guy
Mabel Normand ... The Other Girl
Mack Swain ... Tillie's Father
Charles Bennett ... Tillie's Millionaire Uncle
Chester Conklin ... Mr. Whoozis
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dan Albert ... Party Guest / Cop (uncredited)
Phyllis Allen ... Prison Matron / Restaurant Patron / Guest (uncredited)
Billie Bennett ... Maid / Party Guest (uncredited)
Joe Bordeaux ... Policeman (uncredited)
Glen Cavender ... First Pianist in Restaurant / Cop / Guest in First Restaurant / Uncle's Rescuer / Society Guest (uncredited)
Charley Chase ... Detective in Movie Theatre (uncredited)
Dixie Chene ... Guest (uncredited)
Nick Cogley ... Desk Sergeant (uncredited)
Alice Davenport ... Guest (uncredited)
Hampton Del Ruth ... Tall Secretary Searching for Tillie (uncredited)
Minta Durfee ... Crook's Girlfriend in 'A Thief's Fate' (uncredited)
Ted Edwards ... Waiter in First Restaurant / Station Cop (uncredited)
Edwin Frazee ... Cinema Spectator / Guest / Cop (uncredited)
Billy Gilbert ... Cop (uncredited)
Gordon Griffith ... Newsboy (uncredited)
William Hauber ... Servant / Cop (uncredited)
Fred Hibbard ... Servant (uncredited)
Alice Howell ... Guest (uncredited)
Edgar Kennedy ... Restaurant Owner / Banks' Butler (uncredited)
Grover Ligon ... Policeman (uncredited)
Wallace MacDonald ... Policeman (uncredited)
Hank Mann ... Policeman / Waiter in Movie (uncredited)
Gene Marsh ... Maid / Waitress (uncredited)
Harry McCoy ... Singer in First Restaurant / Pianist in First Restaurant / Guest in First Restaurant / Prisoner / Movie Theatre Pianist / Wigged Servant / Guest in Second Restaurant / Society Guest / Guest Imitating Ford Sterling (uncredited)
Rube Miller ... Tillie's Visitor (uncredited)
Charles Murray ... Detective in 'A Thief's Fate' (uncredited)
Eva Nelson ... Disgusted Guest in Second Restaurant (uncredited)
Frank Opperman ... Rev. D. Simpson / Guest in First Restaurant / Station Cop / Movie Spectator (uncredited)
Hugh Saxon ... Gray-haired Secretary Searching for Tillie (uncredited)
Fritz Schade ... Waiter in First Restaurant / Station Cop / Prisoner / Guest in Second Restaurant / Kitchen Hand in Second Restaurant (uncredited)
Al St. John ... Policeman (uncredited)
Slim Summerville ... Policeman / Guest in Restaurant (uncredited)
A. Edward Sutherland ... Policeman (uncredited)
Josef Swickard ... Cinema Spectator (uncredited)
Morgan Wallace ... Thief in 'A Thief's Fate' (uncredited)
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Directed by
Mack Sennett 
 
Writing credits
(in alphabetical order)
Hampton Del Ruth  writer (uncredited)
Mack Sennett  writer (uncredited)
A. Baldwin Sloane  play "Tillie's Nightmare" (uncredited)
Edgar Smith  play "Tillie's Nightmare" (uncredited)

Produced by
Mack Sennett .... producer
 
Original Music by
Edward Kilenyi (1938)
William P. Perry (original piano score: 1972) (as William Perry)
 
Cinematography by
Hans F. Koenekamp (uncredited)
Frank D. Williams (uncredited)
 
