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, splitting Quentin Tarantino's revenge saga into two volumes and announcing itself as an event picture built on genre homage, stylized violence, and a fractured, nonlinear structure. It marked Uma Thurman's return to a Tarantino lead role nearly a decade after Pulp Fiction and reestablished the director as a singular voice in American cinema, blending kung fu cinema, spaghetti westerns, and anime influence into one unified vision. The film's commercial and critical success cemented it as a defining early 2000s release.
This cell centers on Beatrix Kiddo, known simply as The Bride, the film's central figure and the axis around which the entire revenge narrative turns. Collectors seek her out because she anchors the saga's mythology, a former assassin whose identity is inseparable from the story itself. A cell bearing her name and nothing more speaks to her singular presence within the frame, isolated as the sole subject, the way a trailer or title card might present her as the film's defining icon before any other element enters the picture.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched edges look clean with no torn or missing perforations visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible along the lower edge, appearing as two bilateral variable-area tracks with a Dolby Digital data-block strip visible in the inter-perforation gaps on the lower edge.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read manufacturer codes or key numbers.
Base & colour
Base shows a light cyan-green tint consistent with modern safety stock; dye image appears neutral with no visible red shift or fading.
Projection history
Fine horizontal lines consistent with projection wear are visible across the frame area; no splices or cue marks seen.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single shot, consistent with a release print of Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003).
Era check
The combination of cyan-tinted polyester safety base, bilateral variable-area optical track, and Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks is consistent with a theatrical release print from the early 2000s.
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 000062976
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
