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24 out of 26 people found the following comment useful :-
This is one to watch!, 3 October 2002

Author: funkyfry from Oakland CA

Exceptional crime/suspense yarn has Milland as a crime reporter who's accidentally made himself the fall guy for a murder committed by his editor! Laughton plays the manipulative newsman with all his smarmy prowess. The direction is good, pacing tight, photography excellent. The supporting cast is also excellent and well directed -- particularly memorable are Elsa Lanchester as a small-time artist whose paintings provide witness to the murderer, and Harry Morgan as (believe it or not) the big boss' muscle. Macready also pitches in as Laughton's right hand man who nonetheless refuses to take the fall for the boss himself. Very nice continuity of theme of time, great atmosphere. One of the best of its kind.

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22 out of 27 people found the following comment useful :-
A rare case where the hunter is also the hunted..., 1 July 2000
Author: keihan (keihan@usit.net)

Most filmgoers are probably more familiar with this film's 1987 updating, "No Way Out", starring Kevin Costner and Gene Hackman. That said, "The Big Clock", as with most originals which later spawn remakes of one form or another, is the better film to my mind. It features Ray Milland as a workaholic crime magazine editor for a ruthless publisher (Charles Laughton). Milland has developed his own special method of catching criminals, consisting of glomming onto details that the police disregard as irrelevant. How little does he suspect that, within 24 hours, that same method is going to be used against him...

He stays the night at his boss' mistress to sleep off a hangover. When Laughton strolls in for a suprise visit, Milland manages to get away before being IDed, but not before Laughton sees his shadowy figure on the stairs. In a jealous rage, Laughton kills his mistress and later sets about framing the figure he saw...who, unknown to him, is actually the man he's putting in charge of the investigation, Milland! What follows from this setup is one of the most elaborate cat-and-mouse games I have ever seen on celluloid, the key difference here being that the cat has no idea who the mouse is.

The leads are what make this film stand out. Milland was always very good at playing "the man caught in the middle" and this time is no exception. Kirk Douglas once noted in his autobiography, "The Ragman's Son", that whenever Laughton speaks his lines, it's as though the words just suddenly occurred to him rather than reciting something from memory. It's definitely put to good use here; Laughton oozes menace and coldness with no discernable effort. Other notables in the cast include Elsa Lancaster ("Bride of Frankenstein" and Laughton's real-life wife) as an eccentric artist who helps Milland and a then-unknown Harry Morgan as a silent, suspicious bodyguard to Laughton's publisher.

While perhaps not extraordinary in and of itself, "The Big Clock" is still a good film worth watching, buying, and owning.

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13 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Good Film Noir With Fine Cast, Complicated Plot, 15 May 2001
Author: Snow Leopard from Ohio

"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.

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15 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
Tick........Tick........Tick, 1 December 2006

Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

When reviewing films like The Big Clock the usual temptation for reviewers is to say it's all right, but Alfred Hitchcock could have done it better. I'm prone to that comment myself.

But I can't see how Hitchcock could have done it better in this case. The plot is complicated, but not so that you get bogged down. It defies encapsulation, but briefly Charles Laughton, a Rupert Murdoch like publisher back in the day kills his mistress Rita Johnson. Earlier that day Johnson had picked up Ray Milland who is the editor of one of Laughton's publications Crimeways magazine and had a night on the town with him.

Laughton sees someone leaving Johnson's apartment, it's Milland, but Laughton only glimpses and can't identify him before killing Johnson. With the help of his right hand man George MacReady, Laughton tries to find the stranger to pin the murder on him and enlists Milland to do it. Milland realizes what the game is and it's quite a duel of wits between two very intelligent people.

Milland, though directed by John Farrow here, is a typical Hitchcock hero trapped by circumstances and desperately looking for a solution. It's possible that Hitchcock saw this film and had Milland in mind for one his films and he did eventually use him in Dial M for Murder.

Laughton covers some familiar ground here. He's a powerful man with a fetish for punctuality. The title of the film refers to The Big Clock in the lobby of his skyscraper in New York. It runs on naval observatory time and is also running in tandem with all the clocks in all the buildings that Janoth publications has in the country. In fact it's Johnson's lateness that sets him off in their confrontation. And Milland throws him off his game by stopping The Big Clock in the lobby.

The closest role that Laughton played to Earl Janoth here has to be Inspector Javert in Les Miserables. Both are complete anal retentives, with Javert it's the law, with Janoth its time. Javert has no personal life, Janoth apparently can't handle one. And with both only an actor of great talent and skill like Charles Laughton can make you be repelled by his actions and still feel some sympathy for him.

