I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

hyped garbage

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Besides being a who-done-it, this movie is also a brilliant comedy. Ray Milland and Charles Laughton give stellar performances as men who are at odds with each other, with lethal results. The rest of the cast is also excellent, especially Elsa Lancaster who plays an artist with a quick wit. The plot is clever, the acting wonderful, the cinematography catches the story's mood, and the movie, with all its twists and turns, is in general engaging and entertaining, The movie contains so many wonderful performances. And even though the movie was made in the late 1040s, it's still watchable today. That is, the movie has aged well and deals with issues that would resonate with today's audience. One thing about Ray Milland: he was a great actor with great screen presence, and proves that it this movie.

George (Ray Milland) is never allowed time off work to spend with his family. Janoth (Charles Laughton) is his heartless boss who has a mistress Pauline (Rita Johnson) whom he accidentally murders. He then tries to cover his tracks and pin the murder on another man who Rita was seen with the night that she dies. The problem is that the man in question is George - and he is put in charge of the investigation.It's an OK lightweight thriller that is peppered with humour. The cast are all good but it is not fast-moving enough. In fact, it is extremely slow to get going. There isn't enough of a story for the first 45 minutes or so. There are daft moments - eg, George initially meets with Rita as she has information to give him regarding Janoth. We never hear what the important news is that she has for him and are expected to believe that they go on a drinking binge together without mentioning the original point of the meeting - on the evening that George has arranged to go away with his wife and son. What a load of cobblers!Charles Laughton gives a good performance as an eccentric, arrogant boss and Ray Milland is always likable, although slightly irritating in drunk scenes. Elsa Lanchester is funny as "Patterson" a slightly dotty artist. She provides a good moment in the film when her portrait of the killer is revealed........

This is a movie I've been aware of for most of my life but which had always eluded me, I didn't, in fact, know it even existed as a DVD until it appeared on my local library shelves on Saturday. By one of those uncanny coincidences a French cinema that screens what it chooses to call French Classics at 2 pm each Sunday showed yesterday Police Python 357, Alain Corneau's take on the Big Clock which appeared in 1976. As it happens I own 357 on DVD but having watched Clock on Saturday and decided Python was far superior I checked it out on the big screen and it really IS superior. Kenneth Fearing, who wrote the original novel, came up with a great idea around the same time that Orson Welles did; Welles called his idea Mr. Arkadin, Fearing, The Big Clock. Both share the same premise; a powerful man kills someone in a fit of rage, realizes that a third party has witnessed the crime so assigns someone to track down the witness, unaware - as is the tracker -that he IS the witness. There was a complete lack of chemistry between Ray Milland and Maureen O'Sullivan playing his wife, perhaps because the film was directed by her husband, John Farrow. It's almost painful to watch Charles Laughton's posturings as the tycoon-killer and in the last reel when he makes a dash for freedom his stooped, crouching run is a risible cross between Groucho Marx and Quasimodo (which Laughton had, of course, played ten years earlier. When you're watching the climax of a thriller you don't want to be thinking things like that. There was a remake in the 80's, No Way Out, but all you need to know is that nobody does it better .... than Welles and Corneau.

Big Clock, The (1948) *** (out of 4) Tense thriller about a crime magazine editor (Ray Milland) who spends the night with a blonde (Rita Johnson) not knowing that she's involved with his sadistic boss (Charles Laughton). It turns out that after the editor sneaks out of the woman's apartment he sees his boss enter and the next morning she's dead. The boss tried to hide his guilt and puts the editor on the case not knowing he knows the truth but all the evidence points to the editor who must try and clear his name before anyone finds out. I'll plead guilty and admit that I think the remake NO WAY OUT is a better all around movie but that doesn't take away anything from this film, which still manages to be quite intense and highly entertaining. I think it goes without saying but the greatest thing this movie has to offer is Milland and Laughton who deliver terrific performances. Milland was always great at acting nervous and that comes in handy here because of the tension his character is constantly under. No matter where in the story you are you can just look in his eyes and see how panicked he is. Laughton, on the other hand, was perfect at playing creeps and he does a wonderful job with this character. The actor makes this guy such a snake you can't help but hear rattles each time he opens his mouth throwing out another demand. The scenes where the men are going against one another with Laughton not knowing what Milland knows is terrific and adds a lot of fun. Johnson is also very good in her few scenes in the film as is George Macready as the snake trying to help Laughton. Maureen O'Sullivan is wasted as Milland's wife, although the performance isn't too bad. Another very impressive thing about this film is that it takes place inside a magazine office where their job is to track down killers using their own method. This method of piecing everything together is quite clever and I think it adds a lot of fun to the film as they slowly pick up pieces that shine the light on Milland while at the same time he's trying to get evidence to clear his name. One of the best scenes in the film happens once the building is closed down and no one can leave without walking past a man who can identify the Milland character. The ways this is played out were quite effective and worthy of a few nail bites. I think some of the comedy in the film works but at times it goes a bit too far and the entire subplot with Milland's wife was rather bland and didn't add too much. It also doesn't help with plot holes including Laughton being able to give orders to lock down a building and being able to order people to shoot a man to death without the cops being involved. With that said, the attractive cast and tense direction makes THE BIG CLOCK a film that still doesn't get the credit it deserves.