The Big Clock (1948)

The Big Clock (1948)

starring Ray Milland, Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Sullivan

directed by John Farrow

95 minutes

George Stroud (Ray Milland), editor for a magazine owned by Earl Janoth (Charles Laughton), wants desperately to take his wife and child on vacation. Janoth cares considerably more about his business than he does about his employees welfare and keeps finding excuses to refuse Stroud's requests for time off.

Georgette Stroud (Maureen O'Sullivan), George's wife, is sick of her husband's excuses. She has her doubts when George plans a vacation for them. Her doubts prove to be well founded when George misses the train they were supposed to take. He was hanging out with Pauline York, Janoth's mistress, instead of leaving town with his wife.

George and Pauline go on a bender together and wind up back at her apartment. She kicks him out before things take a turn for the worse but after he leaves Janoth comes over. Pauline and Earl get into an argument and in a fit of anger he kills her with a sundial that she and George picked up in a bar earlier that night.

Janoth puts Stroud on the case to find the man whom he saw leaving Pauline's building earlier that night. Janoth didn't get a good look at the man and doesn't know that it was Stroud. The editor doesn't realize that Pauline is dead when he starts the investigation but it isn't long before he realizes that he is the man whom he is trying to find.

Stroud eventually comes across Pauline's body, which Janoth left in her apartment. A little more digging leads him to evidence which proves that Janoth is lying about some of the details he has shared with him.

The tension gets increased by a few more notches when a witness who can link Stroud to Pauline spots him getting on an elevator in the building in which Janoth and Stroud work. The building gets locked down and George is forced to think fast in order to avoid getting framed for the murder of Pauline.

Thoughts

I don't exactly understand why George was hanging out with Pauline in the first place. It seemed like she was the one who came on to him but he didn't seem that interested in her and yet he allowed her to cause him to miss the train he was supposed to take with his wife and son? There were a few other moments that made me scratch my head in this film but it was fast paced enough to keep me from thinking too much about those inconsistencies.

This was a very fun watch. There was a good dose of humor in this thriller. I was alert and interested throughout the film as to what was going to happen next. It is a little more tongue in cheek than I expected it to be but that isn't a bad thing.

I saw this movie as part of the 2023 Noir City DC film festival.