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Film · Mutual · 1916

Pass it on

One A.M.

16Leave it.

Chaplin is drunk and alone, and the staircase, clock, and bed do the acting.

Take controlThis scores 16. One A.M. cannot be blocked by name on this shelf. The lock is the phone. Block it

The review

I wanted no plot and almost no people. One A.M. is Chaplin alone, a Mutual two-reeler from 1916. He is drunk. A staircase, a clock, and a bed will not cooperate. The objects are the cast. Nobody else is needed. A house can watch it. Mine did, because a feature would have been a mistake at that hour.

I laughed at the furniture. I would not tell a child that a drunk man is a model. There is no job, no marriage, no neighbor. The pleasure is one body against a room, and it ends when the reel ends. That was enough for a tired night. It is not advice for the morning.

Journal

Keep One A.M. in the record.

No house has filed a sentence for this yet.

Live Historic number 16. Yours can differ.

The glance

Industry and Household and Piety and Courage and Republic and Temperance and Truth and Stewardship are the thin ones.

Does anyone here do a real job, and does that job matter?

This phone is set for a grown person, just me. Change the ages.

Consider this

The Kissing Booth 3

28 instead of 16

The Kissing Booth 3 is still a comedy film, and it scores 28 instead of 16. What you gain is household: A friendship and a father are in the frame.

The eight

1
Industry
No job is in it; Chaplin is a drunk man alone with the furniture.
1
Household
The room has a stair, a clock, and a bed, and no family at all.
1
Piety
No one else is there to stop him, and the reel never asks him to stop.
2
Courage
The hazards are a staircase, a clock, and a bed, not a loss he'd miss.
1
Republic
He owes no neighbor and no town; the two-reeler keeps him alone.
2
Temperance
He stays drunk so the gag works, and the reel never asks him to quit.
3
Truth
The objects refuse to help, and that refusal is the whole joke.
2
Stewardship
A Mutual two-reeler is what remains: a drunk man and some furniture.

Where to watch

Finding the page.

Live Historic · One A.M. · 16IMDb

Live HistoricSee what matters.

Film · 20th Century · 1975

Pass it on

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

16Leave it.

Funny if you already live in the costume. Not for kids, and not a little church.

Take controlThis scores 16. The Rocky Horror Picture Show cannot be blocked by name on this shelf. The lock is the phone. Block it

The review

People dressed for it. A newly engaged couple breaks down and enters a castle where a scientist from another planet is building a man. The songs became a midnight ritual. The joke is innocence walking into appetite and staying. If you are already inside that joke, it is funny. It is adult, and it is not for children.

They arrived engaged. The night does not hand that back. Staying is the punchline. I would not play this where a kid can hear the songs and decide the castle is the more interesting life. A ritual you dress up for is still a ritual, and this one is organized around wanting, not around getting anybody home.