Review of Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914) by Antonius B — 20 Jun 2016

This is an example of a movie that has historical significance, but whose content is so dated that it's tough to sit through. I'm not saying the movie's humor is lowbrow, but if you drank a shot every time someone was kicked in the butt or slapped in the face, you'd be drunk pretty quickly.

Charlie Chaplin has an endearing way of moving his body, and his comedic antics are occasionally amusing even in the role of the 'bad guy', but I was much less enchanted by Marie Dressler. There's also not a lot to recommend in the plot, and it ends up feeling like silly slapstick drawn out to 82 minutes.

D.W. Griffith had directed the highly controversial epic 'Birth of a Nation', and Mack Sennett was trying to match him by creating the first "feature length" comedy film - but long does not necessarily mean good.