"12:01 PM" is an American short film from over 25 years ago that runs for slightly under an hour. It was written by Jonathan Heap and is probably still his best-known work today because of the Oscar nomination it scored. And even if it did not win, then the topic similar to "Groundhog Day" stays in people's minds, especially as this one came out 3 years earlier and is thus even more original. We follow a man who has to live through the exact same hour of the day again and again and, unsurprisingly, quickly descends into insanity, even if a beautiful woman makes things look good for a while. It's certainly much darker than "Groundhog Day", but if you loved the Billy Murray film, this one here is certainly worth checking out. i thought it was a pretty solid watch, especially the first half if the film. Thumbs up.

This is a thirty minute film I saw years ago on Showtime. It was part of some kind of short film series hosted by Rob Reiner. This was the best of the three. It involved a man who is doomed to inhabit the same hour over and over. When we first see Myron Castleman he's standing in an intersection. He goes to the park to eat his lunch. He goes back to the office. Then Bam! He's standing in the intersection again. He tries to change things within the hour. But an hour isn't enough time; so he always ends up at that intersection. At some point he realizes that he may be able to do something. At this point everything takes on a frenzied urgency. Myron must race against the clock to find a way out. Kurtwood Smith plays Myron with so much depth and emotion. I can't imagine any one doing a better job. I'm glad I taped this; I've seen it several times. It is a haunting film; a minor classic.

The little-seen '12.01' is a real gem, and displays the beauty of short films. Just the right length to explore the intriguing premise without over staying its welcome. I wish more feature length movies showed the subtlety and invention of this one!Kurtwood Smith (Verhoeven's classic 'Robocop', and Jennifer Lynch's absolute stinker 'Boxing Helena') has never been better as a meek office worker who finds that the world is caught in a time loop, and that he is the only person conscious of the fact. Smith is utterly believable as the bewildered and desperate man who frantically searches for some kind of explanation/solution for his extraordinary situation. A classic of its kind. Try and see it!

The similarities between this 30 minute "movie" from 1990 and the feature movie "Groundhog Day" from 1993 are too similar for them to not be more closely related. The latter surely must have been influenced by the earlier movie.The stories are very similar, but even more similar is the outstanding way in which both movies are directed. Even though the "same" timeframe is being repeated, the director shifts the camera perspective and dialogue encountered each time so neither film is boring.