The Big Clock
1948 Directed by John Farrow
Synopsis
The Strangest and Most Savage Manhunt in History!
Stroud, a crime magazine's crusading editor has to post-pone a vacation with his wife, again, when a glamorous blonde is murdered and he is assigned by his publishing boss Janoth to find the killer. As the investigation proceeds to its conclusion, Stroud must try to disrupt his ordinarily brilliant investigative team as they increasingly build evidence (albeit wrong) that he is the killer.
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"A career oriented magazine editor finds himself on the run when he discovers his boss is framing him for murder" in John Farrow's "The Big Clock".
Farrow's film has some great monologues regarding time. There is a standout performance by Charles Laughton as a despicable magazine editor named Earl Janoth. There is even an eccentric painter who can close the case but but she is too hung up on her own eccentricities. It's an enjoyable way to spend 95 minutes.
The suspense, however, is undermined by the cleverness of the script. It's too clever a film. Each twist feels manufactured because it is manufactured. The last act of the film, an extended set piece where our protagonist George Stroud (Ray Millard in another good performance) tries to absolve the mess he has made and reveal the killer, is dependent on so many misunderstandings and impossible situations that it becomes a bit unsatisfying.
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"A career oriented magazine editor finds himself on the run when he discovers his boss is framing him for murder" in John Farrow's "The Big Clock".
Farrow's film has some great monologues regarding time. There is a standout performance by Charles Laughton as a despicable magazine editor named Earl Janoth. There is even an eccentric painter who can close the case but but she is too hung up on her own eccentricities. It's an enjoyable way to spend 95 minutes.
The suspense, however, is undermined by the cleverness of the script. It's too clever a film. Each twist feels manufactured because it is manufactured. The last act of the film, an extended set piece where our protagonist George Stroud (Ray Millard in another good performance) tries to absolve the mess he has made and reveal the killer, is dependent on so many misunderstandings and impossible situations that it becomes a bit unsatisfying.
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The Big Clock isn't quite cynical enough to be a true film noir, and seems to lack the malice necessary to be a truly great thriller, but it's got a clever set-up for a game of cat and mouse: Earl Janoth (Charles Laughton) is the tyrannical head of a publishing empire, George Stroud (Ray Milland) is the true crime-magazine editor with a knack for finding fugitives, and Pauline York (Rita Johnson) is Janoth's mistress whom he murders in a fit of range after finding evidence of another man. Janoth insists George help find "the killer", not knowing that George himself was the one who spent the evening drinking and comiserating with Pauline.
The movie's got a couple of issues: First,…
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Stylish mystery with good story and lots of drinking. Harry Morgan at his most menacing.
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The film meanders with no real definable plot. There is not enough of Laughton to carry the film, although he does play an interesting character as usual.
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An unsung gem. The Big Clock gets attention, but not enough. The dictatorial Laughton lords over with his heft and omniscient clocks. Big business wiping out identity with a plot that deliciously unravels. Elsa Lanchester is a riot. Laughton is fabulous as always. Take the time to catch this one.
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John Farrow's "The Big Clock" plays like a comedy for psychopaths. Never has death by elevator shaft been filmed with such glee! I'm surprised Elsa Lanchester wasn't arrested at the end of the picture for stealing all of those scenes.