One A.M. (1916)

A drunken homeowner has a difficult time getting about in his home after arriving home late at night.

Director:

Charles Chaplin

Writer:

Charles Chaplin

Stars:

Charles Chaplin, Albert Austin

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Charles Chaplin	...	Drunk
Albert Austin	...	Taxi Driver

Storyline

Drunk as a skunk, Charlie arrives home by taxi after a wild night out, only to realise that he has lost his key. Now, as an open window becomes the entrance, practically every single item or piece of furniture--including a possessed Murphy bed--becomes a formidable and insurmountable obstacle standing in his way, and working against him. Can't a man find peace at 1 o'clock in the morning?

---

Plot Keywords:

striking a match | entering through a window | exiting through a window | water | fish | 

---

Taglines:

Charlie will be seen all by himself in a side-splitting NEW 1916 MUTUAL "ONE A.M." See Charlie coming home late and finding things. A Novelty in modern pictures. (Print Ad-The Urbana Democrat,((Urbana, Ohio)) 23 December 1916)

---

Genres:

Comedy | Family | Short

---

Certificate:

TV-G

Did You Know?

Trivia

Restoration work was carried out at L'Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in 2013.

One A.M. (1916) has been restored by Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna and Lobster Films, from two nitrate prints preserved at Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique. One fragment was added from a nitrate print preserved at the British Film Institute.

Intertitles have been reconstructed from an incomplete 16mm print from the Blackhawk Film Collection and documents of the Library of Congress.

The surviving elements come from two different negatives. Negative A was restored whenever possible while negative B was used to reconstruct missing or severely damaged shots.

---

Goofs

The door to the drunk's bedroom is directly above the front door. As a result there is no ground floor below the bedroom and bathroom.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Drunk: [title card] They should build these handles nearer the door.

---

Alternate Versions

Kino International distributes a set of videos containing all the 12 Mutual short films made by Chaplin in 1915 - 1917. They are presented by David Shepard, who copyrighted the versions in 1984, and has a music soundtrack composed and performed by Michael Mortilla who copyrighted his score in 1989. The running time of this film is 22 minutes.

---

Connections

Featured in Charlie Chaplin, le génie de la liberté (2020)

User Reviews

Excellent movie

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!!.

Details

Official Sites:

Instagram

Country:

USA

Language:

None English

Release Date:

7 August 1916 (USA)

Also Known As:

Solo

Filming Locations:

Lone Star Studio - 1751 Glendale Boulevard, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lone Star Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

26 min 22 min (TCM print) 24 min (restored)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1