Data
Title: "One A.M."
Year: 1916
Length: 17 minutes (probably an edited version)
Director: Charles Chaplin
Writers: Charles Chaplin
Starring: Charles Chaplin
Music: uncredited jazz score with sound effects
My reaction
Synopsis: a drunk man stumbles around his home
How I saw it: online (at the Internet Archive), today
Concept: Good.
Story: Bad. But it wouldn't be as good a movie if it had a story.
Characters: Indifferent.
Dialog: n/a
Pacing: Good.
Cinematography: Indifferent.
Special effects/design: Good.
Acting: Good.
Music: Good.
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good). Not every gag gets a laugh, but it's funny on the whole.
Objective Rating: 2.6/4 (Good).
Someone, I forget whom, said the difference between Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy is the former is an ordinary man trying to be funny, the latter are two funny men trying to be ordinary.
ReplyDeleteI reckon that's a bit harsh on Chaplin as I think his stuff has a lot more depth than L&H's but I don't think it's anywhere near as funny. I've seen One AM and I actually liked it. I thought it was superior to the usual short knockabout comedy he made where you have a million characters all falling down every 2 minutes and getting kicked up the ass by Charlie. every 3. The other one I like is Easy Street. Most of the rest I found pretty average. Chaplin was better at longer, more character-based films. I also loved his Great Dictator (made much later). There's a fascinating documentary about him with behind the scenes footage called Unknown Chaplin if you can get hold of it.
I definitely need to see some Laurel and Hardy. Any good recommendation of where to start with them?
ReplyDeletePersonally, I don't care for The Great Dictator. It's very funny in places, but as a movie it's... unfortunate. The Gold Rush is my favorite Chaplin so far, or maybe Modern Times. Both are hilarious.