Tillie's Punctured Romance

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 slapstick comedy (restored prints run 70 minutes or more), and boasts three top players in the lead roles: Charlie Chaplin, Marie Dressler, and Mabel Normand. Although it's remembered primarily as a Chaplin film he was still an up-and-coming young performer at the time, and made no contribution to the script or direction. This project was based on a stage success called "Tillie's Nightmare," which was known for Dressler's high-energy performance and her rendition of the mock tragic lament "Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl." Of course the hit song couldn't be used on the silent screen, but this adaptation offers lots of slapstick and a wild climax featuring a full scale chase, on land and sea, by the Keystone Cops. By Sennett standards this was obviously a major production, with scores of familiar players in supporting roles, extensive location shooting, and an elaborate set serving as Tillie's mansion for the grand finale.

Historic significance aside, however, Tillie's Punctured Romance is something of a letdown when viewed today. For starters, Marie Dressler was not entirely comfortable with the new medium, and simply repeated her stage performance for the cameras, gesticulating wildly, dancing drunkenly, and occasionally shouting her lines-- which, of course, we can't hear. (Her true movie stardom wouldn't come until the talkie era.) Dressler's bizarre antics are amusing to a point, but a little of this sort of thing goes a long way. Mabel Normand is cute in her stylish outfits, but her role gives her little 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 speaks well for his versatility, yet we wait in vain for those genuinely funny moments we find in his own films, even the early ones. He plays the scoundrel with relish, but the part could have been taken by any number of other comedians. Even so, in one late scene Chaplin 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 beast, 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 kick butts, fire pistols and fall off the pier into the ocean, all of which represents Sennett's taste in comedy, not Chaplin's.

'Tillie' is best appreciated by film scholars. It has its moments, but can't compare with Chaplin's own later features such as The Gold Rush and The Circus. Viewers who have never seen a classic silent comedy may get a distorted impression of what they were like from this one, in the same way that The Great Train Robbery of 1903 suggests that 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.

P.S. Autumn 2010: A newly restored version of Tillie's Punctured Romance has become available, one that is substantially longer than the various re-edited and truncated editions which have circulated for many years. Modern viewers can now get a better sense of what audiences of 1914 saw when the film was new. The restored 'Tillie' remains very much a vehicle for Marie Dressler, but it's gratifying to report that a fair amount of the "new" footage involves Mabel Normand. She has more to do during the party sequence at the end, disguised as a maid as she sips punch and spars with her employers and fellow servants. The flirtation sequence between Charlie and Marie at the beginning has been extended, and Dressler has more footage at the police station when she's jailed for drunkenness. The over all impact of 'Tillie' is essentially the same, but nevertheless it's good to see this historically significant film get the archival attention and respect it deserves.

For today's audience there are two things that are striking about Tillie's Punctured Romance. The first is that Charlie Chaplin does not get first billing here. He was not yet the star he would become, he was just another of Mack Sennett's comedy stars. He does not play the tramp character yet though there are some tramp like aspects in who he does play.

The second is that this is a chance to see Marie Dressler a whole lot earlier in her career than we know her from sound films. Marie was a very big vaudeville star and her character her was a whole lot like her act on stage. The homely big boned girl who seems to be born a total klutz.

There's not really much to the outrageous plot of this 83 minutes of unadulterated slapstick. It seems like every other minute someone was either tripping or being kicked in the derrière. That was the way it was with Mack Sennett comedies.

Chaplin plays a city slicker who takes Marie off the farm and to the big city. But when he gets there his eye roves towards Mabel Normand. Mabel back in the day was a full figured girl herself and a bit more attractive than Marie.

But when news of her rich uncle falling off Mount Baldy makes her an heiress, Charlie finds his passion for Marie and her money rekindling. Kind of leaves Mabel the odd girl out. And in the climax the Keystone Kops are called in after a brawl develops at a society party that Marie is throwing to introduce herself to society.

Tillie's Punctured Romance could have told the story in half the screen time it takes. There's only so much pure slapstick you can take at one time. Still it's not a bad film and it does display the talents of Chaplin, Dressler, and Normand and a host of other comedy names from the Mack Sennett studio.

