Movies - The Big Clock

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	Movies - The Big Clock

The Big Clock is a 1948 film noir thriller set in New York City based on the novel by Kenneth Fearing. The black-and-white film was directed by John Farrow and starred Ray Milland. Real-life married couple Elsa Lanchester and Charles Laughton appear in the film, as does Harry Morgan in an early film role as the film's hired thug. The movie is told in flashback. When the movie begins, Stroud (Milland) is shown hiding from the police behind the "big clock" - the largest and most sophisticated clock ever built - which is in the lobby of his publishing company.

Plot

Stroud, a workaholic trying to spend more time with his wife, plans a vacation from his job as a magazine crime reporter. Instead of meeting his wife to start their vacation, Stroud starts drinking and spends the evening with a blonde. Later the blonde is found dead and Stroud is tasked by his Hearst-like publishing boss (Laughton) to find the killer. While investigating, Stroud tries to keep the facts of his night with the woman a secret because he knows he has been seen leaving the scene of the crime.

Critical reaction

Reviews of the film in 1948 as well as today remain mostly positive. Bruce Eder writing in the All Movie Guide writes The Big Clock is "a near-perfect match for the book, telling in generally superb visual style a tale set against the backdrop of upscale 1940s New York and offering an early (but accurate) depiction of the modern media industry."

Film writer David M. Meyer calls The Big Clock "More screwball comedy than noir, The Big Clock's big moments derive from snappy dialogue and over-the-top humor."

The movie was one of 400 films on the nominee list for the American Film Institute's "100 Years 100 Thrills" list of the greatest thrillers in American film history.

Remake

The story was remade in 1987 as No Way Out with Kevin Costner. The 1948 version is more similar to the novel.

Cast

Ray Milland
as George Stroud
Charles Laughton
as Earl Janath
Maureen O'Sullivan
as Georgette Stroud
George Macready
as Steve Hagen
Rita Johnson
as Pauline York
Elsa Lanchester
as Louise Patterson
Harry Morgan
as Bill Womack (as Henry Morgan)

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for The Big Clock ]

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