Sources: Wikidata · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Kill Bill: Volume 1 arrived in 2003 through Miramax, a Quentin Tarantino production that split its source cut into two volumes for theatrical release. It marked a deliberate genre exercise, folding Hong Kong action cinema, Japanese samurai film, and spaghetti western into a single revenge narrative. The film's stylized violence and structural ambition made it a defining early-2000s theatrical event, cementing Tarantino's reputation for genre synthesis and cementing Uma Thurman's lead performance as a career high point.
This cell centers on the Bride, the film's central figure and the vehicle for its entire revenge structure, a role that collectors prize as the anchor identity of the whole saga. Her name alone signals the character's driving purpose within the story, distinct from any alias she carries through the plot. As a 35mm cell, this piece is a physical fragment of the actual theatrical print, a tactile artifact from projection reels rather than a reproduction, making it a direct link to how audiences first encountered the character on screen.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm color release print of Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame visible on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even; edges of the perforation holes appear cleanly punched with no visible tearing.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along the lower edge beside the perforations, showing the characteristic wave pattern of an analog optical track; Dolby Digital pixel blocks are not clearly distinguishable at this size, and no DTS timecode line or SDDS outer-edge tracks are visible in this capture.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture.
Base & colour
The base shows a warm amber-brown tint consistent with a color dye image; no obvious red shift or significant fading is apparent.
Projection history
Light horizontal scratching is visible across the frame area, consistent with a print that has been run through a projector.
Picture
Positive color image; the three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single shot and are consistent with the visual style of the film on record.
Era check
The analog variable-area optical soundtrack, color positive print on a safety base, and warm dye image are all consistent with a 2003 theatrical release print.
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000062972
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
