The Big Clock (1948)

The Big ClockI'm not a big fan of Ray Milland, the leading man here, but he has energy and pulls off a kind of Jimmy Stewart fellow pretty well. I am, for sure, a big fan of two other actors here, Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester, who are great, and of the cinematographer, John Seitz. It is Seitz who makes this movie launch and go far, right from the get go, with a really nice establishing shot merging into a moving camera interior scene.Milland is not bad, of course—he's better in normal dramatic roles like his most famous as an alcoholic in "The Lost Weekend"—but he lacks both the everyman ease of Stewart and the troubled dramatic noir intensity of Bogart or Mitchum. His predicament opens the movie, ominously, in classic noir fashion with voice-over, and within a heartbeat we are in a flashback getting to the backstory.The little trick of the plot (having the main characters involved in a crime solving magazine) is great fun, actually, and never seems contrived. The title however points to a weird quirk in the whole works, a highly elaborate clock that is sort of forced onto the situation, and really isn't very integral to the plot after all (even if it's used dramatically a couple of times). Mostly this is a noir about a fairly normal guy and a crime he ends up having to solve, a la Hitchcock.The femme fatale here, Maureen O'Sullivan, is great, and Laughton is his quirky self, with mustache. Look for Harry Morgan ("Dragnet" and "Mash") in a weird fun role. Mostly just enjoy a well constructed, offbeat noir-ish crime film and the great visuals throughout.

Crimeways magazine chief editor George Stroud (Ray Milland) is hiding from building security guards who are ordered to shoot on sight. He sneaks into the big lobby clock as the movie flashbacks to over thirty six hours earlier. George has been working non-stop. His wife Georgette (Maureen O'Sullivan) is getting ready for their long-delayed honeymoon with their 5 year old son. His tyrannical time-obsessed publishing tycoon boss Earl Janouth (Charles Laughton) and his mistress Pauline York (Rita Johnson) eavesdrop on his complaining about being overworked. Janouth pushes George to delay his trip and fires him when he refuses. George misses the train and his wife leaves on the trip without him. He spends the night drinking with Pauline who keeps suggesting blackmailing Janouth. Waking up the next day at her place, he sneaks out before Janouth arrives and kills her during an argument. The murder weapon has a connection to George. Janouth sends minion Steve Hagen to alter the crime scene as they try to frame George before the body is found. Janouth convinces George to return to lead an investigation for the magazine but soon realizes that it's him they're investigating.This may not be quite as well-celebrated as other classic noir. It's probably missing the sexy leading man who stood the test of time. Ray Milland is more of an everyman and no longer has the name recognition today. It does have the legendary Laughton as the big villain. Anybody familiar with No Way Out would recognize the story. The story is just as gripping coming from the same source material.

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 leader of a crack team of investigative journalists is ordered to track down a murder suspect, and soon begins to discover all the evidence pointing to himself. The dilemma: how to elude his own investigation and, at the same time, locate the true killer? Complications begin to accumulate, with each new plot twist becoming more absurd until, at last, the entire knot of circumstance is neatly unraveled in several quick strokes. Charles Laughton gives one of his patented, meticulous ham performances as the dictatorial, clock obsessed publishing magnate, and Elsa Lancaster runs away with several scenes playing a dotty artist asked to provide a sketch of the hunted man but unwilling to identify her only patron. The film is enormously entertaining: one of the few comic thrillers that succeeds in being simultaneously sidesplitting and nerve-racking. Remade (badly) in 1987 as 'No Way Out'.