The Big Clock holds up very well today and I wish it would be remade and could be. It was with Kevin Costner and Gene Hackman in No Way Out with the setting now the Pentagon. I'd like to see it updated and keep it in a civilian setting. Though I doubt it would be as good as the Laughton/Milland version.

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15 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :-
The Problem of Publishers, 4 March 2005

Author: theowinthrop from United States

For some reason (despite a tendency to join forces to protect the first amendment's freedom of speech), movies tend to make publishers look venal and awful. Even that most sympathetic of publishers, Charles Foster Kane, is a megalomaniac (albeit one robbed of a happy childhood). Look at the news publishers in "Five Star Final" or even "Unholy Partners"...anything for a story,for circulation, no matter who gets hurt by the publicity. Look at Walter Burns in all the versions of "The Front Page". Look at Sydney Kidd (Henry Daniell) in "The Philadelphia Story". In this film the publisher is a trifle closer to Charles Foster Kane. Earl Janoth does not own and run a newspaper or a magazine, but a whole empire of different magazines with names like "NewsWays" and "CrimeWays". He even centers it in one single building in New York City. And he has no doubt about his prominence. When his right hand man (George Macready) suggests he was not recognized by a witness, Janoth moans (a trifle loud for affect), "Everybody knows me." This film is a nice combination of film noir and study of a publishing empire. Kenneth Fearing had worked in advertising in a magazine, and had an idea of how they actually ran. His novel (which was recently published in the two volume edition on noir novels in the "Library of America" series of books) became a best seller and classic of that field of writing. The movie (with some changes) is a classic too. The issue of this film is can the hero (Ray Milland) manage to sabotage the investigation he is ordered by Janoth (Charles Laughton) to conduct, without Laughton or his ally Macready realizing he is the man they are seeking. It is done with style and comic timing (thanks to Elsa Lanchester, Philip Van Zandt, and several other character actors). Even Laughton and Macready are used for humor, although their characters are menacing. Macready has just set up the orders for Milland's investigation, and Milland (confused but trying to buy time), says "Right." Macready looks at him and says, "What do you mean "Right"?" And look at Laughton's silent reaction to Lanchester's portrait of the sort for witness Milland has to find.

This is one film noir that gets better with every new viewing. Watch it by all means.

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9 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Noir fans have found a hidden gem, 10 October 2004

Author: eifert from United States

The Big Clock, starring Ray Milland and Charles Laughton, is a great black and white thriller in every way. Unlike many noirs of it's time, it's not a B movie. The lighting, sets, talent and camera-work are top notch. The acting is perfect, as would be expected with a cast like this. Milland is charming and easy to route for. In fact, I usually find him kind of stiff - a little to up tight and proper. Here he seems to be a real guy with real problems. Milland was most famously known for playing an alcoholic three years earlier. In a kind of nod to that "lost weekend" there's a fun scene of him going on a bender in Manhattan - with unforeseen results. Like all noirs, a small wrong decision becomes a bigger and bigger problem latter on. When Milland decides to hang out with a hot blonde instead of going home to his wife, you just know he's gonna get into big trouble. And boy does he. The big trouble is Laughton.

I've always enjoyed Charles "Capt. Bligh" Laughton. He was such a good actor. In The Big Clock he manages to be fascinating and loathsome playing the media empire kingpin. His character has no morals, and it's fun to watch him work. He clearly enjoyed himself making this film.

Oh, and isn't Elsa Lanchester great as the crazy artist? Everyone know's Lanchester. She wore the most famous hairdos in movie history.

Remade as No Way Out with Costner and Hackman in the leads.

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9 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Another key difference between book and film, 16 July 2004
Author: (erikpsmith@msn.com) from Olympia, WA

I posted a message last night about some of the differences between the book and film, and the reasons I think the film is superior, but it strikes me that I left out the most important one. The title, "The Big Clock," carries a much different meaning.

In the book, it's a tortured metaphor, nothing more. There's a big clock up the sky, you see, ticking away, and there's nothing you can do about it, and it just ticks and ticks until finally something happens. This is probably not as eloquent as author Kenneth Fearing's explanation, but it ought to suffice. It's not such a bad idea, really -- the story is one of the best examples of the "ticking clock" device ever set to paper or film, and it's interesting to note that the book was written long before critics started using the term to describe stories of this kind. But Fearing uses this metaphor awkwardly. He describes the concept at great length in the first few pages of the book, and it shows up several more times throughout the novel. And yet it is inserted so clumsily that you have to wonder if he wrote the book first, and then decided he needed a dandy metaphor, so he added a few pages here and there to boost his word-count. It seems to be dropped into the narration without much justification, and the explanation of the concept seems to go on forever. It comes out sounding something like the narration in an above-average forties radio play, the sort of thing you might have heard on, say, Suspense.

