Sources: Wikidata · OpenAlex · Library of Congress. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
The Punisher arrived in 2004 as Lionsgate's attempt to reboot the Marvel property for a grittier, post-Blade era of comic adaptations, trading spectacle for revenge-thriller mechanics. Directed by Jonathan Hensleigh and starring Thomas Jane, it leaned into crime-family melodrama and hard-boiled violence rather than superhero spectacle, giving the genre a noir throughline that still has its defenders. It didn't dominate box offices, but it built a durable cult following among collectors who prize its uncompromising tone and its villain-forward structure.
This cell preserves Howard Saint and Quentin Glass together, the crime boss and his consigliere, the axis of corruption Frank Castle sets out to dismantle. Saint represents institutional power and family loyalty twisted into cruelty, while Glass embodies the sharper, more theatrical menace beneath him. Their pairing on film is a study in hierarchy and complicity, the machinery of villainy rendered as a two-man operation. For collectors, a piece naming both is valuable precisely because it isolates the antagonist dynamic that drives the entire narrative forward.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of The Punisher (2004).
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 appear clean with no visible tearing.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, consistent with a mono or stereo optical print; Dolby Digital data blocks appear present in the inter-perforation gaps on the same edge, suggesting a Dolby Digital optical composite track.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to quote characters reliably.
Base & colour
The base shows a slight warm-amber tint typical of a processed colour print stock; the dye image appears stable with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
Fine longitudinal lines are visible across the frame area consistent with projection wear; no splices or cue marks are visible in this capture.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single shot, consistent with a release print of a 2004 theatrical feature.
Era check
The composite Dolby Digital plus variable-area optical soundtrack format and the warm-base colour print stock are consistent with a mid-2000s theatrical release print, matching the 2004 production date on record.
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 000064424
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
