One A.M. (1916) User Reviews

Sublime

[The_Movie_Cat · 7/10 · 30 April 2008]

In 1916 the Mutual Films company released eight Chaplin pictures, highlighting a marked decrease in his output but also a marked increase in the quality. This was a theme that was to continue throughout the rest of his career, as the following year he would release half as many again, though with increased results. Come the mid 20s and Chaplin's down to just one feature every three to five years, though most of them classics.

As for the Mutual output in 1916, then despite the increased artistry, many of them are still a couple of steps away from "Chaplin as genius". Indeed, while well staged, shorts like "The Floorwalker" and "The Fireman" are really just an extended series of people being kicked repeatedly up the backside. One A.M breaks that mould, an upturn in quality that would continue into the equally brilliant "The Pawnbroker" and "The Rink" two more shorts that would showcase Chaplin as a tremendously gifted acrobat. "Behind The Screen" was another upturn in quality from this run, a film that combined a witty deconstruction of the slapstick genre along with a daring gay gag, quite shocking for 1916. But it was the stunts that were most notable for the year - if not quite death-defying, then certainly serious injury defying.

One A.M. is another foray into Chaplin doing a non-Tramp character, this time a drunken aristocrat. While Charlie's immense physical gifts can be seen in most of the films of the age, many of them are of a type, in particular him falling backwards onto his shoulder blades. By marked contrast, then many of the stunts seen in One A.M. are truly extraordinary, combining both substantial physical danger along with witty innovation. A virtual solo piece, it's basically one joke extended for twenty minutes, yet it's a very good joke given enormous invention and considerable charm. A stand out of the year that culminated in the classic "The Rink".

Chaplin Crystalizes Drunk Act In 1:00 AM

[CitizenCaine · 8/10 · 1 September 2008]

Chaplin's fourth film for the Mutual Film Corporation has him playing a drunk arriving home at 1:00 AM trying to find his bed. The film is primarily a solo act for Chaplin with the exception of the cabdriver at the beginning. The film is equally experimental as it is bold in that Chaplin took a huge risk appearing on screen so long by himself. The result is the film is a resounding success. Chaplin once again plays a drunkard, which he had done so often previously. This time though the drunk act is not the whole show as it was in earlier films. Chaplin does battle with a number of inanimate objects including the following: The cab door, the cab's meter, a fish bowl, a doormat that moves like a magic carpet, some stuffed floor animals, a revolving table, a double staircase, a coat or hat rack, an over-sized pendulum swinging injudiciously from a wall clock, a Murphy bed, and a modern shower circa 1916. The film is purely slapstick and sight gags like many of his earlier Keystone comedies with an important difference. Here the gags are carefully choreographed, scripted, and timed to perfection employing Chaplin's perfected pantomime from his music hall days with Fred Karno's troupe in England. The gags are equally inventive and hilarious, showcasing Chaplin's athleticism and acrobatic talents. The highlight of the film is his encounter with the Murphy bed, which seems to have a mind of its own. This is probably the first film one could identify as a Chaplin classic; it's a comic ballet. *** of 4 stars.

An inspiring and fantastic one-man show!!!!!

[anton-6 · 8/10 · 1 November 2001]

This short film must have inspired many comedians. It´s about when Charlie comes home VERY early in the morning and is drunk.A funny one-man show that really shows that the man was a genius.If I should rate this I would give it a 4/5.

Pretty Good One-Man Show

[Snow Leopard · 21 June 2001]

One of Charlie Chaplin's many short comedies, "One A.M." is essentially a one-man show, and while it is purely slapstick-oriented without any of the depth of Chaplin's later films, it's pretty good. Except for a brief appearance by a cab driver at the beginning, Charlie is on-screen alone for the entire film, as a man returning home after a night of carousing. All he wants to do is go to bed, but before he can go to bed, he has to get up the stairs, and before he can get up the stairs, he has to get inside the house - but in Charlie's condition, each step is fraught with peril.