The film dispenses with this metaphor, at least in such an obvious way. Instead, it gives us a great big clock in the skyscraper's lobby. (There's no such thing in the book.) Beyond that, no one bothers to explain the title.

The metaphor is present in the movie, of course -- it's just that the entire story serves as an illustration of the concept. It goes without saying; the idea is presented more subtly. No doubt the screenwriters decided that it was a terrific title, but if they were going to dispense with awkward metaphors, they needed a different sort of justification for the name. Their solution works. The clock in the lobby gives the movie a focal point. Better yet, because the movie opens with Ray Milland hiding from his pursuers within the "big clock," we know that a climactic scene will eventually be played out there.

The screenwriters buttressed this idea with other clock references. Ray Milland is late for a train. Much of the dialogue concerns the passage of time. People keep checking watches. And notice that Janoth's girlfriend is beaten to death with a sundial?

Let me add one other thought. The narration in the book and movie carries many similarities to the sort of narration you might have heard on the radio show Suspense, perhaps the best of all nourish radio programs. This type of narration was a standard device in radio and the movies, back in the forties. But there's another connection. In the original trailer for this movie, we see Ray Milland in a radio studio as the show Suspense is being recorded, and the show's director (Anton M. Leder, I believe) steps out from the broadcast booth to offer a testimonial for the movie. An interesting bit of trivia.

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8 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Good Suspense Thriller, 14 August 2002
Author: Bucs1960 from West Virginia

John Farrow, directing a fine cast, including his wife, Maureen O'Sullivan comes up with a winner here. Ray Milland plays the part of an innocent, albeit irresponsible, man who becomes trapped by his own actions and portrays it with style and a sense of desperation that will make you nervous for him. Charles Laughton just reeks of power, greed and evil intent as the boss of a large publishing empire who is also desperate to hide his little secret. George McCready,who was one of the best supporting actors in films, is his sidekick and Harry Morgan is the sinister henchman who hunts for Milland under the big clock. Maureen O'Sullivan doesn't have much of a part in this film but as usual she is believable. And then, up pops Elsa Lanchester as the dotty artist who plays a key role in the mystery.......she is always a great addition to any film and often appeared in her husband's (Laughton) movies. The story moves along quickly and keeps you on edge as the hunted is also the hunter. It's really quite nervewracking as Milland dodges and covers up to keep one step ahead of the truth. Put this film on your list......you won't regret it.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
"The Big Clock" delivers BIG suspense, 11 February 2009

Author: jde1963 from Greensboro, NC

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. I'm not sure I would categorize it a noir as much as I would a Mystery/suspense film. But whatever you call it, I call it a great way to spend 95 minutes. I can't recall a film that does a better job of building the suspense as this one. I was on the edge of my seat for the entire last half of the film.

The film makes great use of irony to help achieve this - in that the lead character, George Stroud (Ray Milland), is called upon to search for a wanted man - who turns out to be himself. He is mistakenly believed to be the killer of his boss' mistress, when in reality, it is the boss, Earl Janoth (Charles Laughton), who is the guilty party. It is a classic cat and mouse game - except that instead of searching for the "Randolph" character, Stroud is actually trying to find the real killer so as to clear his own name.

Stroud is literally surrounded on all sides by people who could identify him as the man who was with the murdered mistress on the night she was killed. He is running for his life within his own office building trying to avoid being identified. I love how the painting and the artist are used in the story. Elsa Lanchester was a true gem and quite a funny character. It's interesting to note that she was married to Charles Laughton. They certainly make an odd pair - especially in light of the fact of his known homosexuality.

Another married couple from the film was actress Maureen O'Sullivan, who played Stroud's wife, and Director John Farrow. They were married for 27 years (until his death) and had 7 children together, including Mia Farrow. Maureen and Mia appeared together in HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1986).

Overall, a very good movie with a talented cast.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Beware The Boss From Hell in this Sharp, Twisty Manhunt Thriller!, 3 February 2009

