Tillie's Punctured Romance is a 1928 American silent circus comedy film starring W. C. Fields as a ringmaster and Louise Fazenda as a runaway. Written by Monte Brice and Keene Thompson and directed by A. Edward Sutherland, this film has nothing to do with the 1914 Charlie Chaplin film aside from sharing the same title, but Chester Conklin and Mack Swain appear in both films.
Contents
Plot
Tillie is a runaway who goes to Frisbee's Colossal Circus, with lions, a ringmaster that wants to take over the circus from the owner, a strong woman, a girl with "a voice of gold and an arm of iron". The group decides to go to the French trenches during World War I in order to entertain the troops, but they all get caught up in a draft and end up serving the German Army as privates while facing the Allies.
Cast
W. C. Fields as Ringmaster
Louise Fazenda as Tillie, a Runaway
Chester Conklin as Circus Owner
Mack Swain as Tillie's Father
Doris Hill as Heroine
Grant Withers as Hero
Tom Kennedy as Property Man
Babe London as Strong Woman
Billy Platt as Midget (credited as William Platt)
Michael Raffetto as Lion tamer
Baron von Dobeneck as German officer
Alfred Adeline
Tommy Albert
Agnes Allison
Joan Marquis
Preservation
With no prints of Tillie's Punctured Romance located in any film archives, it is a lost film.