Mack Sennett, head of Keystone Studios, decided to take the plunge and produce a big budgeted feature film based on the Broadway comedy "Tillie's Nightmare." He was able to entice the play's star, Marie Dressler, for at that time one of her rare movie performances (she had previously appeared in two shorts). Augmenting her would be the studio's main stars, Mabel Normand and Charlie Chaplin. Sennett would spend a hefty $50,000 ($1.2 million in today's figures) for production, an enormous departure from his studio's trademark quickie, cheap movies.

Released in December 1914, "Tillie's Punctured Romance" became an instant hit with movie audiences. Chaplin discards his Tramp outfit to play a shyster intent on swindling the father of Dressler's life savings. Normand's role as Chaplin's girlfriend adds humor to the plot.

Critics were equally admirable in their reviews of "Tillie's," with one writing, "The film's final reel is a comedic crescendo, building from a brief pie fight to mayhem caused by Tillie firing a pistol indiscriminately, culminating with a farcical chase on a pier featuring the Keystone Cops on land and sea." "Tillie's" would be one of 500 movies nominated by American Film Institute for its Best 100 All-Time Film Comedies.

"Tillie's" was cinema's first feature film comedy. On a personal level, the movie would be Chaplin's last motion picture with Keystone as well as his final movie he neither wrote nor directed in his long film career. Sennett directed "Tillie's" and co-wrote the script.

Dressler would star in three more "Tillie" movies in the next three years, all produced by different studios. She returned to the stage and vaudeville after the last "Tillie," and wouldn't return to the screen until the late 1920's, making a successful transition to sound soon after. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1930 in "Min and Bill," and received a nomination in the same category two years later in "Emma."

Chaplin, seeing his star rising during his year at Keystone, wanted more money when his contract with the studio expired at the end of 1914. Sennett claimed he couldn't afford the comedian's salary demand of $1,000 per week. Essanay Film Manufacturing Company knocked on Chaplin's door and offered $1,250 per week with a $10,000 signing bonus, guaranteeing greater artistic freedom for the actor. He took the studio's offer. He headed for Chicago, the headquarters for Essanay, to begin working on his first film for the company. Yet, Chaplin later reflected emotionally he couldn't personally say farewell to his buddies he had developed friendships with at Keystone when it was time to depart. "It was a wrench leaving Keystone, for I had grown fond of Sennett and everyone there. I never said goodby, I couldn't."

Chaplin, Mabel Normand, Marie Dressler and Director Mack Sennett on the same set should be hard to beat, right? Well, yes and no. I would have to agree with the majority of writers that the film is important as the first feature length comedy, and for the exceptional talent associated with it. But the slapstick and sight gags become tiresome in a hurry - today's audiences are too sophisticated (or think they are) for pratfalls, a kick in the pants, etc., and so the film does not wear well.To really appreciate it we would have to have been in the audience when it was current. Time marches on, and some pictures get trampled in the march. I gave it a '6' solely on its historical value.

By the way, too many writers include a story synopsis with their comments - but why? If there's one in place, why repeat?

What a treat that this 1914 feature-length comedy still exists. Historically important as the first feature comedy, it also boasts three great stars: Charlie Chaplin, Marie Dressler, and Mabel Normand. Directed by legendary Mack Sennett, this broad comedy was adapted from Dressler's stage hit. It's rough, with missing pieces, but enough exists to showcase the comedy talents of this trio of stars. The story is trite but Dressler and Chaplin are so funny, you forget the plot and laugh along with the mugging and pratfalls. So far as I know, Dressler and Chaplin never worked together again. What a shame. Dressler adapted to talkies (winning an Oscar for Min and Bill) so much better than Chaplin did. Normand died before the advent of talkies. Anyway, certainly worth a look. Co-stars Chester Conklin, Charles Murray, Minta Durfee, Edgar Kennedy, Charley Chase, Mack Swain, and possibly Milton Berle as the newsboy. Berle always said he played it. Edna Purviance may be the leading lady in the film Chaplin and Normand go to see. I love this film.