Chaplin claimed that all he needed to make a comedy was "a park, a policeman, and a pretty girl." One A.M. proves that all he needed was a camera and some film; this is 20+ minutes of a nearly static shot of Chaplin acting like a drunk, and the whole thing is hilarious.Chaplin manages, somehow, to generate real suspense about whether the lush will successfully make it up the stairs. I can imagine audiences of the period groaning and applauding in packed houses.This is one of Chaplin's simplest shorts, but I prefer it in many ways to the shorts with a tacked-on plot involving a harridan wife, a fat drinking buddy, and a series of misunderstandings. In those movies, everything is just a framing device to set up Chaplin's physical comedy. Here, he dispenses with the narrative and gives you the slapstick undiluted. (In the best Chaplin films, of course-even in excellent early shorts like the Floorwalker-the plot is more than a pretext; there are real characters and meaningful stakes.)

This one is a good Chaplin short film however not extremely good. The situation is really simple and really great and Chaplin manages to make it very entertaining. We have a drunken -wealthy- Chaplin who will watch a moving house and who will have some complications after a nights of drinks and of course before he can be finally resting. Chaplin is alone this time, once we don't watch any more the taxi driver that left him in his house and that is played by Albert Austin, and of course he is capable of anything, practically his character is enough to make very difficult the way to bed to himself!One of the moments that in my humble opinion is one of the funniest things of this short film happens pretty soon. Picture this: drunken Chaplin arrives home and he can't find his keys however he manages to enter to his house by the window. Once there he finally finds his keys so he goes out, again by the window, to finally open the door to enter to his house!!! After that hilarious moment drunken Chaplin finds many obstacles and some of these situations are also really funny. Basically anything will cause a problem to drunken Chaplin (the stairs, his bed, etc.) but eventually he manages to be in peace to finally sleep, after all it seems that the bathtub can be as comfortable as a bed! Finally, 8.5 out of 10.

Another amusing skit, this time with Charlie Chaplin flying solo as a drunk stumbling his way through his home in the wee hours of the morning as he tries to make his way to bed. While Chaplin is definitely one of my favorite silent era stars, this short didn't seem up to par with some of his other films. It almost seemed to drag for a couple minutes. It was amusing, no doubt. It just wasn't as fun as some of his other films, when he is given the chance to play off the supporting characters. We are treated to some good bits in this run (particularly his bout with the fold-out bed). His brand of physical situation comedy was enough to bring some laughs out of me, just less than he has before.There isn't really a whole lot one can say about Chaplin's early films, seeing as how technologically they didn't have a whole lot to work with, and storyline isn't an issue when we're looking at twenty minutes of slapstick entertainment. So, the only real aspect to look at in his movies, specifically this one, is: is it funny? If you're looking for a couple good chuckles, this movie delivers but keep in mind this is not his strongest short. While that may be the case, it is still an entertaining 20 minute dose of Charlie and well worth checking out for any fan of the comedy legend.

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.