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No Hands on the Clock

  • 1941
  • Approved
  • 1h 16m
IMDb RATING
6.0/10
273
YOUR RATING
Rose Hobart, Chester Morris, and Jean Parker in No Hands on the Clock (1941)
WhodunnitCrimeDramaMystery

A wise-cracking private eye is sent to celebrate his honeymoon in the divorce capital of the world, Reno, Nevada, to find a missing man. Along the way, he encounters suspicious characters an... Read allA wise-cracking private eye is sent to celebrate his honeymoon in the divorce capital of the world, Reno, Nevada, to find a missing man. Along the way, he encounters suspicious characters and a trail of dead bodies.A wise-cracking private eye is sent to celebrate his honeymoon in the divorce capital of the world, Reno, Nevada, to find a missing man. Along the way, he encounters suspicious characters and a trail of dead bodies.

  • Director
    • Frank McDonald
  • Writers
    • Daniel Mainwaring
    • Maxwell Shane
  • Stars
    • Chester Morris
    • Jean Parker
    • Rose Hobart
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.0/10
    273
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Frank McDonald
    • Writers
      • Daniel Mainwaring
      • Maxwell Shane
    • Stars
      • Chester Morris
      • Jean Parker
      • Rose Hobart
    • 14User reviews
    • 7Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos6

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    Top cast23

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    Chester Morris
    Chester Morris
    • Humphrey Campbell
    Jean Parker
    Jean Parker
    • Louise Campbell
    Rose Hobart
    Rose Hobart
    • Marion West
    Dick Purcell
    Dick Purcell
    • Red Harris
    Astrid Allwyn
    Astrid Allwyn
    • Gypsy Toland
    Rod Cameron
    Rod Cameron
    • Tom Reed
    George Watts
    • Oscar Flack
    James Kirkwood
    James Kirkwood
    • Warren Benedict
    Billie Seward
    Billie Seward
    • Rose Madden
    Robert Middlemass
    Robert Middlemass
    • Police Chief Bates
    Grant Withers
    Grant Withers
    • Harry Belding
    Lorin Raker
    • Clyde Copley
    George J. Lewis
    George J. Lewis
    • Dave Paulson
    • (as George Lewis)
    Ralph Sanford
    Ralph Sanford
    • Officer Gimble
    Ralph Dunn
    Ralph Dunn
    • Policeman
    • (uncredited)
    Edward Earle
    Edward Earle
    • Passerby Below Clock
    • (uncredited)
    John Gallaudet
    John Gallaudet
    • Alex
    • (uncredited)
    Gertrude Hoffman
    Gertrude Hoffman
    • Passerby Below Clock
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Frank McDonald
    • Writers
      • Daniel Mainwaring
      • Maxwell Shane
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews14

    6.0273
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    Featured reviews

    7goblinhairedguy

    Neat rapid-fire B pic

    This is a terrific unknown B-picture from the Pine-Thomas outfit at Paramount. Chester Morris plays a fast-talking (and thinking) private dick who drinks milk instead of whiskey. Jean Parker is his sassy, lacto-intolerant new bride. There are plenty of other good character turns, especially by Astrid Allwyn as a hot-to-trot barfly. Although the plot (from Geoffrey Homes of "Out of the Past" fame) is intriguing, it's a bit too complex for such a short programmer. However, the repartee and character "bits of business" are top-notch, and journeyman director McDonald maintains a breakneck pace while slipping in some clever camera angles. The cryptic title refers to a clock that represents eternity, located outside a funeral home facing the hero's hotel. Worth seeking out.
    7Paularoc

    Highly entertaining B mystery

    Humphrey Campbell is a private detective working for a small agency specializing in missing persons cases. In his latest case, he tracks down a missing heiress and then calls his boss, Oscar Flack, and tells him that he won't be bringing the heiress, Louise, home because he and Louise just got married and they're going on a honeymoon. Oscar tells Humphrey that an important case has come up - a rancher in Nevada's adult son has gone missing. Oscar convinces Humphrey to investigate and on their way to Reno, Humphrey and Louise stop at a bank and end up in the middle of a bank holdup led by one Red Harris. Then in Reno, Oscar convinces Humphrey to take the case even though Humphrey is disinclined to do so because the FBI are involved but Oscar sweetens the deal by promising Louise a fur coat. The whole plot becomes increasingly complicated with a slew of suspects. Chester Morris plays Humphrey as a wise cracking, fast talking character just like his more famous Boston Blackie character. And what an entertaining character it is. My favorite scene is when the milk drinking Humphrey orders a glass of milk from bartender Jack Norton. Norton's reaction to this request is a hoot especially since Norton is most famous for his bit roles playing a drunk although in real life Norton was a teetotaler. The whole movie is fun throughout. Jean Parker does a very nice job as the feisty Louise and she and Morris have a great chemistry together. It was also fun spotting some favorite character actors such as Dick Purcell, George J. Lewis, and Milburn Stone. Available at Internet Archives and YouTube, this movie is well worth seeking out.
    6bkoganbing

    Small Crime Wave

    In one of the first Pine-Thomas B films from Paramount Chester Morris and Jean Parker play a bargain basement version of Nick and Nora Charles in No Hands On The Clock. I'm thinking this might have been something that Bill Pine and Bill Thomas had in mind for a series, but Morris's next film was his first Boston Blackie.

