La grande horloge

'The Big Clock' is exactly my kind of film, love crime, love thriller, love films with noir-ish qualities. The cast is an immensely talented one and the roles they're cast in sounded perfect for them. Hard to go wrong with Ray Milland, Charles Laughton, George Macready, Harry Morgan, Maureen O'Sullivan and Elsa Lanchester and 'The Big Clock' is the sort of film that would see all fitting beautifully within it. The story sounded so engrossing too and of course the positive reviews always help.

A critical reception that 'The Big Clock' more than richly deserves. While not one of my favourite films or one of my favourites of the genre, and it falls short of masterpiece status, 'The Big Clock' is an excellent film in many respects. The acting and the atmosphere being two of the biggest pluses, and it delivers hugely on the entertainment value and suspense as well which means that it more than delivers on what is needed to make a film of this type work.

It is a slow starter, well slightly, and not everything rings true in the plot.

Such as with the body, the lead character's involvement with Rita Johnson's character and how quickly a few of the clues are found.

Everything else is truly fabulous. Milland has the right amount of intensity and charm for a role that suits him so well and plays to his strengths, one of his best performances from this period. O'Sullivan is a strong presence as is Johnson, while Lanchester was seldom this hilarious. Likewise with Morgan being seldom this menacing. Best of all is a chillingly neurotic Laughton. Chills also come from the omnipresence of the clock. The characters are well written and some of them eccentric, notably Lanchester's. There is plenty to Milland's to allow us to care for what happens to him.

Furthermore, 'The Big Clock' looks great. Especially the darkly noir-ish lighting and photography that not only suits the atmosphere perfectly it actually enhances it. John Farrow directs more than efficiency with a strong feel for momentum and atmosphere. The script is taut and intelligent, complete with some deliciously acerbic humour that gels with the vast amount of tension like fruity wine and cheese. The story is laden in suspense, is tightly paced and has clever turns. The ending is unexpected and has a lasting effect.

Overall, excellent. 8/10.

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.

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.

Remade in 1987 as "No Way Out," the 1948 film "The Big Clock" is a wonderful suspense film starring Charles Laughton, Ray Milland, George MacCready, and Maureen O'Sullivan, directed by O'Sullivan's husband, John Farrow.

Earl Janoth (Laughton), the owner of a publishing empire, is a quiet, enigmatic tyrant who loves clocks and has them all over his buildings throughout the country, including a big one in the lobby of his New York building. The clocks everywhere run together on naval observatory time.

Janoth's right-hand man, Steve Hagen (MacCready) does his dirty work for him. When Janoth kills his mistress (Rita Johnson), Hagen cleans up the mess. Janoth is sure he saw someone in the hall when he arrived at his girlfriend's apartment, and feeling that the man can identify him, wants him found and eliminated. He orders his executives to get the man, telling them the person they want is involved in a war contract scheme. One man, George Stroud (Ray Milland), who is heading up the investigation, isn't fooled. He knows that he is the man Janoth is looking for -- and why.

"The Big Clock" is a great cat and mouse story, with Stroud ducking people who saw him in various places with the mistress on the night she was killed. He also attempts to leave the building to find a cab driver when someone who can identify him is standing at the exit with security people.

Milland does an excellent job of being both cool and panicky, and Laughton's underplaying makes the character of Janoth all the more deadly. Maureen O'Sullivan is delightful as the long-suffering Mrs. Stroud, who's never had a honeymoon because of her husband's work. Elsa Lanchester is hilarious as an artist whose painting figures into the story.

My only complaint is that the ending is a tiny bit abrupt, though very amusing.

A really wonderful film for suspense-lovers, Hitchcock-like, and highly entertaining.

"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.