The Big Clock (1948)

Magazine editor Ray Milland has his non-stop working life pressed even further after he spends a drunken night partying with a gorgeous blonde; she's the mistress of publication czar Charles Laughton, Milland's boss--but when she winds up dead after a spat with her lover, somebody's gotta take the fall! Kenneth Fearing's novel (reworked in 1987 as "No Way Out") becomes cracking good thriller, full of eccentric characters, outré bits of business, acerbic humor, and a top cast doing first-rate work. The plot contrivance of getting devoted family man Milland involved with Rita Johnson can possibly be overlooked, as can Ray's staff at the crime magazine (who come up with clues and leads faster than Sherlock Holmes). Framing the story in flashback doesn't hurt, but one does get impatient with some of the implausibilities taken. Still, there's enough action in the picture to keep things tense, and enough funny, throwaway jabs to keep it enjoyable. **1/2 from ****

Fmovies: An interesting film noir. Milland is good as a Hitchcockian hero who finds himself framed for a murder. Laughton seems to be sleepwalking through his role as the actual murderer. Johnson, an attractive actress who had her career cut short by an accident and had a short and tragic life, plays the murder victim. Farrow (Mia's dad) is no Hitchcock but he directs efficiently and the cast includes O'Sullivan (Mia's mom) as Milland's nagging wife and Morgan as a menacing henchman. Lanchester (Laughton's real life wife) is hilarious as an eccentric artist. After a slow start, the pace picks up and suspense builds, not letting up until the credits roll.

Taut thriller about a crime magazine editor (Ray Milland) trying to stay one step ahead of being framed for murder by his tyrannical boss (Charles Laughton). Ray Milland is great but it's scenery-chewing Charles Laughton that is the most memorable part of this movie. George Macready plays Laughton's crony and partner-in-crime. Rita Johnson is fantastic as Laughton's mistress. Elsa Lanchester has a small but amusing part that she makes the most of. Harry Morgan appears in an early role as a "problem solver" for Laughton. This was Maureen O'Sullivan's first movie in five years and her first non-Tarzan movie in seven. Director John Farrow was also her husband at the time so I'm sure that had something to do with her returning to the screen.

A tightly paced film with a great script. Fine direction from Farrow. It was remade in 1987 as No Way Out, which isn't a bad movie itself. Thankfully it isn't a direct copy but a reworking of the original story. Both the remake and this original have wonderful (and completely different) endings. This is definitely one you'll want to check out if you're a fan of film noir or thrillers from the '40s.

The Big Clock fmovies. 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.

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.

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.