    Morris is a detective specializing in missing persons cases and is hired to find the missing son of a ranch owner who enjoys the casinos in Reno and all they have to offer. Several murders later we find who's been responsible for a small crime wave including a fake kidnapping of the missing son in question.

    Dick Purcell has a nice role along with Astrid Allwyn as a known gangster whom the cops and the FBI think is responsible for all of this. Allwyn plays a very wise moll to Purcell, their scenes with Morris and Parker have some real bite.

    This definitely could have been a series had Morris not already signed for Boston Blackie.
    5boblipton

    Chester Morris Gets Jean Parker....and the Story Begins

    It's one of the movies that Chester Morris starred in for Pine-Thomas, producers of good B movies for Paramount. Morris plays a private detective who has just married his occasional co-star Jean Parker, when they get involved in a missing person case in Reno.

    It's a decent effort, although director Frank MacDonald directs it with his budget clearly in mind, and Miss Parker seems to be doing a Paulette Goddard imitation. There are mild screwball overtones, and Morris is good at them, but there are too many suspects left in from Daniel Mainwaring's novel.

    Still, as with most of the Pine-Thomas productions, there's a good deal of pleasure watching actors and actresses either before they became famous (there's Rod Cameron away from the westerns), or past their glory days (Jack Norton, perennial comic drunk, plays a bar tender!), While by no means one of Pine-Thomas' better productions, it gets the job done.
    7AlsExGal

    With more "hands on the script" and better direction this could have been a classic!

    The players here are wonderful, Chester Morris as his usually cocky confident self as PI Humphrey Campbell, Jean Parker doing a great poverty row version of Nora Charles minus the family fortune as new bride Louise Campbell, Rose Hobart looking like she's up to no good but you just can't catch her in the act, George Watts as Humphrey's flaky boss who is overly interested in hand puppets, Dick Purcell at his menacing best given his brief screen time, and I could just go on forever.

    So, you might say what was needed here were "more hands on the script". The title comes from the fact that the Darwin mortuary, conveniently located across from where the Campbells are honeymooning, installs a clock with no hands because, as the macabre little man running the mortuary states "death is timeless". The film starts out straightforward enough - Humphrey is on his honeymoon with his wife in, of all places, Reno??? That was the divorce capital of the U.S. back at the time this film was made, so things start out goofy and just get goofier. Turns out Humphrey only drinks milk, and loves to play the accordion, which he does as he and his bride settle into the honeymoon suite. Then Humphrey's boss Flack comes knocking at the door. Turns out he came all the way from LA to get Humphrey to interrupt his honeymoon and go looking for the missing son of a rich man, one that the FBI is looking for too, although they won't say why. Flack promises the pay off will be big and will only take a couple of hours, so Humphrey decides to take the case, although with Flack being a bit of flake you have to wonder why Humphrey would believe him. Well, it turns out things are more complex than that and eventually involve three murders, one of which looks like it's going to be pinned on Humphrey for awhile.

    The main problem with this goofy little mystery is that in several places one of the characters will spout off a slew off facts in rapid fire. Humphrey will seize on just one thing said and that will comprise the motivation of the next ten minutes of action without any further explanation. So you have to rewind and look for what was said that would be causing Humphrey to take a particular action. This confusing state of affairs goes on all through the film, and if it were not for the delightful and often comic delivery of the players it might ruin the entire experience.

    There is one great big plot hole involving Dick Purcell's character that is not explained in this movie as far as I can tell, and I watched it twice. It has to do with Red Harris' relationship to Humphrey and why Harris is useful to Humphrey in the first place. It looks like maybe they forgot to shoot at least one entire scene that would have sewed up all the loose ends.

    I'd still recommend this one, just be prepared to rewind a lot and maybe even watch it in its entirety a second time. If this thing had been put out by a major studio with the same story and exactly the same players and had the benefit of the direction, screenplay finesse, and editing talents they had at their disposal, I would have given this one an 8/10 and put it right up there with The Thin Man.

    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      The failure of the original copyright holder to renew the film's copyright resulted in it falling into public domain, meaning that virtually anyone could duplicate and sell a VHS/DVD copy of the film. Therefore, many of the versions of this film available on the market are either severely (and usually badly) edited and/or of extremely poor quality, having been duped from second- or third-generation (or more) copies of the film.
    • Quotes

      Gypsy Toland: I didn't kill her!

      Humphrey Campbell: I didn't say you did, but you're on the spot. We're both on the spot--our fingerprints are all over the place.

      Gypsy Toland: I got there just before you did. She was... you saw her.

    • Connections
      Edited into Who Dunit Theater: No Hands on the Clock (2021)
    • Soundtracks
      Dolores
      Music by Louis Alter (uncredited)

      Played by nightclub pianist

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • December 1, 1941 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official sites
      • Streaming on "Broken Trout" YouTube Channel
      • Streaming on "Classic Hollywood Movies" YouTube Channel
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • El reloj sin manos
    • Filming locations
      • Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Pine-Thomas Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      1 hour 16 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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    Rose Hobart, Chester Morris, and Jean Parker in No Hands on the Clock (1941)
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