Tillie's Punctured Romance Review

This is one of the most early film's of Charlie Chaplin (the one that is nit written-directed by him). I saw this film just because of one reason: Charlie Chaplin. I had seen all of his later works like The Kid, The Circus, Modern Times and many more. So I actually wanted to see what he was before these films.

Plot: A stranger dupes Tillie to marriage in an attempt to steal all her money.

Story and Direction: There are many instances now-a-days of duping people just because of their money. But at that time (we are talking of some 100 years back), this topic was something unique and cinema was just growing. Normally this topic of duping has a very dramatic genre, but here comedy and sarcasm is used to deal with it. Which I liked quite a lot. The film although of only some 80 minutes made me laugh a lot. The slapstick comedy in this film was not too overboard (as it is mostly done in some films). It was just perfect.

Acting: Charlie Chaplin although had somewhat a different role in this film (not the usual tramp), I still enjoyed him. But he doesn't have the main role. It is Tillie's role that was the main one. She also generated many laughs (mostly because of her overweight looking character). I don't know whether the overweight thing was a script demand or something that happened but it was quite funny. Even the Mabel character was good.

Favorite Scene: The scene that was my favorite would come in the climax where Tillie decides to shoot the stranger because he had betrayed her. Here I was laughing so much that tears started to come out of my eyes.

Verdict: A very good effort by the makers and especially Charlie Chaplin to bring out a film like this. I would give it one number less just because I have seen Charlie Chaplin do more great wonders than he did in this film.

So I give this film a 9/10.