He Saw / She Saw - Tillie's Punctured Romance

Sue:

A strange film that really has no plot, but a lot of slapstick comedy. The woman playing Tillie is impressive, she is 'huge' but very athletic and limber.

Bruce:

As the credits state, this is the first full length (more than one reel) silent comedy. The film dates from 1928 and was produced by Mack Sennet, stars Charles Chaplin (as the bad boy) and also features the iconic Keystone Cops. Since they were inventing the genre here, they didn't have a play book, so comedy translates to being punched or pushed down every 30 seconds and a lot of being kicked in the butt (seriously, at least every 10 seconds). No real plot here, just a morality tale of love and money.

Cinema Cycle - Suds

CINEMA CYCLE

(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)

SYNOPSIS: An impish laundry girl in 1890 London fantasizes about her prince charming.

CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: Historical reference and research. A period piece in cinema’s infancy.

PROS AND CONS: This is archival footage that has been painstakingly restored, with an impressive organ soundtrack. But regarding story and acting it is pretty primitive.

Screenwriting had really not come into an art form for cinema at this point, since the dialog is on title cards (which are lavish is some cases). So what you end up with is a pretty slow paced picture show fantasy.

Two things stand out. This is a period piece shot in the early 1920s, so much of what you see is real for the time period. The viewer quickly realizes that it would be almost impossible to recreate this level of detail with special effects. Also, Mary Pickford, comes off as an almost impish Carol Burnett in this film. Not how I have seen her in other silent classics.

To read an overview of this project, check out this status posting.  

This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.

Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film. 

This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle.  A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.