Author: Dorian Tenore-Bartilucci (dtb) from Whitehall, PA

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Based on poet Kenneth Fearing's suspense novel, THE BIG CLOCK (TBC) is not only a riveting hunted-man story with a fresh twist, but also a cautionary tale about what can happen if you let your job dictate your life: you'll miss your honeymoon and every family vacation; your marriage will suffer as your loving, understanding wife starts to lose faith in you and your endless excuses; your family life will be all but nonexistent; and worst of all, when your controlling, obsessive Boss From Hell kills someone in a fit of rage, you just might find yourself suspected of the crime! TBC is a family affair, with director John Farrow working with wife Maureen O'Sullivan, and real-life husband and wife Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester again sharing the silver screen. It's even a reunion of sorts for Ray Milland and composer Victor Young, the star and scorer of the 1944 chiller THE UNINVITED. Veteran mystery writer Jonathan Latimer ably adapts Fearing's novel for the big screen, its blend of suspense, urban cynicism, and smart, snappy dialogue intact. Some names and plot elements were changed, and the lovers' quarrel ending in murder, in which each accuses the other of being a closeted gay, now involves plain old straight infidelity. Nevertheless, the film's as gripping as the book, sometimes more so. In Fearing's novel, our hero George Stroud talks about the "big clock" which inevitably runs our lives no matter what: "Sometimes the hands of the clock actually raced, and at other times they hardly moved at all. But that made no difference to the big clock...all other watches have to be set by the big one, which is even more powerful than the calendar, and to which one automatically adjusts his entire life..." Film being a visual medium, the "big clock" metaphor becomes literal, with a huge clock/globe that tells you the time anywhere in the world, and lots of little clocks sprinkled all over the headquarters of Janoth Publications, a Henry Luce/Time-Warner-style magazine empire whose periodicals include ace editor George's magazine CRIMEWAYS, as well as AIRWAYS, NEWSWAYS, SPORTWAYS, STYLEWAYS, etc.

Set in 1948 NYC, TBC introduces us to George (Milland) via our anxious hero's innermost thoughts as he hides in the giant clock in the Janoth Publications lobby at night (DP John Seitz's "docu-noir" style works beautifully). In flashbacks, we see that despite being married for seven years, George and wife Georgette (O'Sullivan) have never had a honeymoon. Seems that Janoth (Laughton) hired George for CRIMEWAYS after he cracked a major murder case on his old newspaper in Wheeling, WV, and the control freak hasn't given George a day off since, always snatching the Stroud family's vacations from under them at the very last minute. (George and Georgette have a little boy, George Jr. -- how cutesy can you get? :-)). With the prestige and great salary CRIMEWAYS affords him, George has always been reluctant to say "No" to Janoth, especially since the publisher doesn't take kindly to being turned down, but our hero is getting fed up. So is Georgette, who sadly notes, "Sometimes I think you married that magazine instead of me...We're like two strangers sharing an apartment..." Janoth's mistress, Pauline York (played with soigné insouciance by Rita Johnson), overhears George bellyaching to Janoth's right-hand man, Steve Hagen (George Macready) about his treatment at Janoth's hands. At the Van Barth bar, Pauline tries to involve George in a blackmail scheme targeting Janoth, but George isn't interested — until he finally stands up to Janoth, gets himself fired and blackballed, and drowns his sorrows at the bar with Pauline, only to realize too late that he missed his train and his disappointed family left for West Virginia without him. It's LOST WEEKEND time as the tipsy George and Pauline go on a bar crawl, including Burt's Place, where they pick up a metal sundial from the barkeep's collection of bric-a-brac, and an antique shop where they outbid an eccentric woman (the scene-stealing Lanchester) for a painting.

Unlike their affair in the book, in the film George and Pauline's relationship ends abruptly, with him waking up fully-clothed on her couch. Seeing Janoth's car on the street, Pauline hustles the dazed George out the door. Alas, Janoth is outside waiting for his turn with her. Though he doesn't see George's face as he slips out of sight, Janoth still suspects the worst. He lets Pauline have it, bludgeoning her with the heavy sundial, killing her instantly. The tight close-ups on the quarreling lovers' angry faces, especially Janoth's (nobody's jowls quiver like Charles Laughton's!), add enough intensity to make up for the bowdlerized argument. The desperate Janoth gets a brainwave: he'll have Steve rig the clues to misdirect suspicion, and he'll recruit the crack staff of CRIMEWAYS to track down the culprit, catching a killer and boosting magazine sales at the same time, led by none other than George Stroud! George can't turn Janoth down now; by leading the investigation, he can do a little misdirecting himself, buying time to find the real killer as the tension mounts and the bar crawl comes back to haunt him — he's doing double duty as both cat and mouse! Milland's performance balances suavity, sympathy, and desperation. He and O'Sullivan ring true as a loving couple whose relationship is being sorely tested. Laughton is marvelously odious and sadistic with a pathetic undercurrent. Macready makes a stylishly devious right-hand man. The supporting cast includes a silent, sinister young Harry Morgan as a masseur-cum-henchman, Douglas Spencer of THE THING... fame as CRIMEWAYS reporter Bert Finch (not to be confused with Burt from Burt's Place, played by Frank Orth :-), and the ever-jolly Lloyd Corrigan as a radio actor who can play just about any character, including the bogus suspect known only as "Jefferson Randolph." TBC has been reworked twice, as 1987's NO WAY OUT and 2003's OUT OF TIME. They're both entertaining, but TBC is still my favorite version of the story.

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