The film starts somewhat slowly, but gets funnier as it goes along. Chaplin shows off not just his comic timing, but his acrobatic skills as well - some of the stunts are pretty impressive. While this is certainly not one of his best, it's worth watching.

Charlie Chaplin's First Solo Film

[brando647 · 6/10 · 2 November 2007]

Another amusing skit, this time with Charlie Chaplin flying solo as a drunk stumbling his way through his home in the wee hours of the morning as he tries to make his way to bed. While Chaplin is definitely one of my favorite silent era stars, this short didn't seem up to par with some of his other films. It almost seemed to drag for a couple minutes. It was amusing, no doubt. It just wasn't as fun as some of his other films, when he is given the chance to play off the supporting characters. We are treated to some good bits in this run (particularly his bout with the fold-out bed). His brand of physical situation comedy was enough to bring some laughs out of me, just less than he has before.

There isn't really a whole lot one can say about Chaplin's early films, seeing as how technologically they didn't have a whole lot to work with, and storyline isn't an issue when we're looking at twenty minutes of slapstick entertainment. So, the only real aspect to look at in his movies, specifically this one, is: is it funny? If you're looking for a couple good chuckles, this movie delivers but keep in mind this is not his strongest short. While that may be the case, it is still an entertaining 20 minute dose of Charlie and well worth checking out for any fan of the comedy legend.

It's amazing to see how Chaplin's films improved since 1914

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 21 June 2007]

1914 was Chaplin's first year in films and he starred in 25 movies in just this first year alone. However, many of these films were pretty bad--with practically no plot and just a lot of improvisation that sometimes worked and often didn't. Despite the quality of these films, by 1915 he was probably the #1 star in the world and was lured away from Keystone Studios--with promises of more money and even greater autonomy. Instead of just doing the same old comedies, Chaplin improved upon his "Little Tramp" character and begin carefully scripting his films, and so naturally the quality improved greatly.

ONE A.M. is a great example of his newer and more thought-out scripts for Mutual Studios. While Chaplin is the only person who appears in the film (other than a very brief scene with a cabbie at the beginning), the film is not simply improv or mugging for the camera, but well-choreographed and using complicated props made specially for this film. Several examples would include the spinning taxi meter, the clock with the dangerous swinging pendulum and the amazing and almost intelligent bed.

At first, I thought this whole drunk act theme would become tiresome. After all, at almost 17 minutes, that's a long time to do a drunk "schtick". However, when I thought perhaps Chaplin was milking a scene too much for comedy, he switched to another prop and kept my interest. Funny, well-made and memorable--this is one of Chaplin's best comedy shorts and translates well to viewing in the 21st century.

"Light exercise"

[Steffi_P · 6/10 · 26 January 2010]

With The Vagabond, the picture before this, Charlie Chaplin had made his first story in which the drama was strong and professional enough that it could have stood up on its own without the comedy. In One A.M. he takes things the other way, dispensing with any semblance of a plot and simply having fun in a stripped down one-man situation short.

Unburdened with any need for narrative or supporting players to spar with, Charlie simply does what he can with the various props around the home of his wealthy drunkard character. While much of the act looks semi-improvised, as ever Chaplin shows sensibility in framing and timing. There is a great example here of how he makes the audience anticipate a gag and builds up a kind of suspense to it. Every time Charlie attempts the staircase, the camera tilts up with him, bringing an over-sized pendulum into view for a few seconds before he tumbles back down again. We know that sooner or later he is going to make it, only to be knocked back down again by the pendulum, only we don't know when. This build up makes the eventual blow funnier than if it had happened out of the blue.

