British micro-drama platform TattleTV, touted as the country’s first dedicated app of its kind, has adapted Charlie Chaplin’s 1921 feature film The Kid for vertical mobile viewing, making the silent-era film available exclusively to US viewers.
The technology works by generating new image data that fills the vertical frame, rather than sacrificing the original composition through cropping, and the result maintains the look and feel Chaplin intended, the company says.
The company claims that “The Kid,” a tale of a vagrant who forms an unexpected bond with an abandoned child, is a mix of comedy and heartbreak that still resonates more than a century after its release. TattleTV positions the visual, performance-driven storytelling of silent films as a natural fit for the microdrama format.
The launch follows TattleTV’s vertical treatment of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Lodger.” Developed by EMC Productions, the British company founded by director Philip James McGoldrick and producer and composer Marina Elderton, the company says the two catalog titles sit alongside an original British microdrama and a reality format currently in development.
“At TattleTV, our goal is simple: to help new audiences discover the greatness of classic film and television,” said CEO McGoldrick. “The Kid is not only a landmark in film history, it remains a deeply moving and captivating experience that resonates today. Reimagining it vertically opens the door for a new generation to connect with Chaplin’s extraordinary work.”
TattleTV’s beta app is live on the App Store and features engagement tools such as Coinbase’s gamification system and a Reddit-style upvote mechanism.
