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.

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.

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.

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.