As you can imagine, with one character and one location stretched over two reels the humour is a bit hit and miss. In particular there is a lot of repetition, with some recurring gags rolling round once or twice too often. It is in fact the small, by-the-way moments that provide the best laughs, such as Charlie taking the opportunity to pour himself a drink when he happens to land in front of the whiskey decanter. After all, Chaplin was a smart comedian as well as a pratfalling clown. In any case, the situation of One A.M. is one most of us will be able to relate to, and perhaps have a wry chuckle at its embarrassing familiarity, even those of us not fortunate to have a tiger-skin rug or a revolving table in our homes. Which brings me onto another point; I think it's significant that he chose not to play this one as his usual little tramp character. Not only does it make sense for this well-off chap to have a house full of fun stuff, but I think it is more satisfying for the audience to see the upper class twit lurch around making an ass of himself, as opposed to the downtrodden tramp.

And now, it's time for that all-important statistic -

Number of kicks up the arse: 1 (1 for, although I'm not sure if it should count against stuffed cats)

Fantastic!!....if you are a fan of simple physical comedy

[deepcheck · 10/10 · 26 October 2003]

This short film numbers among Chaplin's best, and is a stunning example of his skill as a silent physical comedic actor. However, one has to enjoy silent, completely non-verbal, comedy in the first place. While I laughed almost non-stop through this entire film, close friends of mine, who were not entertained by Chaplin's physical gaffes, quickly lost interest.

A drunken Charlie trying to get to bed

[Anonymous_Maxine · 6/10 · 23 April 2008]

Chaplin playing drunk characters are his weakest roles, and for much of the time I was watching One A.M. I got the feeling that he went in to work and didn't have any ideas, so just decided to play a drunk guy coming home from a big night on the town. The plot is virtually nonexistent, it really does start with him coming home drunk, and his only purpose from beginning to end is to get upstairs and go to bed.

He stumbles out of a taxi and, after accidentally paying the driver with a cigarette butt instead of the fifty cent fare, he climbs through a window to get into his house, stepping in the fishbowl on the way in. There is a series of mildly amusing sight gags involving things like an extremely slippery throw rug, a spinning table (which was one of the more amusing gags, despite making no sense at all), a stuffed cougar (or some other scary animal of the cat family), a coat rack, and a staircase with some insufficiently attached carpeting.

The set that the movie is filmed on is a little strange, with two staircases on either side, both leading up to the second floor, which apparently contains just one door to the bedroom and a clock with a wildly over-sized pendulum. I'm struck by how unrealistic the set is, with those two staircases (it seems like something Sarah Winchester would build in her house), but then again, that clock's pendulum swings long and fast, directly across the path of the door to the bedroom, so it's clear that the set was designed with physical comedy in mind, not architectural efficiency. Chaplin does, after all, ultimately decide to climb that coat rack, twice, rather than use either of the staircases.

The best part of the movie, however, is definitely the bed, which Charlie has to deal with when he eventually does make it upstairs. The mechanics of the bed make no sense at all, as it flips around every which way and seems to have a personality of it's own. And apparently it doesn't like being slept on!

There is an interesting contraption at the end that I found a little curious. There's a thing that looks like a ladder in the bathroom, but it turns out that it's a shower that sprays water out of all of the rungs. I wonder if this was kind of a new and innovative showering idea that just never really caught on. At any rate, after losing his battle with the bed, Charlie ultimately falls asleep in the bathtub and the movie ends. It's a clever little comedy, but it's basically just physical comedy and nothing else. Even back in 1916 Chaplin was making much better films than this.

Excellent movie

[jojo-36 · 10/10 · 24 January 1999]

This is wonderful early Chaplin stuff. His use of props and gimmickry are definitive. How do you suppose he could fall down the stairs that many times and still get up unhurt? The man was a genius!!.

Late Night with Tipsy Charlie

[lugonian · 6/10 · 30 May 2015]

ONE A.M. (Mutual, 1916), Written and Directed by Charlie Chaplin, is definitely a departure from the usual comedy shorts from this period. Being his fourth for the Mutual Studio, it's his one and only one-man show captured on film. Abandoning his tramp character with derby, baggy pants and cane for well-dressed debonair top hat character, there's also no usual stock players of Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell or Charlotte Mineau to support him. There is, however, Albert Austin in the opening minutes playing a taxi driver waiting for his fare with his hand out, but getting something quite unexpected. Virtually plot less, ONE A.M. is basically a twenty minute skit reminiscent from old-time vaudeville shows or forerunner to variety television programs as "The Red Skelton Show," where Red Skelton himself has made pantomime one of his notable works of art, no doubt inspired by Chaplin himself.

