The Big Clock (1948)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

John Farrow

Writers:

Kenneth Fearing (novel)
Jonathan Latimer (screenplay)

Release Date:

9 April 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

The strangest and most savage manhunt in history!

Plot:

A career oriented magazine editor finds himself on the run when he discovers his boss is framing him for murder.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Magazine | Tycoon | Editor | Elevator Shaft

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Ray Milland	...	George Stroud
Charles Laughton	...	Earl Janoth
Maureen O'Sullivan	...	Georgette Stroud
George Macready	...	Steve Hagen
Rita Johnson	...	Pauline York
Elsa Lanchester	...	Louise Patterson
Harold Vermilyea	...	Don Klausmeyer
Dan Tobin	...	Ray Cordette
Harry Morgan	...	Bill Womack
Richard Webb	...	Nat Sperling
Elaine Riley	...	Lily Gold
Luis Van Rooten	...	Edwin Orlin
Lloyd Corrigan	...	Colonel Jefferson Randolph aka McKinley
Frank Orth	...	Burt
Margaret Field	...	Second Secretary

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #12438)

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Co-stars Elsa Lanchester and Charles Laughton were married, as were star Maureen O'Sullivan and director John Farrow.

Quotes:

Pauline York: You know, Earl has a passion for obscurity. He won't even have his biography in 'Who's Who'.
George Stroud: Sure. He doesn't want to let his left hand know whose pocket the right one is picking.

Movie Connections:

Remade as Police Python 357 (1976)

Soundtrack:

Wearin' of the Green

Good Film Noir With Fine Cast, Complicated Plot

"The Big Clock" takes some chances with unusual characters, and with complicated and sometimes outlandish plot developments, but it holds together well to produce a generally satisfying, and always interesting, suspense film. A fine cast makes us both believe in and identify with the characters, and good direction by John Farrow keeps the film moving, and blends together what otherwise could have been a lot of incongruous plot devices.

Ray Milland is a vital part of the film's success in his role as George Stroud, the editor of a crime magazine who has an amazing talent for tracking down elusive criminals. Already caught in a conflict between his neglected wife and his domineering employer, Stroud finds himself asked to direct a search for an unknown murderer in a case where, because of a chain of circumstantial evidence, all the clues point back to himself. What the audience knows, but Stroud does not, is that the real killer is his boss, played with panache by Charles Laughton, who is obsessed with time and whose proudest creation is a gigantic clock that dominates the publishing house that he runs. The title refers literally to this clock, and perhaps metaphorically refers to the urgency faced by Milland's character as he fights against time trying to extricate himself from his troubles. Milland nicely underplays all of this, and communicates his dilemmas with a lot of credibility.

The supporting cast is an important part of the film, as they must bring life and credibility to a series of oddball plot elements, and they are all quite good. Especially noteworthy is Elsa Lanchester's performance as an eccentric artist whose paintings become one of the clues to the crime. Lanchester is simply wonderful in her scenes, and the movie would be worth watching over again for those alone.

"The Big Clock" is a good example of a "film noir", and will be most enjoyed by those who are fans of the way films of the genre were made in their heyday. But it would also be a good choice for anyone who likes crime/mystery stories and who is willing to look at the way such films were made in an earlier era. After watching "The Big Clock", you might want to see more of them.