Johnny O'Clock (1947)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Robert Rossen

Writers:

Milton Holmes (story)
Robert Rossen (writer)

Release Date:

23 January 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir | Drama

Tagline:

Time Was Running Out For Johnny O'Clock ... and so were his women!

Plot:

High-class gambler gets in trouble with the law. |

Plot Keywords:

Gambler | Beautiful Woman | Character Name In Title

Cast

Dick Powell	...	Johnny O'Clock
Evelyn Keyes	...	Nancy Hobson
Lee J. Cobb	...	Inspector Koch
Ellen Drew	...	Nelle Marchettis
Nina Foch	...	Harriet Hobson
Thomas Gomez	...	Pete Marchettis
John Kellogg	...	Charlie
Jim Bannon	...	Chuck Blayden
Mabel Paige	...	Slatternly Woman Tenant
Phil Brown	...	Phil, Hotel Clerk
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
George Alesko	...	Practical Dealer (uncredited)
John P. Barrett	...	Floorman (uncredited)
Fred Beecher	...	Practical Dealer (uncredited)
Brooks Benedict	...	Card Player (uncredited)
John Berkes	...	Waiter (uncredited)
Paul Bradley	...	Card Player (uncredited)
Jeff Chandler	...	Turk (uncredited)
Gene Delmont	...	Dealer (uncredited)
Matty Fain	...	Fleming (uncredited)
Virginia Farmer	...	Mrs. Wilson (uncredited)
Victoria Faust	...	Marion (uncredited)
Jerry Frank	...	Man (uncredited)
Ralph Freedman	...	Practical Dealer (uncredited)
Raoul Freeman	...	Detective (uncredited)
Dick Gordon	...	Card Player (uncredited)
Jesse Graves	...	Redcap (uncredited)
Kit Guard	...	Punchy (uncredited)
Joe Helper	...	Practical Dealer (uncredited)
Al Hill	...	Fisherman (uncredited)
Kenner G. Kemp	...	Hotel Desk Extra (uncredited)
Pat Lane	...	Onlooker (uncredited)
George Lloyd	...	Fisherman (uncredited)
Kenneth MacDonald	...	Cop (uncredited)
Cy Malis	...	Dealer (uncredited)
Edward Margolis	...	Practical Dealer (uncredited)
Charles Marsh	...	Businessman (uncredited)
Allen Mathews	...	Bodyguard (uncredited)
Charles Mueller	...	Bodyguard (uncredited)
Thomas H. O'Neil	...	Practical Dealer (uncredited)
Bob Perry	...	Dealer (uncredited)
Charles Perry	...	Dealer (uncredited)
Robin Raymond	...	Hatcheck Girl (uncredited)
Shimen Ruskin	...	Dry Cleaner (uncredited)
Bob Ryan	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Carl Saxe	...	Detective (uncredited)
Jeffrey Sayre	...	Card Player (uncredited)
Cy Schindell	...	Dealer (uncredited)
Sammy Shack	...	Dealer (uncredited)
Jack C. Smith	...	Practical Dealer (uncredited)
Charles St. George	...	Dealer (uncredited)
Bill Stubbs	...	Practical Dealer (uncredited)
Brick Sullivan	...	Policeman (uncredited)
John Terrano	...	Practical Dealer (uncredited)
Ralph Volkie	...	Dealer (uncredited)
Bill Wallace	...	Card Player (uncredited)
Charles Wexler	...	Bartender (uncredited)
George Zouzaniles	...	Practical Dealer (uncredited)

Directed by
Robert Rossen

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Milton Holmes		story
Robert Rossen		writer

Produced by
Milton Holmes	....	associate producer
Edward G. Nealis	....	producer

Original Music by
George Duning

Cinematography by
Burnett Guffey

Film Editing by
Al Clark
Warren Low

Art Direction by
Stephen Goosson
Cary Odell

Set Decoration by
James Crowe

Costume Design by
Jean Louis

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Carl Hecke	....	assistant director
Carl Hiecke	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Jack Haynes	....	sound recordist

Music Department
Morris Stoloff	....	musical director (as M.W. Stoloff)

Other crew
John P. Barrett	....	technical advisor
Lee Katz	....	production associate (as Lehman Katz)

Production Companies

• J.E.M. Productions

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1947) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures (1956) (USA) (theatrical)

Runtime:

85 min | 96 min (Encore-Mystery Library Print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1947-1948) | Finland:K-16

Company:

J.E.M. Productions

Trivia:

On 12 May 1947, the "Lux Radio Theater" presented a radio version of this story. Dick Powell and Lee J. Cobb reprised their roles for the live radio broadcast.

Quotes:

Inspector Koch: You know, any evidence obtained through 'third degree' methods is inadmissable in court.
Johnny O'Clock: I'm relieved you know how to read.

Rossen's First - A Good Noir

At the centre of Rossen's film noir debut feature is Dick Powell's hard bitten Johnny, a casino manager and junior partner in a gambling club who has a selfish streak a mile wide. O'Clock gets up late, always looks after number one, and has enjoyed a twenty year partnership with club owner Pete Marchettis. To him - as he confesses to Nancy - a new roulette wheel is just as attractive as a woman. But there are cracks in his icy façade. He's had an affair with Marchetti's wife and she still wants him back. O'Clock's weakness (if one can see it like that) is the underlying humanity in his makeup, an eventual need for affection in the arms of a woman. Although resolutely cold to Mrs Marchetti, the death of the Hobbs sister and his growing distaste for the cop Blaydon (elegantly conveyed in the discarded-sandwich scene they share close to the start of the film) gradually reveal his emotional feet of clay. In fact Blaydon reflects many of the unpleasant aspects of O'Clock's character, ones which could so easily come to dominate his personality: total greed and emotional coldness. The resolute Inspector Koch (Lee J. Cobb in an excellent cigar-chomping heavy performance) is hounding them both and, despite his casual coolness, we feel that inside O'Clock is secretly nettled by a feeling of oncoming nemesis.

In fact, for most of the film, O'Clock has done nothing overtly wrong. He is merely guilty by association with the worst elements, and by his disdain for any emotional display or real involvement with others. Marked, then dogged by fate, caught in a web outside of his control (Blaydon's emotional cruelty, the resultant suicide, then murder, the mix up with the watch), O'Clock's life increasingly assumes a powerlessness typical of film noir.

This is a film with many of the genre archetypes intact: hard bitten dialogue, a drunken moll, noir 'fetish' items for the camera's gaze (guns, watches/clocks, cigarette cases etc) and a pervading sense of cynicism and corruption. O'Clock's close relationship with his 'flatmate' Charlie (he wakes him up at the beginning of the film for instance) adds a suspicion of homo-eroticism to the plot. In fact one suspects that jealousy perhaps is what really lies at the back of Charlie's eventual betrayal.

What makes this film somewhat different from others of its type is the cool character of O'Clock: unusually for a noir hero, for a long time he is distanced from the growing predicament. Only as the film proceeds, starting with his angst over the suicide, does a real feeling of paranoia and fate set in.

Rossen's composition within the frame is effective throughout the film and makes for some memorable set ups, while his handling of a complicated plot assured, belying the fact that it is a first film. Although his work in noir would reach its height in the superb 'Body and Soul' (also with Thomas Gomez), never the less Johnny O'Clock is an excellent example of the genre and well worth viewing. Watch out for a young Jeff Chandler in a minor role.