ONE A.M., casts Charlie as a drunk returning home by taxi. Whether coming home from an all night party or a neighborhood bar is never fully detailed. It's for the audience to decide for themselves and what his background is. After leaving the taxi, he begins a series of struggles and tribulations starting with getting inside his home before further complications ensue while trying to go to sleep for the night.

Though Chaplin is virtually a sole attention here, the cast support in brief bits might have helped add to the hilarity, such as casting the big and burly Eric Campbell as a good natured butler, or Edna Purviance as a girlfriend attempting to telephone Charlie but not being able to get connected, or some girl constantly getting the wrong number. Instead, props as liquor bottles, cigarettes, sliding floor mats, fish bow, staircase, giant pendulum from a clock or wall bed with mind of its own taking precedence in Charlie's troubles. Following this solo performance, Chaplin continued experimenting what comedy techniques work best for him in his future short/feature-length efforts for many years to come.

ONE A.M. is one of the twelve Mutual shorts starring Charlie Chaplin to be available in various formats, with certain prints with missing or added inter-titles of dialog or description acts. Scoring differs, depending on distributors of either home video or DVD formats. Older prints formerly broadcast on public television or syndicated channels during the sixties and seventies usually from 1930s reissues with orchestration of ragtime compositions and sound effects. Current digitally remastered prints of clear visuals and accurate silent speed extension to 22 or more minutes (often from Kino Video) often consist of more modern or poor scoring (depending on taste) with violin playing that usually takes away the pleasure in watching silent comedies such as this. The scoring from the old Blackhawk/Republic distribution company in the 1990s makes it far more enjoyable, in spite of some edits.

Interesting note about the title, ONE A.M. If it's lead to assume the Chaplin character returning home at that late hour, then why is the opening taxi segment appear to have daylight setting with noticeably passing cars and pedestrians seen in the background? Looks for it the next time there's another Charlie Chaplin festival on Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: December 13, 1999), whether it be on prime time, daytime or at one a.m. Next Chaplin Mutual comedy: THE COUNT (1916). (***)

David Jeffers for SIFFblog.com

[rdjeffers · 8/10 · 15 September 2006]

Monday September 17, 7:00 pm, The Paramount Theater

Throughout his youth performing in British Music Halls, Charles Chaplin specialized in playing the inebriate stumblebum with hilarious results. The fourth of twelve two-reel shorts produced under contract to the Mutual Film Corporation, One A.M. (1916) is the only scenario in which Chaplin, as a bewildered boozer, occupies the screen entirely alone throughout most of the film. Albert Austin appears briefly as a taxi driver in the opening seconds.

An intoxicated gentleman (Chaplin) arrives at his doorstep by taxi and engages in an exhibition of alcoholic gymnastics with his house and its contents. Unable to unlock the front door, he climbs through a window, slides across the floor on small rugs and scales a large hat rack to the second floor when negotiating the stairs proves too difficult. Charlie finds himself running atop a spinning table, then battling an uncooperative Murphy bed, only to end up sleeping in the bathtub.

Pretty impressive one-man show

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 18 September 2013]

Except the train driver right at the beginning, this short film "One A.M.", which will be 100 years old in 3 years, is a complete one-man show by Charlie Chaplin. And while I can't deny, he delivers all his comedic talent, expresses his actions as clear as it gets and shows the world what a great entertainer he is, I still was a bit disappointed as the humor worked only once in a while for me. I love my Chaplin the most with a female playing his sweetheart or at least with an antagonist, who's two heads taller than Chaplin. When he interacts with these characters, that's when he's at his funniest for me.

