Silver Screen Standards: The Big Clock (1948)
Time looms over us all, but not as literally as it does over Ray Milland in director John Farrow’s fascinating noir, The Big Clock (1948), which features Milland as a magazine editor framed for murder by his powerful tycoon boss. With its emphasis on the grinding power of clocks and time over corporate life, this film noir reminds us that even the best paid rats are still racing as fast as they can, and escape from the rat race isn’t easy to achieve. In addition to Milland, The Big Clock features memorable performances from Charles Laughton, Maureen O’Sullivan, Elsa Lanchester, George Macready, and a menacing Harry Morgan, so it’s truly a star-studded affair, but Milland’s performance as the beleaguered protagonist is definitely the main attraction.
Milland leads as George Stroud, the editor of a crime magazine owned by publishing mogul Earl Janoth (Charles Laughton). George’s marriage to Georgette (Maureen O’Sullivan) is suffering because of his relentless work schedule, but when George quits his boss suddenly reels him back in to investigate a mystery man Janoth wants to frame for a murder the tycoon himself actually committed. Much to his wife’s frustration, George accepts the assignment, not because he wants the job but because George is the mystery man Janoth intends to blame for the killing.
The narrative structure of The Big Clock parallels that of John Farrow’s other noir films, Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948) and Alias Nick Beal (1949), with all three movies opening at the start of the third act and our protagonists in peril. We’re introduced to George as he hides inside the titular clock from armed guards who have orders to shoot on sight. George then recounts the events that led him to this dangerous situation. It’s an effective strategy, but if you watch all three movies together (as I did), you really notice its repeated use. When George takes us back to the beginning, we learn that he stumbles into this predicament thanks to a chance meeting with Janoth’s ex-girlfriend, Pauline (Rita Johnson). George, having quit his job but still in trouble with his wife for missing their train out of town, goes on a bender with Pauline and then departs to join Georgette on their long-delayed honeymoon. Unfortunately for George, his boozy evening with Pauline makes him a perfect fall guy when Janoth kills her, so George is forced to pretend to look for himself while simultaneously trying to keep his team from actually identifying him. I don’t want to provide too many spoilers here, but with the opening it’s obvious that George is on the run for a crime he didn’t commit, and the suspense hinges on whether the clever crime editor can free himself from his employer’s lethal trap.
An excellent cast keeps the characters interesting even as we question some of their motives. Having won an Oscar for his alcoholic protagonist in The Last Weekend (1945), Ray Milland carries the drinking scenes with ease, and while George Stroud isn’t a villain, Milland’s ability to play one in films like So Evil My Love (1948), Dial M for Murder (1954), and Alias Nick Beal brings moral ambiguity to a character who could have been too squeaky clean with another actor in the role. Charles Laughton, always great, here leans into one of his subtler villain roles, saving his bursts of violence and temper for the moments when they really count. John Farrow’s wife, Maureen O’Sullivan, has a decent role as the increasingly irritated Georgette, but it’s Laughton’s spouse, the brilliant Elsa Lanchester, who steals every scene as the eccentric painter, Louise Patterson. George Macready plays Janoth’s devoted assistant as a suitably slippery character, but Harry Morgan makes an even greater impression without saying word as Janoth’s silently menacing underling. Morgan seems to be channeling Elisha Cook, Jr. from The Maltese Falcon (1941) with his intense, unhinged stare and propensity for violence, and he’s great fun to watch.
For even more noir films directed by John Farrow, see Where Danger Lives (1950) and His Kind of Woman (1951). Ray Milland and Rita Johnson also appear together in the Billy Wilder comedy, The Major and the Minor (1942), while Charles Laughton plays Maureen O’Sullivan’s domineering father in The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934). Laughton and Lanchester appear in six other films together, most notably The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), Rembrandt (1936), and Witness for the Prosecution (1957). For even more of Ray Milland, see The Uninvited (1944), Ministry of Fear (1944), and Rhubarb (1951).
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— Jennifer Garlen for Classic Movie Hub
Jennifer Garlen pens our monthly Silver Screen Standards column. You can read all of Jennifer’s Silver Screen Standards articles here.
Jennifer is a former college professor with a PhD in English Literature and a lifelong obsession with film. She writes about classic movies at her blog, Virtual Virago, and presents classic film programs for lifetime learning groups and retirement communities. She’s the author of Beyond Casablanca: 100 Classic Movies Worth Watching and its sequel, Beyond Casablanca II: 101 Classic Movies Worth Watching, and she is also the co-editor of two books about the works of Jim Henson.
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