A Great Forgotten Short Film: '12:01pm'

While showing my short film Middle of Nowhere to my son recently, I pointed out that the only shot of a clock references another short film. That film was called 12:01pm and was shown way back in 1990 on HBO. My girlfriend knew I was a huge Twilight Zone fan and insisted that I watch it, claiming it was brilliant. She was right, and I never forgot 12:01pm, which was the first film I ever saw about being caught in a time loop (although I seem to recall Doctor Who having a similar dilemma). Groundhog Day is an obvious decedent of this movie, as was mine.

My son was wondering if we could watch that original film, so I checked on YouTube. Sure enough, it was there, chopped into three parts. It stars the great character actor Kurtwood Smith, who is most famous for playing the gruff dad on That 70's Show. Here he is wonderful as Myron Castleman, a poor shlub doomed to repeat the same hour over and over, with memory intact. I also really liked Laura Harrington as Delores, the woman he talks to in the park. The real star is the story however (penned by Stephen Tolkin and Johnathan Heap and directed by Heap), as our hero tries desperately to get out of his one hour prison. Rod Serling would be proud.

Part One



Part Two



Part Three