Other crew
Karl Malkames .... restoration: 1972
 
Crew believed to be complete


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Additional Details

Also Known As:
For the Love of Tillie
Marie's Millions
Tillie's Big Romance
Tillie's Nightmare
more
Runtime:
74 min (21.5 fps) | 82 min (2003 restoration)
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
1.33 : 1 more
Sound Mix:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Milton Berle claimed to have played the bit part of the newsboy who gets slapped in the face and kicked by Charles Chaplin. He later confronted Chaplin about having played the role, but Chaplin (nor anyone else, it seems) could recall for certain whether or not it was indeed Berle. Most researchers believe the role to have been played by Gordon Griffith, Keystone's house child actor. However, there are still others who claim that the boy does not resemble Griffith, and could therefore possibly be Berle. There really is no definitive way of obtaining an answer unless some sort of original studio records turn up, so in the meantime this can be considered speculation at best. Berle would have been 6 years old at the time, Griffith would have been 7. The newsboy appears to be somewhat older, so most likely is neither of them. more
Movie Connections:
Featured in 100 Years of Comedy (1997) (V) more

FAQ

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19 out of 20 people found the following review useful.
A milestone for film comedy, but not a work for the ages, 14 November 2001
4/10
Author: wmorrow59 from Westchester County, NY

TILLIE'S PUNCTURED ROMANCE, produced and directed by Mack Sennett for his Keystone Studio in 1914, is a movie milestone: it's the first feature-length comedy (restored prints run about 70 minutes or so), and stars Charlie Chaplin, Marie Dressler, and Mabel Normand, all major names in the field. Although it's remembered today primarily as a Chaplin film, he was still an up-and-coming young performer when this was produced, and made no contribution to the script or direction. TILLIE was based on a stage success of the time, "Tillie's Nightmare," which made Dressler a star with her rendition of the mock tragic lament "Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl." The hit song was lost for this silent film, of course, but Sennett substituted a wild climax featuring a full scale chase, on land and sea, by the Keystone Kops. By Sennett standards this was obviously a major production, with dozens of Keystone players in supporting roles, extensive location shooting, and an elaborate set serving as Tillie's mansion for the later scenes.

Historic significance aside, however, TILLIE isn't all that watchable today. For starters, Marie Dressler did not or could not adapt to the new medium, and simply repeated her stage performance for the cameras, gesticulating wildly and shouting her lines-- which, of course, we can't hear. (Genuine movie stardom for this performer wouldn't come until the talkie era.) Dressler's bizarre antics are certainly something to see, but a little of this sort of thing goes a long way. Mabel Normand looks pretty in her stylish outfits, but Sennett gave her no comic business of her own to perform beyond reacting to the activities of her co-stars. And Chaplin, playing a cold-hearted villain who seduces, robs, and then abandons a homely farm girl, is about as far from the lovable Tramp as one could imagine. It's interesting to see Charlie in such an uncharacteristic guise, and it certainly speaks well for his versatility, but we wait in vain for genuinely funny moments. The role offers him little to work with, and could easily have been played by any number of other, lesser comedians, although in one late scene he managed to slip in a gag that suggests the Charlie we know: parading before servants in his new finery, he trips over a tiger rug; then 'punishes' the tiger, lifting it by the tail and giving it a quick spank. That was practically the only laugh I found in TILLIE'S PUNCTURED ROMANCE. Otherwise, most of the humor comes from watching grotesquely-dressed people flail, kick butts, fire pistols and fall off the pier into the ocean, all of which represents Sennett's taste in comedy, not Chaplin's.

This is a film that is better appreciated by film scholars than general audiences. It has its moments, but can't compare with Chaplin's later features such as THE GOLD RUSH and THE CIRCUS. Viewers who have never seen a silent comedy may get a distorted impression of what they were like if they watched this one only, in the same way that THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY (made in 1903) would suggest all silent drama was laughably primitive. Personally I find these very early movies fascinating, but they need to be seen in the larger context of their time; the silent cinema shouldn't be judged by its earliest products.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
maybe good back in 1917 friendofurr
Not really much good, is it? rick_7
song question AgentD373
Milton Berle's fim debut. ram-30
talking? godels_sprog
Having had my romance punctured on more than one occasion . . . somebodyfamousjr
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