KnotMissPriceless Why so much hype?

ThiefHott Too much of everything

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

HotToastyRag Before I rented The Big Clock, I read a review in which someone praised the film as Charles Laughton's greatest performance. Since I really like Charles Laughton, I was pretty excited. And since I really like Charles Laughton, I can tell it like it is: whoever wrote that was an idiot. He doesn't do a bad job by any means, but he's no Quasimodo or King Henry VIII. Ray Milland, or as I've lovingly dubbed him Ray Mi-bland, is the star of this supposed thriller, and if you don't think to yourself after every line that comes out of his mouth, "Why wasn't this James Stewart?" then you need to watch some more old movies. Ray isn't likable, and he rattles off his lines like he's in a speed contest. Jimmy would have been likable, and I'm sure he would have found some way to make his character's stupidity believable.Ray is the employee of big-shot Charles Laughton, and he very stupidly spends time with Charles's mistress, Rita Johnson, when he's supposed to be going on vacation with his wife and son. He goes barhopping with Rita and then passes out in her apartment, all the while getting angry at his wife, Maureen O'Sullivan, for leaving for the vacation without him. This is not a guy to root for. We're supposed to root for him, though, because after Charles kills Rita in the heat of an argument, Ray gets framed for it. I just kept thinking that Rita was really mean for saying such terrible things to her sweetie pie, and Ray was a jerk for lying to his wife about the whole situation. So, since that was my mindset, it's understandable why I didn't really like this movie. There was one really cute part to the movie, though. Elsa Lanchester has a small part as a quirky artist, and when someone admires one of her paintings, she makes a joke about it not being a Rembrandt. She and her hubby Charles Laughton were in the 1936 biopic Rembrandt!

LeonLouisRicci High Class and Glossy, this Lively Production is Filled to the Top with Big Stars, Big Sets, and a Big Story All Wrapped Up in a Slick Package for Post War Audiences that Wanted Quality Pictures for Their Meager Ticket Prices.Headlined by Ray Milland and Charles Laughton and Surrounded by Familiar Character Actors that Resonate, All Decked Out in Modern Fancy Big City Attire, the Film is a Treat to Look At with John Farrow's Artsy Direction and Fancy Blocking Using the Moving Camera in the Wide Open Indoor Spaces of Big Buildings that were a World Within a World.The Story is Complicated Enough and Interesting Enough for Mystery Fans and Crime Aficionados. Elsa Lanchester Devours the Scenery Playfully Adding the Comedy Relief and Wrings Every Second of Her Short Screen Time. This is Borderline Film-Noir and is Usually Included On Lists but Hardly Pure and Definite. The Strong Off Center Characters, Some Lighting Effects, and an Innocent Man on the Lam are its Strongest Noir Elements but Other Non-Norish Ingredients are too Prevalent to Make this Quintassential. The Corporate Takeover of the American Soul is a Subtext to All This and is Done with Symbolism and Clever Innuendos and is a Film-Noir Consideration.Overall, Not Without Some Weak Ingredients, Like the Back Story of the Workaholic with the Neglected Family, and the Opening Binge that Goes On too Long. This is a Solid, Highly Polished Picture that is Almost Magazine Like in its Pretty Pictures of the Post-War, Urban Landscape of Upper Middle Class Life When $30,000 a Year was a Hefty Paycheck and worth mentioning a number of times in the Film and was Laid Out for the Budding Capitalist in the Audience to Ponder.

mamalv Thirty six hours ago starts the beginning of the clock ticking down on George Stroud. He tries to put it together how he got here, hiding in the clock mechanism, afraid to move. We see him backlog through his predicament, being chased by everyone, the cops, the boss, his wife. Ray Milland is perfect as the suave man about town, it does not seem to matter to him that he is a husband and father. He gladly accepts the attention of other women, and to his wife's (Maureen O'Sullivan) dismay he is never around. Always running, always chasing the next big story for Charles Laughton the editor of Crime Ways magazine and others. The wife goes on a trip without him, as again, he has not shown up. Stroud goes on a bender with a blond model, Pauline York. She is Laughton's mistress. Laughton is great here, slimy and manipulative. Although dressed to the nines he is still physically unattractive. The only reason Pauline is with him is for the money of course. She wants George to write a biography of Janith (Laughton) so that they can blackmail him. He soon passes out in her apartment and upon leaving sees Janith arriving. Janith and Pauline have a row and Janith kills her. He goes to George McCredy for help covering up the deed. They find out the Pauline was with a man around town and they put Stroud on the search, not knowing he is that very man. This is great noir, and Milland is the perfect man for this part. As good or better than Cary Grant in North By Northwest. There is just something wonderful about the black and white photography that years later holds up so much better than newer film noir in color. Great movie.

vincentlynch-moonoi I give this film a "7", though it was a temptation to give it an "8", but a "7" is my highest rating, unless we are talking one of the great films of all time. And this film is not that, but it is darned good.It is darned good because it is darned different. I can't think of another film that is at all like it (except perhaps the recent remake). It's a rather unique plot with a unique character (Charles Laughton) and a unique setting.The story begins via flashback. As it unfolds, Ray Milland's character (editor-in-chief of a crime magazine) inadvertently gets tied into a murder of a woman he met...who just happened to be the girlfriend of the magazine's's owner (Charles Laughton) -- a real sleaze bag...and the real killer! All the cards are stacked against Milland, however, and his desperate task is to clear himself and implicate the real murdered (whom he thinks is Laughton's assistant). What happens in between all this is clever and different, with a host of odd characters.Milland, whom I've come to respect more lately as I've seen some films of his of which I was not previously aware, is excellent here. So is Charles Laughton, although this is another role of Laughton's where we love despising him. And incidentally, Laughton's mustache here may be one of the worst in any film in cinema history! The other main character is Maureen O'Sullivan as Milland's wife, though this is quite a step down from her as she plains a supporting, rather than a starring role. You'll recognize quite a few other characters, though none is memorable, despite each being key to the plot.The ending is a total surprise, although it happens just a tad too quickly to savor.That's all not to say that there aren't some problems here. We all have had jobs we don't like. Why exactly are this husband and wife so thrilled to be without and income? At 58 minutes into the film you can clearly see the shadow of the boom mic. Why are Elsa Lanchester's children from 3 different marriages all approximately the same age?Nevertheless, this may very well be one for your DVD shelf!