Year of Release: 1948Country of Origin: USA
Director: John Farrow
Cast: Ray Milland, Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Sullivan, Elsa Lanchester
Plot outline: A crime magazine editor finds himself on the run when he discovers his boss is framing him for murder (IMDb).
The Big Clock is film noir: the flashback, the narration, the crime, the shadows. But the movie doesn't live in a world of sinners. There are good people here: Stroud's wife, his loyal bar friends, and the comic painter (played with glee by Elsa Lanchester). These are all characters from outside the company. The evil in the movie is the capitalist corporation. It is the big clock which counts out the hours of men's lives. Those who embrace it are corrupted by it, and none more so than those at the top, like Earl Janoth (Charles Laughton). It was stealing Stroud's soul, ever so slowly, tick by tick. The movie breaks the film noir philosophy by being extremely positive. Yes, there is evil in the world and villains all around us, but the reason is identified, and if we can just break away from that big clock, everything will work out. Ray Milland is excellent as the desperate man searching for a way out and Laughton makes for an enjoyably oily villain, if perhaps a bit overplayed. The Big Clock was remade in 1987 as No Way Out, with Kevin Costner taking over Milland's role. In an amusing twist, this version has our hero searching not for a murderer (though the murder does take place), but for an invented Russian spy. All of the film noir influences, as well as the social theme, was removed leaving a satisfying, if meaningless, spy thriller. (FF)
My judgement: *** out of 4 stars
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