"Tillie's Punctured Romance" (1928), starring W.C. Fields, is supposedly a remake of the landmark 1914 comedy film of the same title starring Marie Dressler and Charlie Chaplin (which was itself based on a stage comedy starring Dressler) ... and Keystone stalwart comedian Mack Swain even repeats his role as Tillie's father from the original film. But, except for the title, the two movies have almost nothing in common ... and the Fields version, alas, isn't even very funny.
The opening shot in this movie is the familiar Paramount logo, so I expected great things. Paramount were Fields's regular studio at this point, and Paramount always surpassed all the other Hollywood studios in producing hilarious, innovative comedies. But then I saw the rest of the credits, and my heart sank. "Tillie's Punctured Romance" was released by Paramount (hence the logo), but it wasn't a Paramount production. This movie was actually produced by Al Christie of Educational Pictures, a cheapjack studio which specialised in churning out unfunny comedies made on minuscule budgets. The low budget (and bad scripting and direction) are obvious all through this film.
In the Keystone original, Tillie (played by Dressler) is an ugly-duckling heiress who attracts the attention of confidence trickster Chaplin. Tillie thinks that Charlie genuinely loves her, but of course he's really after Tillie's money while secretly wooing pretty chambermaid Mabel Normand. This plot was funny and believable. The plot of the "remake" makes no sense, and isn't funny. Louise Fazenda plays plain-Jane farmgirl Tillie, who runs away with a travelling circus and is promptly seduced by ringmaster Fields. Since Tilllie isn't good-looking and has no money, it's not clear why Fields's character is so interested in her.
Pint-sized comedian Chester Conklin was a long-time second banana at Keystone, usually playing an annoying little rival to Swain or Chaplin or some other important comedian. He played secondary roles in many Keystone comedies (including the original "Tillie"), but he has a much larger role than usual here, as the owner of the circus and Fields's rival for Fazenda's affections. Unfortunately, Conklin proves here that he's no lead comedian. (He would go back to supporting roles in Chaplin's "Modern Times" and some Preston Sturges movies.)
This film's sequences in the lion cage are embarrassing; the crude editing and camera angles make it very obvious that the actors are never onscreen with a live lion.
In the last two reels of the movie, for want of anything better to do, Fields and Conklin run off to the trenches of World War One, with Fazenda joining them as an ambulance driver. "The Big Parade" (a war drama) was a solid money-maker of the late silent era; for several years thereafter, many comedy films exploited World War One themes in an attempt to ride the coat-tails of that movie's box-office success.
"Tillie's Punctured Romance" manages to rip off its Keystone predecessor AND "The Big Parade".
Fields's character in this film is totally unsympathetic and villainous, without any of the redeeming traits which he showed in his more popular films. I'm very much a W.C. Fields fan (and I like Conklin and Fazenda too), so it pains me to say that none of them come off well in this unnecessary and unfunny film. Don't confuse "Tillie's Punctured Romance" with "Tillie and Gus", a later (and much better) W.C. Fields film which is quite unrelated to this one. Stick to the original "Tillie's Punctured Romance"
