Tillie's Punctured Romance

1914 silent comedy

Rating: 12/20

Plot: Swindling city chap Charlie elopes with farm girl Tillie in order to get at her daddy's money. They move to the city, and Charlie abandons Tillie when she gets into a little bit of trouble. Later, Tillie inherits a large chunk of money from her uncle, and Charlie has to knock her off her feet again.

This is only worth watching for historical reasons if it's worth watching at all. It's the first feature-length comedy and Chaplin's first film. Marie Dressler as Tillie, however, is really the most interesting aspect of the film. There's nothing special about what Chaplin does, the movie isn't funny at all, and it really doesn't even make much sense. Most of the comedy involves the characters kicking each other in the behind. I wish I would have counted the amount of times the characters kicked each other. I bet it was about as much as the average kung-fu movie though. Tillie's Punctured Romance failed to make me laugh; heck, it failed to make me even smile. The Birth of a Nation from 1915 might actually be funnier.