talking?


I've just watched this film. Ok, so its not as sophisticated as some of Chaplins later stuff but I found it more entertaining than a lot of people here.

Thing is I've just seen a version that purports to be by Universal Artists (which wasn't formed until the 20's) and has an irritating voice over.

Can anybody shed light on what versions are available and which are the most common.

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First, do you mean United Artists? And are you talking about a DVD release? Any organization calling itself United Artists (or MGM/UA) nowadays doesn't have much to do with the company formed by Chaplin, Pickford, Fairbanks & Griffith in 1919, and as you note that company didn't even exist yet when Tillie's Punctured Romance was released in the fall of 1914.

I don't know which are the most common versions of this film now available, but as far as I know the best and most complete is available from Kino Video. There's no voice-over commentary there. Which version did you find, and do you know who the narrator is?

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Sorry about the delay.

I did, of course, mean United Artists. I was tired when I typed that post. However, looking more closely at the film I noticed that the company is, in fact, called United films. Is that the same as United Artists?

Apparently the sound version was produced by a guy called Sydney Tager. I'm not sure who did the voice over but the accent is American (i.e. it isn't Charlie's voice).

I got it on a pretty cheap DVD release by Laserlight (Delta entertainment corp.).

The reason I asked is because a Charlie re-released some of his later films with a voice over (e.g. Goldrush) and I wondered if there was any connection.

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I'm not familiar with United Films but I doubt there's any connection with United Artists; UA was never involved with this particular film in any way.

Chaplin never held legal title to any of the 35 films he made for Keystone during his first year in the movies, 1914, including Tillie's Punctured Romance. Chaplin acted in that film but did not write, direct, or produce it, so he never had any say in the way it was handled in later years, i.e. in the various re-edits, the music or narration, etc.

Actually, almost as soon as Chaplin left Keystone the movies he made there were re-edited and re-released under various titles, and he wasn't happy about it. It's one reason he became his own producer in 1918 and controlled the fate of all the films he made after that year.

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That would probably explain it then.

Thanks a million.

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IT is hard to find out if Chalin film before 1918 is re-edied of older films or complile other Orginals film.

My first langues is not English.

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I would imagine that Keystone and Essanay rereleased some of Chaplin's earlier works. It's hard to realize how his career took off. It wasn't too long after his first few movies that cartoons were being made with his tramp as the lead character, there were Charlie Chaplin comic strips, dolls, toys, etc.

When Valentino became a big star, some of his earlier films were rereleased to cash in on his fame - it's easy to imagine the same happening with Chaplin.

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At this point in time, the sound version might be more difficult to find, but 10 years ago, it may have been the more common. On the "alternate versions" section for this movie, here on IMDb, the sound version is said to be from the 1950's. That's true, but it can be narrowed down. I came across a press book for the movie , on the internet, which gives the sound release date as exactly 1950. No doubt there were many re-releases!

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