Here, he returns home after a night at the pub and faces all kinds of struggles when all he wants is get ready for bed. Oh poor Charlie. maybe you should just have laid down on the floor the moment you entered the door. He runs a.o. into slippery doormats, (allegedly) stuffed animals a giant pendulum straight from hell and finally the most stubborn bed I've ever witnessed. I'd recommend to watch the first five minutes maybe and then decide if you want to keep going. The humor is pretty much the same for the remaining 15 minutes. I personally think there's better Chaplin shorts out there.

Early Chaplin: Drunken Solo

[Cineanalyst · 9 August 2005]

At Mutual, Chaplin had more freedom, and the result was the funniest and most entertaining short films he ever made. 'One A.M.' is one of his most experimental Mutual shorts: how many laughs can he get from a 20-some-minutes drunken solo, where, for the most part, he only interacts with inanimate objects (although the Murphy bed seems very alive). He got many from me.

Chaplin did a hilarious drunk act--that's evident in many of his other films, as well: 'The Rounders' (1914), a Keystone short costarring an equally funny 'Fatty' Arbuckle, comes to mind, as does another of his Mutual shorts, 'The Cure' (1917). Moreover, Chaplin's tendency to portray a dandy as a drunk, rather than a tramp, which could cause the humour to lose out to melancholic social commentary, was prudent. Making fun of the tacky and ridiculous possessions of an overly dressed bachelor is more of sure thing. Chaplin's dandy--even his tramp personae--owes plenty to Max Linder, too, as Chaplin himself often cited.

Another influence worth mentioning here is his background in Fred Karno's Fun Factory troupe. The only filmmakers other than Chaplin who are provided with much to do in 'One A.M.' it seems are those in care of the props and setting. 'One A.M.' could have as easily have been a music hall act as a short film. Nevertheless, all of this does make for a unique film in Chaplin's canon. By now, it's clear that Chaplin had matured from the rapid-paced, knockabout style of Keystone for a more graceful pantomime. That's not to say there aren't pratfalls and other tried-and-true gags here, but the temperament is radically different.

Chaplin goes solo

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 11 June 2018]

Am a big fan of Charlie Chaplin, have been for over a decade now. Many films and shorts of his are very good to masterpiece, and like many others consider him a comedy genius and one of film's most important and influential directors.

From his post-Essanay period when he was working for Mutual, 'One A.M.' is not one of his very best. His Essanay and Mutual periods show a noticeable step up in quality though from his Keystone period, where he was still evolving and in the infancy of his long career, from 1914, The Essanay and Mutual periods were something of Chaplin's adolescence periods where his style had been found and starting to settle. 'One A.M.' is among the best of his early work and for me it is one of the best of his output under Mutual.

Certainly other efforts of his have more pathos and a balance of that and the comedy than 'One A.M', which is very comedy-oriented.

On the other hand, 'One A.M' looks pretty good, not incredible but it was obvious that Chaplin was taking more time with his work and not churning out countless shorts in the same year of very variable success like he did with Keystone. Appreciate the importance of his Keystone period and there is some good stuff he did there, but the more mature and careful quality seen here and later on is obvious here and preferred.

'One A.M' is one of his funniest from this period and does it without being over-reliant on slapstick. Some very impressive stunts here. It moves quickly and there is a more discernible and busier story to usual, even if at times it could have had more variety.

Chaplin directs more than competently, if not quite cinematic genius standard yet. He also, as usual, gives a very funny and expressive performance and at clear ease with the vast physicality of the role. It was essential for him to work, being a one-man show and he succeeded brilliantly, for me it was one of his best performances up to this point of his career.

In summary, very well done indeed. 9/10 Bethany Cox

a masterpiece of the silly, sophisticated and totality in being a clown

[Quinoa1984 · 10/10 · 27 November 2016]

What Charlie Chaplin does here is remarkable because what happens to the Tramp here - this time an extraordinarily hammered Tramp, who seems to own a few more things than we might usually expect - is in the moment-to-moment sense somewhat random and chaotic: he first can barely get out of the taxi cab (the only other actor in the 25 minute run time is the driver of the cab), with himself as well as his coat being stuck; he can barely get through his own front door; when he gets inside he enjoys a smoke (or tries to) and then tries to enjoy another drink and, through the folly of man, can't get to it on the revolving circular table; the stairs are truly Sisyphean to someone with no coordination (and that giant swinging clock doesn't help!); and the bed poses its own problems since it comes out of the door.

