Carlitos Boêmio

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.

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.

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!!.

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."

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.