This short picture stars Kurtwood Smith as Myron Castleman, a drone in an engineering firm, who is so insignificant that even the office manager treats him like dirt. At the start of each repeated hour, Castleman finds himself standing on an island in the middle of a heavily traveled city street. He's carrying a briefcase. Apparently, he's out to lunch. A series of set pieces ensue: a man holds a wet bag of groceries that weakens and dumps its load, a man tells a lame joke while waiting for his "lunch" order at a hot dog stand in a park, a man sitting on a bench gets a fecal gift from a bird, and a pleasant woman sitting on another bench strikes up an acquaintanceship. There is an impressive audio and visual effect that signifies the moment that the hour is about to repeat. As in "Groundhog Day," it is entertaining to watch Castleman play with the unusual situation by putting himself in grave danger, knowing full well that any damage done will be erased when the hour repeats. The rude physicist at the Tempus Institute finally believes Myron Castleman because Myron describes the transition event, that only he can experience, which exactly corresponds to the physicist's predictions. Castleman is in quite a fix. Only he is able to perceive that time is repeating like a stuck record.

The best short film I have ever seen, with more pathos and horror than in most full-length movies. In a way, its also the scariest film I've seen. The quality of acting and direction is such that you can really identify with the leading characters and are left wondering what the hell you would do in a similar situation. Without giving anything away, the ending is also brilliant.I'm reminded of this film whenever I see that the time is 12.01, whereas I've basically forgotten the 2 full-length versions, although they are both reasonably entertaining (especially Groundhog Day). Hopefully, this film will be made available on DVD, possibly to accompany Groundhog Day??

I remember watching this film when it was first broadcast on Showtime. I really liked it then, and still do now. Good writing and performances all around, especially by Kurtwood Smith who rarely gets a chance to play the lead in any project.

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.