All of this is planned, however, so everything is funnier because of how Chaplin gets mileage out of the repetition of the gags and how he milks them to a point where we think it's enough and, like any great comedian, takes his audience one step further across the line and is gambling on that we'll not only not have a problem with that, but that we'll be glad he did. The stairs portion of the short seems to go on for the longest among the set, but that's only because of the variations he gets to play on; he is pulling off a magnificent feat of timing and trust in himself as well as the audience.

Being a clown for one gag is one thing, but the key is that he tops himself, building upon gags, and to be silly as possible while sticking to a little realism, such as the swinging clock pendulum (why is that even there?) What makes it also work is that it's not some abstract concept he's playing with. Even if you're a kid you have a concept of what drunkenness is like (hell, even Dumbo and a couple other Disney movies have very inebriated characters), and that it's essentially like losing control of gravity. It's not inherently funny if someone is drunk (and, thankfully, we have a happy drunk here to an extent), it's more about what things can be clownish about that drunken person. Every prop and every little piece is mined for all its worth, so that just seeing the tiger-rug is funny before Chaplin even puts his hand into it because one anticipates the gag (not to mention some fourth wall breaking, not often but done enough so it's effective).

This may be the funniest of the Chaplin shorts I've seen. No moment is wasted, and there's a truth to it for people who have been plastered in their lives as well (seeing this reminded me of when actors have since tried to act drunk of wasted on camera, to an extreme way I mean, like DiCaprio in Wolf of Wall Street).

Should have arrived home sooner!

[lee_eisenberg · 10/10 · 29 January 2016]

Like many of Charlie Chaplin's early movies, "One A.M." emphasizes the physical humor. The man known as the Tramp plays a drunk who arrives home in the wee hours only to experience all manner of trouble getting inside and then getting in bed. This movie has a slightly more complex plot than Chaplin's very early movies, but he was still a few years away from using his movies to focus on social issues. In the meantime, you're sure to enjoy his gags as he attempts to climb the stairs and then open his Murphy bed.

PS: Cinematographer Roland Totheroh got played by David Duchovny in Richard Attenborough's "Chaplin".

One man Comic Master Class

[tgooderson · 8/10 · 27 August 2012]

Charlie Chaplin's forth film for the Mutual Film Company is a unique two reeler in which he is almost the only person on screen for the film's entirety. Apart from an establishing scene featuring Albert Austin as a disgruntled cab driver, Chaplin has the film to himself as he struggles to get up to bed whilst drunk. Chaplin arrives home at 1am to find numerous inanimate objects in his way in his quest for a nights sleep.

In this twenty-six minute short a drunken Chaplin is scared by stuffed animals, baffled by a revolving table, constantly defeated by a flight of stairs before being bested by a fold away bed. Chaplin takes inspiration from the drunken character that made him famous in England with the Fred Karno Company, the very same character that drew the attention of Mack Sennett and gave him his break in the movie industry.

The genius of this film comes from Chaplin's ability to keep on finding objects to hamper his attempts to get to bed when you think he won't be able to find anything else. Sometimes you will think he has done all he can with a particular object before going back to it several minutes later. This is the case with the revolving table in the middle of the room. Having chased his whisky around it early on in the film, the actor comes back to it later on in a brilliant scene in which he climbs upon the table and chases after the oil lamp hanging from the ceiling in order to light his cigarette. This was an excellent idea which actually made me feel a little dizzy. Another item which Chaplin constantly goes back to is the stairs. It takes him around ten or so attempts to actually get upstairs, each time being thrown back down due to loss of balance or bumping into something. The way he finally gets up is wonderfully surreal and clever.

