Sources: Wikidata · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Kill Bill: Volume 1 arrived from Miramax in 2003 as Quentin Tarantino's fourth film, splitting his sprawling revenge epic into two volumes released a year apart. Built from decades of genre homage, kung fu cinema, spaghetti westerns, and Japanese swordplay pictures, it reintroduced Uma Thurman as a defining collaboration between star and director and became one of the era's most quoted, most stylistically imitated action films, cementing Tarantino's reputation for genre synthesis at the height of early 2000s auteur filmmaking.
This cell centers on Beatrix Kiddo, credited simply as The Bride, the assassin known as Black Mamba whose survival and vengeance drive the entire saga. Collectors seek her image because she is the film's sole axis, its story told almost entirely through her perspective and purpose. A cell bearing her name alone, without other characters present, points to a moment where she carries the frame by herself, a fitting reflection of a character defined by isolation, discipline, and singular resolve throughout 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 on one edge, alongside what appears to be a Dolby Digital data-block strip in the inter-perforation zone, consistent with a dual-format optical release print.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to quote any key numbers or manufacturer text.
Base & colour
The base shows a light blue-cyan tint typical of estar safety base; the dye image appears warm and well-saturated with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
No splices, cue marks or significant scratches are visible; the surface appears consistent with a projected release print.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, and the subject matter is consistent with Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003).
Era check
The combination of cyan-tinted safety base, Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks, and variable-area optical track 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 000062984
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
