Every year, when the darkness returns to our early evening, MovieJawn also returns to the dark for our annual celebration of Noirvember! Check out all of the previous articles here.

by Gary M. Kramer, Staff Writer

The Big Clock, from 1948, opens as a quintessential noir. There is a city skyline seen at night, with black smoke drifting through the frame as the camera pans towards a mid-Century office building, Janoth publications, where much of the action takes place. Inside, George Stroud (Ray Milland) is desperate. “I’m no criminal,” he declares in a noir-ish voiceover. “36 hours ago, I was a decent, respectable, law-abiding citizen with a wife, a kid, and a job I liked.” And, in true noir form, the story flashes back to the beginning of George’s troubles…

George is an editor at Crimewave, a true crime publication under the Janoth umbrella. Earl Janoth (Charles Laughton) is the publisher, and the “Big Clock” of the title. He schedules things down to the minute and has a giant clock that is “the most accurate, most unique, privately owned clock in the world;” it can tell time anywhere. Earl, however, is upset about circulation dropping and wants his editors to find a solution to declining sales and readers.

But the film’s drama focuses on another issue entirely. When Earl doesn’t have time for Pauline York (Rita Johnson), his mistress, she connects with George, who has just quit after Earl demands he yet again postpone his years-delayed honeymoon. While George is out drinking with Pauline—cue a fun montage of clubs and bars—his wife Georgette (Maureen O’Sullivan) goes on their honeymoon without him. Pauline tells George she has a plan to help them both escape Earl, but before she can enact it, she is murdered—clocked in the head with a sundial! Earl asks George to ferret out the killer with the Clue Chart he uses to track down criminals for Crimewave.

The Big Clock reveals whodunnit at the time of Pauline’s death. It also shows how the crime is covered up. But the twist of this thriller—which was adapted from Kenneth Fearing’s novel, and later remade as No Way Out (1987)—is that George’s investigation to find a man named “Jefferson Randolph,” is actually a search for himself. Since George was with Pauline at various bars, as well as an antique dealer where he purchased a painting, all fingers point to him as the prime suspect. This makes the film a “wrong man” thriller where George has to prevent folks like the artist Louise Patterson (Elsa Lanchester) from identifying him as the killer. In one of the film’s most amusing moments, Louise is paid to provide a sketch of the suspect. She captures his “mood” in an abstract artwork.

Despite several comic moments, including some featuring George’s friend, McKinley (Lloyd Corrigan), the film is tightly wound. As the manhunt builds, George has to find the real killer without being shot.

If the film has a flaw, it is that more is not made with the titular Big Clock—just a sequence where George stops time during the manhunt in the building and knocks one of Earl’s henchmen, the gun-toting Bill (Harry Morgan), down a spiral staircase. The action is far more exciting and intense during the film’s finale where George unmasks the real killer, which prompts a betrayal, a gunshot, and then a pretty spectacular death.

The Big Clock looks fantastic as the Arrow Academy Blu-ray features pristine black and white cinematography. This may not be a shadowy noir in the traditional gumshoe mold, but it does play into the genre, with some light nihilism. And a shout out to Edith Head’s costumes, which include natty suits for the men and fabulous hats for the ladies.

The performances are top-notch. Ray Milland makes George’s despair and determination palpable, and Rita Johnson is alluring as the film’s version of the “femme fatale.” Charles Laughton is also terrific as the louche Earl Janoth. His droll line deliveries are delicious, and there is something queer about his relationship with his right-hand man, Steve Hagen (George Macready), that folks who look for such coded messages can appreciate. 

Directed by John Farrow (O’Sullivan’s then husband), The Big Clock is a nifty entry in the noir genre.