One thing I noticed about the stairs was how cushioned they looked. It was obvious that there was a lot of padding beneath the carpet and the rug at the bottom also resembled more of a crash mat than thin rug. It's not surprising that Chaplin chose to give himself a little padding given the number of times he came cascading down the stairs and I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't more than a little bruised by the end of filming. In a later scene I actually flinched when a bed stand came crashing down close to his head at high speed. One small misjudgement in positioning and he could have been seriously injured. Although Buster Keaton gets a lot of credit as being the daredevil of the silent comedians, this film shows that Chaplin wasn't afraid to perform dangerous stunts himself.

My favourite scene in the film came late on when Chaplin finally finds his bed. This scene typifies Chaplin's comedy for me. While most comedians may be able to find one or two funny things to do with a collapsing bed, Chaplin takes over five minutes to play around with ideas, each one funnier than the last. Every time he did something new I thought to myself "Right, well that's it. There's nothing more that can be done with that", but each time I was wrong until we get to a fantastic payoff at the end. I loved the collapsing bed scene so much that I actually got my girlfriend (someone who likes Chaplin films when she sees them but otherwise isn't too fussed) to watch it with me a second time. In the end I actually showed her about two thirds of the film and she laughed even more than I did. I even heard her cry "Oh no, his hat!" Then she went back to watching Britain's Next Top Model though so you win some, you lose some.

One A.M. is a film that really surprised me. I was unsure how this one man show could keep the laughs coming but if anything it gets funnier as it goes along. While it doesn't contain the depth of his later work or even the proceeding film The Vagabond, it is a master class in comic timing and also shows off Chaplin's underrated stunt skills.

www.attheback.blogspot.com

Pure Chaplin

[anotherspaceman · 1/10 · 26 August 2000]

The only way you can tell this film is meant to be a comedy, is that it is done in the style of a comedy. Continuity errors become all the more obvious when there is nothing funny to laugh at.

A Comic Experiment

[hausrathman · 7 January 2004]

Chaplin plays a drunk who spends the entire film trying to get into his house and go to bed. In a comedic experiment, Chaplin appears alone in this film, aside from Albert Austin, who briefly appears at the beginning as a cab driver. Chaplin draws the humor from his interaction with various objects around the house, most humorously with a hostile Murphy bed. Is this comic experiment successful? Yes, for the most part. It is a funny short, but, in my opinion, nowhere near his funniest. Still, one must admire Chaplin's boldness. When one watches this film, one sees a talented film maker testing the limits of skills. Bravo.

Ode to Chaplin, part three

[jamesjustice-92 · 10/10 · 3 April 2022]

After leaving Essanay where he wasn't receiving as much creative control over his movies as he wanted Charlie joined Mutual for which he made 12 short feature films in 1916-1917; only one of them has landed in my collection - it's "One A. M." (1916), a unique movie by its nature because it uses no other actors besides Charlie and Albert Austin who played a small part of a taxi driver but is unimportant to the plot whatsoever. Being a one-man show per se "One A. M." is hilariously funny and even after watching it a couple of dozen times I can't get enough of this 27-minute masterpiece.

Its plot is as simple as can be: a drunken man returns home and because he is intoxicated as a skunk a lot of different misfortunes happen to him while he's trying to get to bed. This movie shows full potential and an immeasurable talent of Chaplin as a performer, a comedian, an actor and a director all at once; the majority of the movie is shot through long takes where Charlie gets to improvise a lot and crack a joke here and there using intertitles which are absolutely unnecessary in this kind of movie and are brought here only to build another platform for making a viewer laugh. And I did laugh. So hard.

Charlie uses minimum of locations, one static camera that follows his adventures and a lot of props that help him make as many funny situations as possible: a slippery rug, stuffed animals, a spinning table, a clock with a giant pendulum, an electric bed - they all are made to fulfill one purpose and Charlie succeeds in delivering the laughs he was aiming for. "One A. M." is perfect in every single way because the movie is pure Chaplin through and through.

Rare Chaplin Solo Effort

[springfieldrental · 8/10 · 6 July 2021]

Charlie Chaplin said the happiest he had ever been during his career was with his third film studio, Mutual Film Corporation. Film historians claim his best and most innovative movies Chaplin produced came out of his 18-month association with Mutual. The comedian was appreciative of the one-month period he was allowed to create each of his movies, a luxury he wasn't afforded with his previous employers.

Chaplin produced three classic films in the summer of 1916, with his August 1916's "One A. M." one of those rare movies he had acted for the most part alone. (There's a brief beginning sequence where he's with a cab driver who is dropping him off at his door.) Chaplin plays a drunk (not his usual Tramp character) who makes a 25-minute effort of coordinating himself in his apartment and his bedroom before he goes asleep. The premise would appear to be one fat yawner, but as one reviewer at the time wrote, "When I thought perhaps Chaplin was milking a scene too much for comedy, he switched to another prop and kept my interest. Funny, well-made and memorable -- this is one of Chaplin's best slapsticks."

One biographer claimed Chaplin fell a total of 46 times before reaching slumberland. The inanimate objects in his apartment appear to confront the inebriated man in his mission to simply go to his bed and sleep. Another biographer felt that "One A. M." was "the cleverest and conceivably the funniest film Chaplin made for Mutual."

Gorgeous in its simplicity.

[eminkl · 8/10 · 8 October 2019]

Chaplin plays at one a.m. a wealthy man coming home. After a drinking night, he finds an obstacle in his way to getting to bed. Chaplin performs a hilarious one-man show in this famous slapstick short, showing not only his comedy ability but also his incredible creativity in his interaction with each prop and inch of the set. Gorgeous in its simplicity.

Actors today should watch this movie to learn how to be drunk on screen.

[hiproductions · 5/10 · 27 May 2005]

I was exposed to Chaplin, in depth, for the first time during the screening of this movie. I expected to find schtick and pie-in-the-face comedy that would utterly bore me to tears. This unrealistic idea of Chaplin was what kept me from experiencing one of the great comedic geniuses of our century.

"One AM", a silent comedy short in which Chaplin played a convincing drunk returning (or attempting to return) home from a night out. I immediately took notice of the writing in that the cab driver remained totally still while his passenger (Chaplin) was a complete drunken mess. I found the unconscious reaching for the cab door handle and trying to find his pants pockets very convincing (I've been there). I laughed out loud as Chaplin goes through inebriated hell to get into his house through the window only to find his key when he gets inside and crawl back out the window to unlock the door. I've seen imitators of this sequence dozens of times, never the less it was still funny to me because it was unexpected.

I must be honest and confess that I found the staircase, clock, and bed scenes a bit tiresome after while. The first time or two he fell down the stairs, got hit by the giant clock, or failed to open the bed, etc. I found amusing, beyond that I became a little frustrated and even bored with the situation. In no way do I say that to diminish Chaplin's delightful movie, but rather that may be the result of uninventive comedy styles overplayed in the cartoons of my youth.

Chaplin appeared to be made of straw at some points in this movie, very agile and acrobatic (bed scene). He was a drunk trying to convince us he was sober which was great! Actors today try too hard to "act" drunk with their words and they fail miserably. They would be well served to watch "One AM" to see how to "be" drunk with no words at all!

One A.M. is One Scene

[caspian1978 · 5 October 2004]

The plot for this comedy short is pretty simple. Chaplin, the lovable Tramp is drunk and trying to find his way to his bed. From walking through the front door of his house, to the foot of his bed is a giant challenge. For about 15 minutes, Chaplin dazzles the audience by trying to get from point A to point B. For 1916, the laughs never end. A simple task of getting oneself to bed is made into a hilarious journey from the first floor, to the second. Impossible for Buster Keaton, Chaplin fins himself climbing up his coat rack and dangling from the second floor balcony in order to find his bed. A simple, yet very clever idea, One A.M. takes place at...you guessed it, 1:00 AM as the Tramp arrives home, drunk, and very tired.